It is no secret that southern West Virginia is struggling with a lack of jobs and access to basic necessities.
“The biggest problem that we have is the number of students who do not have their basic needs met every day,” says teacher Amanda Mullins. “Many families struggle, and their children suffer and often can’t concentrate in school because they are hungry, dirty or cold.”
And so, her class imagined the Pineville Giving Tree, a student-built website, where kids can ask for the things that they lack. And they can do so anonymously.
Local community groups then work to provide those things, and deliver them to the student in need.
“We wanted to make sure that our friends have the food, clothes and supplies they need,” the class said in their entry video.
This system has really gone above and beyond. They created shortcuts to the Pineville Giving Tree website on every school device, and have created an app to keep track of what supplies they have in stock.
The school donated a room in the basement, which they refer to as the dungeon, where students keep the supplies.
The project has gathered a lot of attention. Not only did the class win the state round of the Solve for Tomorrow contest, which came with $50,000 worth of Samsung technology for their school, but they are also currently one of 10 national finalists in the running to win $150,000 of technology.
Two students and their teacher will be heading to New York City to present their project to Samsung executives!
And there is something you can do to help them out. Head over to twitter and let Samsung know you support them by shooting out a tweet featuring the #SamsungSolvePVMS tag.
If you want to make it even easier for yourself, you can click on this link to pre-fill your tweet! They’re currently in 3rd place, but we have until March 17 to push them to the top.
If they win the community vote, they’ll receive $20,000 worth of extra Samsung technology.
Go Pineville!
