Local students are fundraising for schools in third-world countries by buying and selling shirts.

Students involved in Willow Creek Community Church’s high school ministry, Student Impact are supporting a charity called The Cambodia Initiative to help raise money for schooling in Cambodia.

“The Cambodia Initiative is a project that Willow Creek is doing to help kids in Cambodia afford school,” Kalynn Rhew, sophomore who supports The Cambodia Initiative, said.

High school students started the program after watching a video called, The Lost Generation, which is a documentary about current day life in Cambodia for not only children attending school, but for people who were forced to drop out of school in order to get jobs to support families.

“[This program] is important because if kids don’t get an education, they have no life ahead of them and will be forced into labor for the rest of their lives,” Rhew said.

The goal of The Cambodia Initiative is to raise a minimum of $62,000 to build a dormitory for 50 students living in Cambodia who can not commute to school on a daily basis, according to The Cambodia Initiative’s website.

“Once the students heard about it, we were all interested in the idea of helping a country in such a huge way,” Kelsie Gates, junior who supports the cause, said. “We’re intrigued to learn more and find ways to spread the word.”

Students can help to make a difference by either purchasing a T-Shirt from the Cambodia Initiative website for $20, or donating money to www.forcambodia.com.