| | Published November 12th, 2008
| "Boogie for Baha'" Dance-a-thon at Seedlings Preschool
| | Submitted by Jenny Shepherd (edited by Jean Follmer) |  | | Developmental Kindergarten class: Back Row / Left to Right: Brady Brinkman, Tyler Singh, Hayden Abolins, Joseph O'Dea, Madeline Seburn, Benjy Braunstein, Melissa Morris.
Front Row / Left to Right: Francesca Vasconi, Alexia Dunlavey, Allie Wayland, Anna Watson,
Logan Ketcham, and Niels Ekstrand Photo submitted
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Seedlings Preschool of Lafayette recently held the "Boogie for Baha'" Dance-a-thon to raise tuition funds for the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children in Gaza City, Palestine. The Atfaluna Society is a school specifically designed to educate poverty-stricken deaf children within Gaza City. Seedlings "adopted" an 8-year old Palestinian boy named Baha' Hammo. The proceeds from the dance-a-thon will go toward Baha's annual tuition. Baha' is one of six children and the only deaf child in his family. He is known as a funny student who loves to play with his classmates and siblings.
As the preschool of Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, Seedlings has held similar fundraisers to promote world peace (without borders) over the past 5 years. The experiences have been very fulfilling for the families LOPC and Seedlings and have enabled the Seedlings children to learn compassion for other children throughout the world.
In preparation for the dance-a-thon, the children were shown photos of Baha'. They looked at a globe to determine how far away he lives and learned a few simple things in sign language. The dance-a-thon was held on October 29 and 30 and involved all of the Seedlings students. Children aged from babies to 5 years old danced for 15 minutes on each day and had a great time with freeze dances, running around, and being silly. Their fun paid off.
It takes only $600 to sponsor one deaf child's schooling for an entire year at Atfaluna. As of the date of this article, Seedlings is well on its way to surpassing the more than $1,000 raised in 2007's fundraiser. For more information or to contribute to Seedlings' effort on behalf of the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, please contact Jenny Shepherd at (925) 360-7003.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA