Issaquah Schools Foundation

2002 ISF/CIS
Golden Apple Award Winner
Dr. Sherwin and Jerri Shinn

Smile Power

"This program provides an opportunity for local children to discover the power they have within themselves to make a difference around the world and to realize that they have that ability now and always will have it. They become leaders and teachers as they show the world what they can do. Children learn they can choose to make the world a better place."

• Selected by the Washington State PTA as a model program.
• It was a great program because it was hands-on, with the kids directly involved. They could see it full circle. Cougar Ridge PTSA
• The Echo Glen School children were really touched by the impact they made in the lives of other children.
• The students at Skyline raised over $1,700 in a penny drive which was used to buy basic construction material to build windows and doors in a Bolivian village school.
• Discovery Elementary students donated over 90 hand-made quilts for orphanages in Bolivia.
  

According to Dr. Shinn, "Our goal is to provide health care and on going disease prevention education and supplies to under-served populations in developing nations; To train their local people to take responsibility for the continuation of the preventive education; To share the virtues and values of foreign cultures with each other in order to enrich all of our lives; To develop understanding between all peoples so that we become a planet of friendly neighbors instead of foreign strangers; And to set up an organization that facilitates and motivates humanitarian outreach by other interested people.

To accomplish this, we present an educational program in our schools that teaches our children about the lives of their peers in other cultures. We then provide the opportunity for our students to reach out in friendship by having them create a personal connection that the children in another culture. This can be in the form of a letter, picture or other gift that is made by the student sharing what is important to them. These school-wide outreach projects involve the whole community, bringing them together in a common goal of friendship.

Our Smile Power team hand delivers these gifts to the intended recipients who feel so honored that they in turn send personal thank-yous back with us. We return these to the schools and show the students pictures of their smiling new friends holding their gifts. In this way our students have a first-hand experience that giving to others is a true source of wonderful fulfillment in life. They learn that they already have the power to make a positive difference in the world, and they gain understanding of a different culture and friendship with their future leaders.

© 2002 ISSAQUAH SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
PHONE: 425-416-2045
FAX: 425-416-2001
ADDRESS: P.O. Box 835, Issaquah, WA 98027
EMAIL: info@issaquahschoolsfoundation.org