Teenagers know a dollar really can go a long way

COEUR d’ALENE – The collection jug was more empty than full, the sky was gray and a cool wind forced most of the teens gathered on a downtown corner Wednesday to put coats on over their colorful World Dollar Day T-shirts.

“We’re hoping to reach $1,500 today,” said Kenna Burch, a sophomore from Lake City High School, as she waved at cars driving past on Sherman Avenue. “We are just crossing our fingers.”

Burch and other members of her school’s Human Rights Club took over the corner of Second and Sherman as headquarters for the first-ever World Dollar Day fund-raiser.

The dreary day didn’t bring out as many supporters as the students had hoped, but their optimism was bolstered by the occasional drive-by donor and a few sizable contributions.

“We got a $50 check here today,” Burch said. Every dollar brings the students closer to their goal of raising $10,000 to benefit St. Vincent de Paul charities, Doctors Without Borders and Heifer International charities and to help furnish a teen center in Coeur d’Alene.

Students at Lake City High School’s Human Rights Club kicked off the fund-raiser in May. They designed it around the idea that most people – including students with only a small allowance – could afford to give a dollar. The fund-raiser culminated Wednesday.

World Dollar Day is the club’s own brainchild. Next year, the group hopes to expand it regionally and, eventually, go global.

The Human Rights Education Institute partnered with the teens and is donating space for the teen center, a former railroad battery building at the edge of Coeur d’Alene’s City Park.

Rhys Johnson, executive director of the Human Rights Education Institute, said the organization hopes to have the center open by late summer.

Collection jars have been at local businesses for a couple of weeks, and additional donations have been made directly to a bank account dedicated to the fund-raiser. Donations were still coming in Wednesday, and a grand total was not available.

Mark Samuels, a sophomore at Lake City, brought an electric guitar with a mini amp to the fund-raiser and played music to entertain downtown traffic.

Earlier, Samuels joined other members of the Human Rights Club as they walked through the Resort Plaza shops and asked people for spare change.

“If we keep doing this every year, maybe everyone will know about it,” Samuels said. “If everyone (donates), it will make a difference eventually.”