Honoring Beloved Hillside Teacher Alan Elder; Girls Raise Charity Money At The Montclair Farmers' Market

When the fifth grade social studies and math teacher shared by Rebecca Oser and Jocelyn Rosenthal, Alan Elder, passed away earlier this year, the two 13-year-old girls wanted to create a project that would honor his memory. By partnering with the Build a School in Africa organization they decided on a lofty goal: to raise between $10,000 and $15,000 to build the Alan Elder School in Mali, Africa.

The organization, Save the Children, will provide the remaining $20,000 that's needed. Amazingly, at this point, the girls already have raised more than $6,000.

On Saturday, August 7, Oser and another friend, Marina Pole, a Mount Hebron student, earned more than $200 at the Montclair Farmers' Market, where they sold the silicone bracelets that read "The Alan Elder School" and bottled water; they also gave out many flyers and free tattoos.

"Most people are just donating money and not doing the tattoo part," Oser said.

Before his death from cancer on January 23, Alan Elder was an extremely popular teacher at Hillside School. A Facebook group called "R.I.P. Mr. Alan Elder" has drawn more than 950 members.

Build a School in Africa is a volunteer-run nonprofit group that already has constructed five schools since 2005, working in partnership with the Connecticut-based Save the Children, another nonprofit.

The Alan W. Elder School will be built in the western African nation of Mali, one of the 25 poorest countries in the world. With a population of 12.7 million people, only about 62 percent of children there attend elementary school. The country's demographic growth of 3.3 percent a year is one of the highest growth rates in the world, and the population is expected to double in 23 years.

To donate to the Alan Elder School Fund, use the PayPal link on the Web site, or send checks payable to Alan Elder School Fund to P.O. Box 1916, Montclair, New Jersey 07042. And check out "A School in Honor of Alan Elder" on Facebook!

For information, go to http://alanelderschool.com/ or visitwww.buildaschoolinafrica.org.