Red Cross Heroes: Students in Clovis raise money for Ethiopian children

VISALIA, Calif. (KGPE) – The American Red Cross is honoring its 2025 Central Valley heroes – individuals recognized for their extraordinary acts of courage, kindness and compassion. This year’s youth hero is a fifth and sixth grade class at Gettysburg Elementary School in Clovis and their teacher, Kristyn Giesel, who raised money for children’s surgeries in Ethiopia.

Students at Gettysburg Elementary are learning more than reading, writing and arithmetic. They’re learning that they can make a difference in communities thousands of miles away.

The fifth and sixth grade students spent time making bracelets, crocheting stuffed animals, and selling donated citrus to raise money for children’s surgeries in Ethiopia.

“I actually have a friend, a surgeon in Ethiopia, so we had a personal connection to somebody who had worked at the hospital,” Giesel said.

Giesel gave a lesson about inequality in the world. She discovered that one surgery at a hospital in Ethiopia costs $400; yet, that’s too expensive for many patients.

That was the classes’ first goal: to raise money for one surgery at $400. But it quickly changed to $800.

“Two of those students actually got down and did the math on their desks and they said ‘that’s like only $25 a student in the class, like we could do that.’ So their enthusiasm, also their practicableness of figuring out how much money we need to raise, we decided let’s do it,” Giesel said.

The students got to work. They sold their arts and crafts at an open house at the school.

“When we started making all of the things, all of the crafts, we’re like, ‘oh, we might actually be able to do this,’ and we all started getting super excited,” said Clara Weaver, a Gettysburg student.

“It wasn’t as much just us asking for money, it was us putting effort, even though it was pretty fun to do, making things to make money to give to other people,” said Ben Giesel, a Gettysburg student.

“It was just awesome, it was so cool because it makes you feel like you are part of helping somebody else, and they’re so far away from us, it’s insane how we were able to help,” said Ulayah Escovedo, a Gettysburg student.

Clara, Ben, and Julayah are the representatives of an entire class.

With the support of their principal and the community, the class raised $2,000 to pay for five children’s surgeries. That included: a fifth grade boy who suffered complications from typhoid fever, a 13-year-old girl who suffered a bowel obstruction and a three-year-old girl badly burned in a house fire.

“That’s really powerful, I think for the students, for all of us to know that we’ve been able to change a life of an individual in another part of the world,” said Giesel.