TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

One dollar. That's what a group of Stockdale High students is asking from each of more than 2,100 students on campus.

Students at Columbia Elementary School in the Fruitvale School District are making such things as duct tape wallets, bracelets and tie-dye shirts to sell.

The students at both schools are raising cash to fund classroom construction, pens and other supplies and bikes to commute to school -- for their counterparts in third-world countries.

Schools here are being hit by unprecedented budget cuts, but other places have it much worse -- so they're lending a hand.

"I think everyone should have a good chance to get a quality education," said Cherry Zhou, a Stockdale senior and member of the International Club on campus.

Added fellow club member Tyler Sullivan: "Who wouldn't want to help the world?"

PROJECT KIDS CARE

In mid-2000, Columbia teacher Michelle Olinger won a safari trip to Kenya during The Price is Right game show. During that trip, the teacher and her educator husband visited a school.

What she saw surprised her: students wearing torn school uniforms, some with no shoes, books, pencils, running water or electricity.

"I could not believe the difference from here," she said. "We complain when we don't have enough computers."

When school resumed, she showed her students pictures from her trip -- including the school.

"They were speechless," she said.

Every year, students in several classes at Columbia embark on a fundraising campaign called Project Kids Care to help the needy. They've raised money for Haiti disaster relief, for example. Unanimously, they chose to also help schools in Kenya as well as the Haitian Health Foundation.

The students make business plans for products and services, and then sell them. They sold snacks, baby-sat, walked dogs, and peddled wallets and purses they made. Parents donated snow cone machines and rock walls to use for fundraising events.

Seventh-grader Kate Coughlin, who sold bracelets she and her friends made, said it was important to help Kenyan students because "we have more than they do." Recently the junior high students reunited at Columbia to celebrate their fundraising; that 2009 class raised $1,000 for Haiti and $1,500 for Kenya.

Brenden Wheeler and Ivan Padilla, both seventh-graders, made wallets and purses out of duct tape. They earned $100 the first day they went on sale, and kids throughout campus were sporting them.

"It didn't feel right to see we had all this, and they didn't have much," Padilla said. "It felt good to help."

Since 2006, the students have raised nearly $5,000. That money goes a long way in Kenya, Olinger said, where the annual household income ranges from $90 to $300. A pregnant goat costs $150, and a home about $600.

It helped buy school supplies, physical education equipment, uniforms, books and to pay teachers. It provided two families with pregnant goats, and one family with a stable home. Pen pals write the students, send photos and give updates.

In a letter, the chief of the Kenyan province wrote to Olinger and her class.

"This will surely improve academic performance, especially for pupils from less fortunate families," Chief Gideon Kirigo wrote.

ONE DOLLAR FOR LIFE

On Tuesday, Stockdale students counted pennies, nickels, dime, quarters and one-dollar bills. Senior Jordan Marks held a $20 bill someone donated. She smiled.

That's because Marks has seen firsthand what the money could do. She visited a Kenyan town that benefited from Stockdale's efforts two years ago. Money raised bought cows that provide milk for students, bikes to get to school, and supplies, among other things.

The Stockdale High students are hoping change the world one dollar at time through the growing "One Dollar For Life" campaign. They've placed donation boxes in classrooms, held rallies and collected proceeds at lunchtime. Their goal is to raise more than $2,100 -- $1 from each student.

This year, that money will be transformed into new elementary school classrooms in Nicaragua. By Tuesday, Stockdale students had raised $870.

Only five Kern High School District campuses -- Stockdale, Centennial, Golden Valley, Bakersfield, and West high schools -- have participated in One Dollar For Life. And only one high school in California has a club dedicated specifically to the effort -- others participate through other campus clubs.

The Los Altos High School club, where One Dollar For Life was founded in 2006, raises about $13,000 annually. Since then, schools have helped buy and build water wells, school houses, bikes, cows and school supplies.

Terry Kropp, Bakersfield-area director of school operations for One Dollar For Life, hopes to one day expand to all campuses in KHSD -- the largest high school district in the state.

Reaching even higher, Kropp hopes the 2.3 million high school students in the United States could give $1 each year for efforts.

Here, students are happy they can help. As Stockdale senior Santiago Arredondo said, "These places need it more."

For more information on One Dollar For Life, go to odfl.org or write info@odfl.org.