We are a team of four 5th grade girls from Boon Elementary in Allen, Texas. We call ourselves the Peanut Butter Jellies. Through Destination Imagination, we got to work on real problems in our community.
Last year, we partnered with Lovepacs, which helps kids who may not have enough food on weekends. We decided to run a peanut butter and jelly drive at our school, Boon Elementary. Together, we collected 1,347 jars. That helped feed 673 kids for a week. It made us feel proud and showed us what can happen when people work together.
This year, we learned about The Birthday Party Project. They help kids who are homeless or in foster care celebrate their birthdays. We were surprised to learn that some kids don’t get parties, gifts, or even a cake. We wanted to help change that. We created a fundraiser at our school called “The Great Birthday Showdown.” It was a fun competition, and a lot of students and teachers joined in. By the end, we collected more than 500 toys and over 200 cake mixes. These will be used to help make birthday kits for kids who need them.
This year, we placed 5th at the Texas Lone Star Finals. Now we have been invited to go to Global Finals in Kansas City in May. Teams from all over the world will be there, and we feel really lucky to have this chance. Our goal is to raise $5,500. This is how much the team registration fee is to compete at Global Finals. A lot of the other teams get this money from their school. Thank you for your help.
— The Peanut Butter Jellies
