Page 20 - FIS_World_May_2015

Refugee children visit FIS as honorary attendees of a fundraiser/dance performance
FIS Reaches Out
A Community Shows it Cares
”How can I help?” has become a common question at a time when thousands of refugees arrive in Germany every week. They are no longer “the other” on our television screens: they are (in) our world.
Many feel instant compassion and decide to extend a helping hand. This is altruism: not just a feeling, but a decision to live beyond a social morality of ”do no harm,” a blend of intuitive compassion with a moral compass driving a practice to help those in need regardless of origin, gender or creed.
Supporting effective altruism and educating students to instinctively lend a hand to those in need regardless of their differences is an integral part of the FIS mission to inspire social responsibility. FIS actively supports a plethora of altruistic practice opportunities from the homeroom or playfield to the local community and global arena. Martha
Boston-Majetic, FIS parent and volunteer, highlighted 20 of the school’s service organizations in her February 2015 FIS World article ”We Act!”
The school’s practice of helping refugees in the local community is not new. Vera Thiers, FIS Marketing and Outreach Manager, points out: ”FIS has been helping refugees for years through donations of computer equipment, hosting parties and fundraising events, and organizing student volunteer, tutoring and mentoring projects and initiatives.”
Recently, the school created a Refugee Task Force to work with local authorities to define the most effective way for FIS to help incoming refugees. Task Force work has resulted in the school adding library resources and bringing in guest speakers to educate community members on worldwide refugee crises; organizing vounteers to help teenage refugees
learn German through its Rosetta Stone language learning software on campus; sponsoring a home in Bad Homburg for a refugee family; working in tandem with other international school students to create stories in both German and Arabic; and instituting a new support program called “B Helpful” to collect “B” items needed by the refugee communities in our area: Backpacks, Books and Bicycles.
Knowing how and where to help is crucial in offering support. In early October, Assistant Upper School Principal, Daniel Cowan, helped welcome more than 200 refugees arriving by bus at 2:30 in the morning to a registration center in Oberursel. Annelie Nassar, FIS service learning champion, had told Daniel about the need for volunteer greeters, knowing that he spoke some Arabic after several years of living in Syria and Egypt. The two stood in receiving lines in the middle of the night welcoming
18 FIS World October 2015