"Stretching Minds: Teaching in the Light of Creative Altruism" is a collection of inspiring stories about the great things young people are capable of once motivated and given the opportunity. From 1986 until the present , members of the Northport High School (NY) community service club Students for 60,000 (there were 60,000 homeless people in New York City when the club was formed) have raised more than $3,000,000 by themselves and organized many dozens of working field trips to New York City, Nicaragua and western Africa to provide substantial and sustainable aid, care and support for the needy. The club's work, locally and internationally, is the most far-reaching of any high school community service club in the nation. Over the years, the club has built hundreds of houses and latrines for homeless families, constructed several schools, dozens of wells, as well as educational, water and nutrition projects. Its Comedor Escolar Proyecto in Nicaragua, where the club purchased 185 acres, 60 cows and 2000 chickens, feeds more than 1,000 children daily. These accomplishments have taken place without any major grants; all funds are raised the old fashioned way, one dollar at a time, by committed, hard working, dedicated young men and women.
"Stretching Minds" is a collection of 70 stories about the Students' work locally and internationally, their amazing ability to raise funds, and their commitment to others, mostly the poorest people in our hemisphere. Students from the club have traveled to Nicaragua more than 80 times to work side by side with the brave, patient campesino families to help in many ways, including providing "becas," (scholarships) so that extremely poor children can attend school. Typically, a beca includes pants or skirt, shirt, sox, shoes and backpack, so that poor children that have only rags for clothing may be adequately clothed.
"Stretching Minds" also contains a number of stories about the amazing work accomplished by students. For example, in 2001, club members were led to a poor village in northwest Nicaragua called Nuevo Amanecer (New Dawn), where 80 families lived in absolute squalor. They observed many naked children, and that every family had no latrine, having to use the open fields as their toilet instead. All the people were sick with parasites and suffering from hunger. Over the next two years, Students for 60,000 raised tens of thousands of dollars to purchase 85 acres two miles away, then, over the course of several visits, helped the people construct 68 sturdy houses, a water system, a school and community center.
"Stretching Minds" also contains many stories of individual student and adult heroes, people who have inspired so many to do so much. Many club alumni have taken the lessons they learned in high school and, with the strong social conscience they developed, brought them along them to college and their careers. Alumni organized the student bodies at Harvard, NYU and many other colleges and accomplished great things, "stretching the minds" of others, and excelling in careers including medicine, government, education, industry and business.
In addition to these stories, any educator or community service organizer seeking to raise funds for their projects would benefit greatly from the ten page inclusion in the Appendix of "Students for 60,000's Top Ten Fundraising Activities," thorough, step-by-step descriptions of how Students for 60,000 has been able, year after year, to raise in excess of $150,000 annually for their life-saving projects, locally and internationally.
Finally, in addition to stories concerning the legal aspects of service learning, dealing with the press, critics and school administration, "Stretching Minds" shows how, in these divided and troubled times, young people are able to rise above the fracas to work side by side with people of all races, nationalities and income levels to accomplish great,often life-saving change.
