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Hinsdale Central teachers help microfinance club raise funds
Hinsdale Central teachers John Naisbitt and Jim DiDimenico help take an order from freshman Will Girard as they work at the McDonald's on York Road to raise money for the school's microfinance club.
Updated: April 15, 2013 2:09AM
HINSDALE — Teachers from Hinsdale Central helped the high school’s microfinance club raise money by working at the McDonald’s in Hinsdale last week.
Teachers took orders at the front counter and at the drive-through window in the restaurant on York Road, north of Ogden Avenue, from 4 to 8 p.m. Feb. 7. They also cleaned the restaurant, clearing tables and mopping and sweeping the floors, as students passed out fliers promoting the fundraiser, said Eve Winiarski, a social studies teacher and club sponsor.
McDonald’s donated a percentage of the sales during their shifts to the club, which supports nonprofit organizations, such as Kiva, that provide funding, training and technology to help local people start their own businesses in countries on five continents.
“We have made 90 loans to Kiva so far,” Winiarski said. “We have used other organizations in the past, but Kiva is especially easy to work with and allows us to track progress on the loans, as well as reinvest the money that is paid back, which is a nice feature.”
Students in Central’s microfinance club “have looked into various issues within microfinance, as well as researching issues and lending partners in some of the countries we donate to in order to make better decisions about who we loan to,” Winiarski said. “We have also prepared materials for some of our social studies teachers to use in their classes to spread the word about microfinance and the organization we in particular use.”
The club estimates it raised $500 at McDonald’s last week. In addition to Winiarski, the following teachers participated: From the social studies department, Dan Otahal, Sofia Rahman, Sanskruti Patel, John Naisbitt, Val Ruth, and Jen Graham; math teacher Matt Doll; science teacher Melissa Jensen; Sibyl Krucoff and Jim DiDimenico from the English department; Bianca Lopez and Julie Conroy from the Spanish/world languages department; physical education teacher Lynn Hatz; and activities director Pam Kalafut.
The student board for the microfinance club is Ryan Scales, Conor McDade, Carli Harvey, Matt Santulli, Anya Patel and Tom Lorenc.
