A team of students calling themselves Firehawks for Nepal, led by junior Will Bernstein, used Facebook, emails and Schoology announcements in an effort to raise as much money possible for the affected Nepalese.

On April 25, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck a small Nepalese village, Chapagaun, killing more than 8,000 people and leaving tens of thousands severely injured and homeless. Emergency efforts of help and relief immediately germinated all around the globe, ranging from charitable donations to physical humanitarian aide in Nepal.

According to the New York Times, many different countries, including Israel, the United States and Japan, sent search teams in an effort to rescue survivors.

When the news came to Shalhevet High School, students at first did not know how to respond.

“I was kind of shocked,” said freshman Rosie Wolkind. “These things happen every few years and it doesn’t really resonate.”

Rosie and Will joined with freshman Ariel Cohen to form the new group, starting “Firehawks for Nepal” as a small meeting in the office of General Studies Principal Mr. Roy Danovitch. After discussing several ideas, the team decided to launch a campaign to raise as much money possible.

“First we thought what it is we could raise and what we could actually send over, so we thought the most efficient thing to do was to raise money,” said Will in an interview.

The group immediately started a “gofundme” page through the popular online fundraising website. This allowed people from even outside the school to pay with the use of a credit card. The site also gives the option for donors to leave their names anonymous.

The group’s original goal as set on the “gofundme” page was $2,000.

“When it got to $1,700 after a couple days, it was insane how so many people from the community came to support the cause,” Will said, “We then left the final goal at $3,000 and the amount we raised still kept on rising.”

To spread the word, Rosie Wolkind sat down with Mr. Danovitch to write an email to the entire Shalhevet community, extending the pool of possible donors beyond the realm of the school.

“As soon as the email went out, we saw that people started donating from all over, sharing the links [to our website], and within a day we raised $1,000,” said Rosie Wolkind. “It was amazing.”

Over the span of a week, the site acquired $3,100 from community members including parents, family supporters, administration workers, teachers, and students. By May 4, a total of 53 people had donated through the website.

To include students who wanted to pay in paper money, Ariel Cohen created two donation boxes for students and teachers at the JCC. One was covered with red tissue paper and photographs of Nepal, and the other sported denim duct tape and zebra-print letters spelling “Nepal.” The money raised in the boxes raised the total to an even $3,580.

The final amount came as a surprise even to the fundraisers.

“One thing I expected was support from parents, but I still would have never predicted getting that much support from the community,” said Will. “It really said something about our Shalhevet community which was very impressive.”

A week later, the money was handed to school controller Errol Briggs while Firehawks for Nepal decided where to send it.  They decided to split the sum into two halves, for the American Red Cross and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).  The Red Cross’s activities had been widely publicized.

“Of course being from a Jewish school, we also wanted to support a Jewish organization,” said Will, “so after researching several organizations online, we came across the JDC, which had men on the ground in Nepal.”

Both organizations have done humanitarian work for Nepal as well as other countries affected by the earthquake. The shake also triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing at least 19 climbers, making it the deadliest day on the mountain in history.

According to its website, the Red Cross raised $9 million in relief funds for Nepal since the quake. According to its website, the JDC works on long-term relief efforts and assistance that have saved hundreds of thousands of lives of people facing crises around the globe.

Will, Rosie and Ariel said the fact that they were able to help at all felt like an important achievement.

“It proved to ourselves what we can accomplish, that we can make an impact, and we are able to take an active role in society and leave somewhat of an impact,” Will said with a smile on his face.

“People will see what happened in Nepal and ask, ‘What can I do?’ We can raise 3,500 bucks. That’s what we can do.”