Saturday, February 24, 2001

By Eric B. Pilgrim
Stars and Stripes

Eric B. Pilgrim / Stars and Stripes A sixth-grade student from Butzbach Elementary School has the answer to one of teacher Linda Smith's questions. He and his classmates recently created their own business, the Red Hot Chili Kids company, which fed 300 adults in an effort to provide some Kosovar children with some of the school supplies American students often take for granted.

BUTZBACH, Germany — Ben & Jerry did it. Why can’t we?

Forty kids turned that question into their mission after converting almost $1,000 raised from their Butzbach Elementary one-night-only chili restaurant earlier this month into school supplies for Kosovo kids.

The Butzbach sixth-graders developed their idea from a class lesson on starting a business. The intent of the lesson was for the students to learn what running a business is really like.

Carman Edwards, 11, said the first step was to read how others got their start. "We read a book on ..."

"... Ben & Jerry," said Justin Garin, 12.

Carman smiled at him and continued.

"Yea. And they had ... "

"... an ice cream company," Justin said, finishing her sentence again.

The Butzbach students learned how the two ice cream entrepreneurs worked together to pioneer their unique blend of making profits while giving a sizable amount back to the community.

Around that same time, some principals from other Department of Defense Dependents Schools visited the Butzbach kids and showed them what school life is like for less fortunate kids in Kosovo.

The principals visited Nazin Hikmet Elementary School while on a faculty field trip to Kosovo last year and videotaped the inside of the schoolhouse. As the Butzbach students watched the video, they were stunned at the stark differences to their own school.

"The school had nothing in it," Carman said. "And the kids were asking the principals for pencils. I was surprised they would be happy just with a pencil."

Justin agreed. "They didn’t have any supplies. They were kids just like us but they had nothing," he said.

Eleven-year-old Audriana Brown said she didn’t realize just how bad children had it in Kosovo until the video. But after the video, she wanted to help them in whatever way she could.

Then an idea came. Why not merge their business project, recently dubbed the "Red Hot Chili Kids," with Ben & Jerry’s concept of giving back to the community?

"This all just sprouted from the ground up, really," said Ron Haynes, one of two sixth-grade teachers at Butzbach. "Virtually all these kids have had a parent in Kosovo, and they were amazed that Ben & Jerry gave so much away."

So with plans in hand, the students got down to business. They organized and advertised, analyzed and finalized. They knocked on doors and shopped at stores for what they needed to pull off the chili feast of the year.

The little charmers sold the commissary and main exchange on the idea of donating food to the cause.

They sold much of the community on the idea of eating at their restaurant on Feb. 8. On the final day, they chopped, folded, cooked and decorated. During the feast, they served everyone and cleaned up after the approximately 300 people who showed up on the big night.

According to Haynes, not a single penny was lost.

Linda Smith, the other sixth-grade teacher, said the kids learned a lot of valuable lessons from their efforts, like teamwork and organization.

The school’s principal, Marion Parker, praised the students for working together so hard to give the students from Nazin Hikmet Elementary something most American kids take for granted.

"Kids are not always willing to share ... "

"... but you could see it in their faces ... " Smith continued.

And Haynes finished. "... they were sold on the value of this."

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