By Christina Leslie | Staff Writer

The clever use of cardboard boxes, some playful ingenuity and a desire for clean water came together in a day of fun and philanthropy in Rumson for the Holy Cross School community March 23 during their “Cardboard Arcade Day.” Conducted by the fourth grade classes of teacher Maryjane Gallo, the students raised more than $2,000 earmarked for the Hundred Pump Project, an organization which plans to install 100 water pumps in five African countries this year.

Fourth grade student Paige Jaenicke had learned about the organization through her father, Brian, and promptly brought it to the attention of Gallo and her fellow classmates Mia Strazella, Charlotte Memon and Nina Mazzacco. With the approval of principal William Belluzzi, and taking the lead from a YouTube video about a young boy creating an arcade from cardboard boxes, the Holy Cross fourth graders and their teacher set out to plan a day of fun and games for a good cause.

“We learned about Guinea worm disease that affects African communities that do not have safe water to drink and read the book ‘A Long Walk to Water,’” said Gallo.   The fourth grade students created posters about the Hundred Pump Project, visited each grade in the school to educate their classmates, and held a preview Arcade Day for families to prompt donations to the project.

Groups of two to four designed and built more than 20 games, filling the two fourth grade classrooms. Students donated 25 cents per game or $5 to play 25 games to win small prizes and test their skill on games with colorful names like Crash and Burn, Plinko, Twirl a Whirl and Alpine Slide.

Gallo explained the students’ philanthropic actions in a post on their fundraising website, hundredpump.doutreach.org/campaigns/mali-06/, noting they “have recognized that hope, along with clean water readily available, are essential human resources, [and] clean water literally will have a rippling effect in the education for both young boys and girls in a developing village in Mali.”

The young entrepreneurs exceeded their initial goal of $1,000. Gallo reported that, in less than a month, $2,430 has been raised for the project; an anonymous donor has offered to match the amount raised. “The response from the students and parents has been phenomenal,” Gallo said, and continued, “Recognizing the needs of others has enhanced their own understanding of the many privileges that they enjoy and often take for granted. They feel they could be the vessel that will aid the children and their families that they plan to serve, [and] ask that donors show the face of God in assisting them in their endeavor.”