At Matheia School, and independent k through 5 school, the staff believes it's never too early to start helping children develop an awareness of the world around them. Every six weeks the kids of the school's peer-advocates group pick a charity and put on a fundraiser.

The student-run fundraising program started last year when the school's surrounding neighbors pushed to have a traffic circle installed and planted a tree on the circle. The tree soon thereafter got taken down by an impaired driver. Within months two more incidents took down their tree.

After the third incident the neighbors were crushed, said Director Allison Soules.

"So the kids decided they would fundraise money to buy another tree for the neighbors," Soules said.

Ever since the tiny tree gets decorated by the students with water-proof ornaments that reflect in the night.

"We use shiny stuff that looks like a warning sign at night," one student said. Last month the tree was decorated with hearts and now green clovers glisten in the sun.

As hand-drawn letter from the neighbors reads "thank you for loving our tree" and hang on the school's front door.

"The neighbors were touched by the students," Soules said.

The peer-advocate group is 19 students strong and works on helping other students that may be struggling socially or in class.

"We talk about problems we see around the school and try to fix them," one student said.

"And we raise money and put out a jar and make posters," another added.

Their current project is a fundraiser and food drive for PAWS, an organization that works to rehabilitate injured and orphaned wildlife, sheltering and adopting homeless cats and dogs, and educating people.

The walls of the hallway are adorned with students artwork, the majority of which feature animals, and a box near the front desk is half full with cans of animal food. The students proudly show off the food collected so far, their posters and money jar.

"We decided we want to help PAWS because they help wild animals, too," a student said.

Past fundraisers have benefited the Ballard Food Bank and Wellspring Family Services. The charities are picked by and voted on by the students themselves.

"It's important so you can help other people and make sure they get the care they need," a student said. "Not just people but animals, too."

Soules said their next project, if approved by the students, may be to raise school supplies for Rwandan children.

To learn more about Matheia School, visit their website at www.matheia.org.