KENNEBUNK — Ask second-grade student Rory Shehan, and he’ll tell you it’s easy to make money ”“ as long as it’s fake.
No, Shehan isn’t a counterfeiter, or involved in any shady dealings. Actually, just the opposite: He’s one of several art students at Kennebunk Elementary School who have made a batch of “Fundred” dollar bills, artistic and fanciful faux currency that could have a profound real-world impact.
Introduced to the school by parent Joshua Bodwell, The Fundred Project is one that any school can adopt, with the goal of raising nationwide awareness of the environmental threat of lead contamination.
The Fundreds created at KES were picked up by a vegetable oil-powered truck on Thursday as part of an 18,000 mile trek across the country; once collected, the imaginative currency will be delivered to the United States Congress with a request for real-world funding to clean up lead-polluted soils in New Orleans, where the contamination problem is particularly prevalent.
Shehan and his classmates understand the potential impact their art project may have.
“There’s lead in New Orleans, and we were gonna help get the lead out,” said Shehan.
His classmate, Zach Matthews, said that creating the Fundred dollar bills was enjoyable.
“(But) we also learned that it was not just for fun,” said Matthews. “They were for real life, and they could help people.”
According to an e-mail sent by Bodwell to KES parents explaining the nature of the project, 30 to 50 percent of inner city children in New Orleans are affected by elevated lead levels in their blood and are at risk for severe learning disabilities and behavioral problems.
That makes New Orleans a natural focus in terms of finding, and funding, a solution. According to the Fundred website, fundred.org, the project will shift its focus to other American cities and communities if it can successfully effect positive change in the bayou.
Art teacher Kathleen Marquis informed her students about the program and encouraged them creatively as they crafted their fanciful bills. She said that several of them were actually quite good.
“The kids knew that it had to do with the cleanup (efforts) in New Orleans,” said Marquis. “They were very enlightened as to how lead can hurt you.
“They were able to take their ”¦ pieces and create what they wanted to.”
The truck that picked up the Fundreds has been touring the country and making its collections since January, and will continue through June. Its next stop is the New Hampshire Institute of Art, which it will visit today.
For Shehan and Matthews, it was important to be able to help.
“It was fun making Fundreds, but it was still good for New Orleans,” said Matthews. “I believe it might work.”
— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 319, or at jlagasse@journaltribune.com.
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