School Partnerships
Sister Schools provides Puget Sound students with a global experience in personal philanthropy. We teach compassion, service, and social responsibility by partnering students in donor schools with children in need. In a powerfully personal way, our students learn that no matter who they are, or what they look like, they have the ability to change someone’s life.
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We partner with Elementary and Middle Schools throughout the Pacific Northwest, primarily focusing on the Seattle area, and would love to partner with YOUR school too! Keep reading to learn more about how it works, and to sign your school up!
Fall Presentation
First, your school will host a Fall Presentation where students learn about life in Uganda. Uganda is still recovering from the effects of civil war and dictatorship, as well as the devastation of the AIDS epidemic. Today, it has one of the youngest populations in the world, leading to extremely crowded schools that are underfunded and under resourced. Your students (and staff!) are asked to consider what would school be like if they didn’t have any books? How would they learn math if they had a chalkboard but no chalk? What would their classrooms be like if there were 100 other students, but only enough seating for 30?
Supply Drive and Collection Day
Next, your students are invited to participate in a supply drive for their Ugandan partner. For two weeks, they collect writing materials, books, and paper for the classroom as well as soccer balls and jump ropes for recess! On Collection Day, Sister Schools returns and takes pictures of students with their donated items. Each school brings in an average of 900 lbs of supplies each year!
Distribution
Based on the items your school donates, we then match your school with a sister school in Uganda. We take care of sorting, boxing and shipping all donations to Uganda. In April, our staff distributes your gifts to your sister school.
As we distribute all the donations from your school, we make sure to take even more pictures of your donations getting in the hands of Ugandan students. In fact, we take pictures of the exact same items your students gave! Throughout this entire process, we have kept your photo items separate so that we can take pictures of your donations in the hands of your Ugandan partners.
Return Presentation
At the end of the school year, we get to come back for your Return Presentation, where we show your students first-hand the difference they made in lives of Ugandan children. We show your students the photos of them taken on Collection Day, right alongside the photo of that same item in the hands of a Ugandan child on Distribution Day. As kids begin to recognize their friends and classmates, the atmosphere in the assembly changes – students are excited to see their gifts being used by their fellow students. They listen to the songs performed by Ugandan students and realize that their gifts incited joy and celebration in these communities. Even if they could only give one pencil, they realize that they changed lives half-a-world-away.
Before they leave the assembly, Sister Schools encourages them to find new ways to serve communities. If they can change lives in Uganda, just imagine what they can do in their families, in their schools, and in their neighborhoods.
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If you’re interested in bringing Sister Schools to your school, fill out the form below. We’ll be in touch soon about next steps!