YES Mini-Grant Helps YES Alumni
Help Others

El Mehdi El Fitr stands with friends and the children who received his school-kits.

With the help of a YES Mini-grant, El Mehdi El Fitr, class of '06, was inspired to begin a nonprofit organization which he called "Friends Involved in Helping Needy Students" or FIHNS, in his hometown of Laayoune, Morocco. The organization's objective is to help provide necessary school supplies to low income students before the start of each school year. Through this project, El Mehdi hopes to foster the value and spirit of community service among his fellow Moroccans.

According to El Mehdi, young, school-age children need greater attention and support by the local community since they are the future of the community. Poverty contributes to high illiteracy rates and El Mehdi notes that many parents of school-age children cannot afford the various hidden fees associated with schooling such as the cost of school supplies. He believes that providing school kits to needy students ensures that they have a better chance of attending and staying in school, which will ultimately help in the fight to eliminate illiteracy in his hometown.

"The school kits included items such as school books, copybooks, pencils, different color pens, erasers, sharpeners and rulers," he said. "All of these items are necessary for school children."

The first meeting of FIHNS took place at Al Massira Khadra Elementary school on September 19th. With the help of Al Massira's principal and instructors, and in coordination with the Hay El Kassam and Mohamed V High Schools, El Mehdi and several volunteers created a large database of needy students to whom they could potentially distribute school supplies. These students and their families

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