The learners will collect money or items for hurricane relief. They will choose a relief organization(s) to contribute to and advocate for aid in their families, school and community peer groups.

Teacher Note: This lesson has two options for the Anticipatory Set. Choose the option that will work the best for the teaching/learning styles of you and your students.

Anticipatory Set, Option One:

Before students arrive, push all the desk/tables to the back of the room so that you have a large open space. Write on the board or overhead "Take out a pencil and paper and write about being homeless."

As students walk into the room, give them a card/paper that states:

Your desk is your home in this classroom and it’s no longer available to you. In addition, you must give up your worldly possessions (backpacks, paper, pencil, etc.) by putting them on the back desks/tables. Please look to the overhead (or board) for further instruction.

It will become obvious to your students that they cannot do this and, by now, your room is utterly chaotic! Some will sit on the floor; others will complain; some will refuse to do anything. This is expected. Play the role. Be stern about expecting them to do the assignment. Allow a few minutes to pass in order to get reactions from students.

Ask the students to be seated on the floor and process the activity by asking:

• How did you feel about giving up your possessions?
  
  
• How did you feel when you could not complete the assignment and had nothing with which to work?
  
  
• How would you feel if you lost everything in a natural disaster? (Discuss exactly what would be lost..., pictures, clothes, mementos, and other valuables, possibly even family members and friends).
  
  
• How would you feel if you had no place to live?
  
  
• Who would be there to help you?

Review the four sectors of the U.S. economy: For-profit, Nonprofit, Government and Household (See Attachment One: Sector Information for Discussion as resource information.

Teacher Note:

At this point, you may choose to have the students return to their seats or continue the lesson with the students sitting on the floor.

If Anticipatory Set, Option One was chosen, skip Anticipatory Set, Option Two and continue the lesson with the first bullet of the Instructional Procedure

Anticipatory Set, Option Two:

Instruct the learners to create a list of all of the places they (or their family) have been in the last week. Allow a few minutes for students to individually brainstorm this list.

Create a chart with four columns as a class display. The labels are to be left off the chart until the end of this portion of the activity. Choose a recorder to write the name of the places visited on the chart as they are directed. The teacher will direct the recorder to write answers in the appropriate column as they are volunteered. Learners are then asked to share two of the places, from the list they have generated during the anticipatory set. The teacher will direct the recorder to write the name of the place in the first column each time a government location is mentioned, the second column each time a for-profit business is given, and the third column each time a nonprofit is suggested. Once the lists have been created, ask the students to come up with some ideas as to why the places were classified into these three different groups. The teacher will then put the name of the category on the appropriate column of the chart. Note: If students do not include enough locations or places for any of the columns, then the teacher should feel free to provide examples of their own to balance the chart.

Discuss the similarities/difference between for-profit, nonprofit, and government sectors. Use Attachment One: Sector Information for Discussion as a discussion guide. Tell the students that the three sectors work together to supply goods and services and to meet needs and wants. Many types of organizations/businesses may exist in more than one sectors. As an example, public school may be nonprofit while a charter or private school may be for-profit or nonprofit. More obvious examples of different sectors could be given using General Motors as a for-profit organization and the Red Cross as a non-profit.

Ask the students what they think the fourth sector (the fourth column) may be. If no one volunteers a correct response, tell them it represents the Household Sector. Households supply goods and services to meet wants and needs just like the other three sectors. Write household at the top of the third column. Use child-care as an example of how the four sectors work. There are for profit childcare centers, the government my run a tax supported childcare center, a nonprofit, such as a faith based organization may offer childcare and family members (such as grandparents) may supply childcare.

• Display the word philanthropy and define it for the students as: sharing time, talent and treasure, and taking action for the common good. Tell the students that the nonprofit sector is also known as the philanthropic sector.
  
  
• Tell the students that it will take all four of these economic sectors working together to respond to the disaster in the Gulf Coast region caused by Hurricane Katrina. Former Presidents Bush and Clinton have been asked by President G.W. Bush to lead a joint effort to raise private donations for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
  
  
• Distribute student copies of Attachment Two. Read the excerpt for the White House Press Release. Ask the students how the president’s request for Americans "to open their hearts and their wallets to help those in need" relates to the definition of philanthropy.
  
  
• Ask the learners how they could mobilize the power, generosity, and leadership of young people in their class/school/community to respond to the hurricane disaster. Discuss what steps would be necessary to ensure participation by the entire class, school or community. Create a series of posters and/or a theme song/rap that would attract the attention of as many potential philanthropists as possible. Write a letter for the school paper or tape an interview for the local cable station on the hurricane disaster and the efforts of the relief agency your school decides to support. Discuss if a school group such as the Student Council should take major responsibility for organizing the drive. Should there be a challenge goal?
  
  
• Plan, organize and begin the collection drive.
  
  Teacher Note: If computer research by students is not possible, in advance the teacher can print information from several of the organizations suggested that might be appropriate for their local school to support with contributions. Information about a different organization could be distributed to each research group so they can complete Attachment Five: Conducting Research.
  
  
• As the drive progresses, form the learners into small research groups and have groups research organizations listed in Attachment Six that would be appropriate for the students/school to donate to. The teacher can select a few of the organizations appropriate for the school/students or the students can be allowed to select an organization. Access the Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) Web site: www.FEMA.gov, Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund: http://www.bushclintonkatrinafund.org/ and/or the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster web site: http://www.nvoad.org/membersdb.php?members=National or distribute the list of relief organizations found in Attachment Six.
  
  
• After the research is complete have the groups report their findings and recommend whether or not they think this would be an appropriate organization to donate funds to. Vote or come to consensus about which organization(s) will receive the funds.
  
  Teacher Note: Student voice is very important in making the decision of where to donate funds. The choice of organization can be made by voting or by consensus. The learners may decide on one organization to receive the donations, or to give a percentage of the donations to several organizations. Follow up on the work of the organization in the hurricane area by periodically researching their accomplishments and problems as they work to reinvigorate the area.
  
  Reflection:
  
  
• After the collection drive is complete, have the learners reflect on the issues that have been brought to their attention as a result of the hurricane disaster. Distribute Reflection Rubric (Attachment Two). Ask the learners to write an essay/poem/song that encompasses the ideas of personal involvement for the common good. Include the accomplishments of the collection, how the learner felt acting as a philanthropist for this worthy cause, lessons learned during completion of the task, and the outcomes of the experience. Consider what would be the consequences of a world in which there were no private philanthropic efforts made by its citizens? Consider the importance of philanthropy, not only in this particular situation, but also in one’s nation, state, city, school and neighborhood. Will this experience happen once or will it encourage a continued role of personal involvement for the sake of others?
  
  OR
  
  
• In a journal activity, have the learners reflect on the way they saw the world before the tragedy of the hurricane and what they have learned about people as a result of the devastation. Think about the famous words from John Donne’s Meditation XVII:
  
  No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
  
  In the journal response, ask students to agree or disagree with the quote based on their experience with Hurricane Katrina relief.

• Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund: http://www.bushclintonkatrinafund.org/.
• Federal Emergency Management Agency: www.fema.org
• The White House Web site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050901-3.html
• National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster web site: http://www.nvoad.org/membersdb.php?members=National.
• Learning to Give: www.learningtogive.org. Click on "Teacher" and "Lesson Lists," choose the appropriate grade span to access additional units/lessons about philanthropy.