The Jacksonville High School Interact Club, led by Club President Abby Mitchell, has raised $2,800 to sponsor a school scholarship for Ellen Mandidzora, an 18-year old high school student in Zimbabwe.

Mitchell said, “We sold Yuda Bands, which are ‘fair trade’ bracelets made in Guatemala from hand crafted leather and coconut with different designs. Yuda is derived from ‘ayuda’ the Spanish word for help.”

The Club learned about Yuda Bands at a Rotary District Conference, and got more information through its website, yudabands.org. They signed up to sell 400 bracelets and selected an international student to sponsor. According to Mitchell, each Interact member was allotted 15 of the $7 bracelets to sell. “After having everyone storm social media with pictures of the bands and the story behind them, everyone was wanting one.”

Mitchell added, “We loved the fact that we knew who we were supporting with this service project. We selected Ellen Mandidzora from the list of students seeking sponsorship. Knowing about Ellen, what kind of life she has, her hopes, dreams and so much more, gave us a sense of urgency and desire to help. Each Yuda Band bracelet we sold would make a big difference in Ellen’s life by allowing her to get an education. I really enjoyed being able to help Ellen because I am aware of how fortunate I am to be able to go to school every day, and I want every student to be able to have the same opportunities that I have.”

The Jacksonville Rotary Club sponsors the Interact Club. Rotarian mentor Jon Valuck said, “This is a great group of young people.  They really dedicated themselves to make this service project successful. We selected this service project because it is targeted to provide education, which is one of Rotary International’s six areas of focus.”

Rotarian mentor Christina Lomelino said “Interact is a service club for youth ages 12 to 18 who want to connect with others and have fun while serving their community and learning about the world. Our Club plans to conduct at least five service projects during each school year. This year, in addition to the Yuda Band project, the Interact Club helped send 83 care packages to active military members overseas, spoke at the Rotary District Conference, and are helping with Meals on Wheels.”

Mitchell said, “Our club meets on the first and third Monday of each month during the year at 6 p.m. at the Soap Company Coffee House, and we would love to have more students join us!”

For more information, contact:
Jacksonville Rotary Club
Jon Valuck
217.491.8744