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Local Lesson on International Diplomacy

By Jamie Burch

Dodge Elementary School in Mobile raises thousands of dollars to help fund a cancer hospital in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. Local Lesson on International Diplomacy

Published: Tue, September 18, 2007 - 11:17 am Last Updated: Tue, September 18, 2007 - 12:22 pm

Dodge Elementary School in Mobile raised $2,400 to help fund a cancer hospital in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. Students raised the money as part of a "Coins for Cancer" fund drive.
Teacher Janet Leffard said the idea of donating to Kazakhstan was a result of the school's gifted-student curriculum in which students focus their studies around particular regions of the world. In her research, Leffard learned that Kazakhstan is struggling with high cancer rates after being used as a Soviet nuclear weapons testing site during the Cold War.
Congressman Jo Bonner presented a check from the school to Kazakhstan's U.S. ambassador, Erlan Idrissov, who pledged to visit Mobile and said he hopes the gift from Dodge Elementary marks the beginning of a long-lasting friendship.
Leffard said students collected more than $7,000. They also donated $2,400 each to the cancer center at the University of South Alabama Children's and Women's Hospital and to a children's cancer fund in England.