On the week of 28 October 2013, students at Marc Garneau participated in the Key Club Change Drive. Members of Key Club visited classes every morning to collect donations for The Eliminate Project.

The Eliminate Project is an international mission with a goal to raise $100 million US. The aim is to help extinguish maternal and neonatal tetanus, which is a disease that kills a baby every 9 minutes.

Mona Adib, co-president of Key Club, remarked “It only takes $1.80 to vaccinate the mother and protect all her children, so why shouldn’t we help? Why shouldn’t we give infants the chance to live?”

The disease is contracted from tetanus spores that come in close contact with open wounds, and is prevalent in underdeveloped countries. It affects women and babies during childbirth, by rendering newborns sensitive to light, sound, and touch.

“The bond between a mother and her child is irreplaceable; but this disease is slowly taking that way from them,” commented Joyce Cheng, Eliminate Chair of Key Club. “It is an extremely painful process, for both the mother and the baby.”

Joyce, whose goal is to promote the Eliminate campaign, organized the change drive in hopes that students would “donate their change to create change.” The event lasted for 3 days during the week, with an initial goal of $100. In the end, the project exceeded expectations by raising a total of $404.00.

“The amount of support we’ve had from the school has completely shocked me,” said Joyce. “Classes worked extremely hard, teachers helped out by reminding their students and explaining more about the disease, and in the end, we had some pretty great results.”

Mr Alexander’s class raised the most money, with Mr White’s class coming in a close second. Both classes were awarded treats for their dedication and efforts.

The Key Club Change Drive will likely become a yearly fundraiser, so students can look forward to contributing to the project in future years.