We found out that help was needed to restore the USS Salem, a retired Navy vessel that was built here in Quincy, Massachusetts. The ship is now a floating museum.

We chose a Saturday and a weekday during our April vacation as our workdays. We chose these because it was more convenient for us busy students (sports practices, play practice, dance lessons, part-time jobs, etc.). We were not able to get a school day off to do our "Day's Work." No one minded giving up a day off; it was for a very good cause ... helping Haitian children.

To raise money through our community service project, we used a "pledge sheet" to get paid. Basically, we took a typical pledge sheet from "Walk Against Hunger" and we re-designed it to make sense for ODW-USA.

We asked family, friends, neighbors and parents' work buddies to sponsor us for every hour of work we did on the "Day's Work." We asked people to pledge us at minimum wage ($5.25 per hour). We did not go door to door. That's too risky. All 70 kids returned pledge sheets. It was easy and most adults were familiar with the pledge sheet and what it does and how it works.