By Barbara Rowley
BIG SKY – The Lone Peak National Honor Society raised more than $1,300 in support of girls’ education through its showing of Girls Rising at the Lone Peak Cinema this May, according to LPHS Honor Society President Tucker Shea.
“Because the nonprofit we are working with has a donor matching gifts dollar-for-dollar this month, that translates into more than $2,600 for girls’ education,” he said.
According to LPHS Secretary Anna Middleton, who was the chief organizer of the event, the money is being earmarked for girls in Cambodia, where LPHS Sophomore Trevor House will travel as an American Youth Ambassador with the U.S. State Department this June.
“We know that girls there often can’t attend school because they can’t get to school,” Middleton said. “Room to Read, the non-profit that we gave the money to, has an initiative where they buy bikes for girls so they can attend school.”
A donation of $50 pays a girl’s school fees for a year or buys a bicycle in Cambodia. The money raised at Girls Rising in Big Sky means 52 girls will soon be able to attend school. The theater, donated for the evening by owners Sally and Scott Patrick, was sold out for the film. Several individuals and the Rotary Club paid the cost of bringing the movie to town.
“We were thrilled by how supportive everyone was in helping us bring the movie here, and the generosity of our audience,” Middleton said. “It seemed really fitting that a school like ours, that has so much, [would] take some time to support schools – and – children, who aren’t so lucky.”
