TEENS FOR

The Teens for Refugees club was founded at Shaker High School in March of 2019 by Alvira Tyagi under club advisor Mrs. Detmer. Alvira began her inaugural refugee drive at the William K. Sanford town library after watching an incredible and inspiring documentary about the struggles refugees (children especially) had to face. Children are roughly 50% of the refugee population, even though children only make up 30% of the overall world population. After the two-week-long collection drive, her coalition of teen volunteers had collected over 6,000 items of clothing, books, and household goods, as well as hundreds of dollars. After coming back to school, she then began her club which is garnered towards recruiting students to volunteer to support refugee organizations, encouraging teamwork to hold successful drives to collect items for refugees as they settle into new lifestyles. This club's aim is to ease the stress refugees face, and especially aid refugee children, giving students a different perspective on the lives of others. Her club's continued work has since been reported on the Times Union and Spectrum News.