When students of El Dorado Adventist School (EAS) returned from Christmas vacation, they came with a goal: to help victims of the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

The students decided to help fishing families in Kakinada, India, by replacing destroyed fishing boats. The boats, which cost $3,500 each, would be purchased through Mahima, Inc., a non-profit organization headed by former EAS principal Rajeev Rambob and his parents.

Students and faculty throughout the school participated. The kindergarten class hosted a hot cocoa and muffin sale, while the first and second graders had a Krispy Kreme donut sale. On the first Friday morning of January 2005, the youngest students of EAS, wearing signs around their necks, called out to passing cars to stop and purchase hot cocoa, muffins and donuts.

Caffidy Wheelwright was one of those student solicitors. “I liked it when Amber [Mace] helped me ask people to give money for the tsunami people,” she said. “And the hot cocoa was really good.”

The fundraising event soon attracted media attention. The Mountain Democrat, a local newspaper, featured Wheelwright and Mace on the front page. These fundraising efforts on the behalf of tsunami survivors resulted in more than $900.

The following Friday, the elementary students held an old-fashioned bake sale. The sale was widely publicized in church bulletins and newspapers, as well as on local TV and radio stations. When the money was counted, students had collected $6,500.

When asked about her involvement in tsunami aid, Alix Kopitzke told a Sacramento NBC TV-affiliate, “It makes us feel really good when we do this, because we’re helping so many people.”

High school students committed to raising $1,500 by combining their personal money, earmarked for basketball team sweatshirts, with matching donor funds. They surpassed their goal with a total of U.S. $1,677. Home and School, a parent-teacher association, sold tickets for a pancake breakfast for $7.50 each. Many patrons of the breakfast also donated extra money, which resulted in a total of $1,200 raised. Collectively, EAS students and faculty were able to purchase three fishing boats.

“It’s nice knowing we gave a family their livelihood back,” said Cari Cardis, a high school student at EAS.

Faculty and staff members have been impressed by the students’ efforts. “I’m amazed at the incredible generosity of this community,” said Larry Balley, principal of EAS. “When a need arises, there is always a response.”

Jeff Youker, vice principal and high school science teacher, feels the same. “It is nice to live in a community where it is no problem for people to open their kitchens and their wallets to support a cause such as tsunami relief.”