Fifth-grade students involved in the “Destination Imagination” program at Willis Intermediate School will be collecting donations at this week’s First Friday event in downtown Delaware that will benefit Family Promise of Delaware County.
Four students from Willis Intermediate — Rachel Darrah, Robbie Bair, Megan Wallace and Bob Parmar — make up the school’s Destination Imagination team and are participating in the organization’s service learning project “The Meme Event.”
Students said they were tasked with using the creative program to identify, design, plan and carry out a project that addressed a need in the community. They also needed to create an Internet meme to promote the project.
Parmar said he reached out to Family Promise of Delaware County and asked if there was a way they could help. Parmar said Family Promise asked for donations of body wash and other hygiene products.
Parmar said the other members of his Destination Imagination team were in charge of designing flyers, posters and putting donation boxes around town.
The students said they will be collecting donations at First Friday on Feb. 5 during the “Chocolate Walk” from 6 to 9 p.m.
The students also said there are donation boxes at Willis, the Delaware County District Library on Winter Street, Delaware Christian School and Gospel Light Baptist Church.
As for the meme component of the project, the students took a screenshot of Gandalf from “The Lord of the Rings” films and overlaid the text “You shall not pass unless you get some chocolate” and posted it on social media. The meme will also appear in the Willis school newsletter.
Parmar said this isn’t his first charity project and said he used to collect donations for the “Socks for Seniors” events when he was in elementary school. He said the project benefited senior citizens living in nursing homes.
“I’ve always liked helping people,” Parmar said.
Darrah said she enjoys the project, and Destination Imagination, because it’s a challenge.
“I love coming here and having a little project to keep my creative juices flowing,” Darrah said.
Destination Imagination is a nonprofit organization that provides project-based educational programs to foster creativity and innovation in students, according to its website.
