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Washing cars to make a difference

One 14-year-old Ecole Glenbrook Middle School student is looking to make a difference in Kenya, and she'd like to wash your car to make it a reality.

One 14-year-old Ecole Glenbrook Middle School student is looking to make a difference in Kenya, and she'd like to wash your car to make it a reality.

Madeleine Clarkson is organizing a fundraiser for a Me to We trip to Kenya next summer to help build schools for underprivileged children.

"Can you imagine not going to school?" she said. "It's such a big part of our lives that usually we just take it for granted. But some children in Africa have never even had an education.

"This is the reason I'm going on this trip. To help others."

Clarkson was inspired to participate in a Me to We trip after attending We Day Vancouver last September.

"There I will build a school brick by brick, help with a water project and experience the life of children in a Maasai village in the Mara Region of Kenya," she explained.

Clarkson will be fundraising until the end of June 2012. Her goal is to raise $6,000, which includes both her airfare and vaccinations.

So far she's already a sixth of the way to her goal.

Next week she is participating in a Take Action Academy camp at UBC-she received a $500 bursary to attend.

Clarkson has already organized bake sales, guessing games, book sales, ice cream cup sales and Me to We t-shirt sales.

"I can't wait to meet lots of other youth who share my passion and become a better leader with the resources and tools I will receive from this camp," she said.

The car wash event is set for this Saturday, July 30, at the On the Run Esso Gas Station on Sixth Ave. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information or to donate to her cause, visit her blog at www.madeleineIclarkson.blogspot.com.