An aid worker from Richmond is appealing to her home town school and community for help raising funds for a volunteer school for refugees in Lebanon.
Tuesday Reitano, a former student of the Vineyard School in Richmond Hill, who moved to Lebanon three years ago, is working with a youth group near Beirut to build a school for Syrian children.
The school, which is run by volunteers from 7am until the evening every weekday, and educates 800 children of all ages who have fled extreme violence in their own country.
Ms Reitano said: "These kids don’t want to fight. They don’t want to beg on the streets. They have dreams of becoming teachers, doctors and lawyers, and to heal the wounds in their communities rather than make more."
Citing her former school as an inspiration for her work, she said her own education taught her much about helping others.
She said: "In the Vineyard they took community service very seriously. I will always remember carol singing for Save the Children on Richmond Green. We raised more than £100 in one night, which was a lot for a kid back then."
So far, she has raised £7,500 out of a £10,000 target, largely through her GoFundMe campaign School for Syrians.
The money has been used to buy whiteboards, books, stationary packs and a bus service to safely transport girls and young children to the school.
She said even the smallest amount made a big difference, with £5 being enough to provide one child with school supplies for one academic year.
She added: "I’ve never seen anything like the shining eyes of the elementary school kids, holding up their new exercise books. In some cases it was the first new thing they had received in years, and they were delighted. It was like magic."
She plans to raise the final £2,500 for small stipends for teachers and basic facilities for the school, such as extra chairs and lighting.
She said: "These young people helping each other are the foundation of peace in the troubled region that I live. This is the kind of initiative we need to support. I ask from the bottom of my heart those people in my community to help if they can."
As well as money collections, the campaign accepts clothing, blankets and donated stationary.
Ms Reitano said: "If local schools prefer to do the Clean Out Your Bottom Drawer campaign, I’m happy to pay the cost of shipping things here."
Email tuesday.reitano@gmail.com or visit her GoFundMe campaign at gofundme.com/SchoolforSyrians.
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