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And while the staff at St Mary's is working towards a better situation for their students, over at another Belize City primary school, they raised $900 to donate to children with cancer.
The fundraiser was held last Friday as the school hosted a dress up day, with all the funds going to the Belize Cancer Society. Today we were there as they handed over the cheque.
Colin Estrada, Principal, All Saints School
"We had a pink Friday last week Friday whereby the students were to come dressed in pink in commemorating cancer awareness and so with that, each child was supposed to bring a dollar and then we had a push by Mrs Medina from Medina's House of Jewelry that said that the class that raised the most money, she would buy pizza for them and so what happened is that last year we had raised $500, this year, we ended up raising $895 and so the school put the extra so that we were able to give the Cancer Society $1,000 because it is not just about receiving, yesterday we were on the receiving end, today we're on the giving end in terms of paying it forward because it's something we want to teach our children in terms of being able to know the power of their dollars so that they would be able to make an impact so this will impact the Belize Cancer Society."
Laura Tucker Longsworth, President, Belize Cancer Society
"This is a very special initiative that really has us thinking. We've always taken care of children, as a matter of fact, sponsored and funded by the government of Belize, there's a program for children with cancer, once they come through the Belize Cancer Society, there's an arrangement where they go to Merida for treatment and the government of Belize pays those bills because there's a standardized cost and arrangement between them. In the past, we have also sourced funds otherwise to help the families and these children and this particular cheque will go towards two children who received chemotherapy in Belize but through their spines, it's called Intrathecal chemotherapy, but it has to be done in collaboration with the private sector because of the specialization in those areas and so this will go directly towards those kids who are receiving, so this is very important."
And the Belize Cancer Society is also working with schools to encourage healthier eating, as a way to reduce the chances of developing cancer.
