Middle School Charity Challenge Supports NMFA’s Mission
Every school year for the last decade, Jason Ball, a seventh-grade language arts teacher at Wadsworth Middle School in Northern Ohio, introduces a project he calls the “Charity Challenge.” This persuasive essay and presentation project challenges students, working in pairs, to research a charity that’s meaningful to them and convince both Mr. Ball and their classmates that their chosen charity deserves to receive a donation.
The assignment inspired students Lilly Bell and Avery Wiggins to explore military and veteran service organizations, ultimately leading them to the National Military Family Association (NMFA) and its mission to support military families.
With every visit to our website, Lilly and Avery discovered more about NMFA’s mission and outreach efforts, concluding simply: “Military families need our support.”
Charity Challenge Inspires Students
Mr. Ball designed this project to encourage students to look beyond themselves and begin thinking more about the world around them. At the middle school level, he believes students are just beginning to develop a sense of empathy and purpose.
“We start by thinking about issues in the world,” Mr. Ball explained. “I ask them to think about something they care about—something that matters to them.”
From there, students dive into research, persuasive writing, and class presentations. This all-encompassing project helps students make personal connections while exploring how meaningful change can start with a single action.
Choosing the National Military Family Association
As Lilly and Avery explored different nonprofit organizations, they were drawn to causes that resonated with their own lives.
“My uncle is currently deployed with the Army,” Avery shared. “I wanted to show him—and the soldiers he works with—that I support them.”
Lilly’s reasons were just as personal. “My grandpa fought in the Vietnam War, my dad used to be in the military, and I lost a family member who struggled with PTSD after seeing war,” she said. “I wanted to support an organization that helps military families—because they really need it.”
Their research opened their eyes to the challenges many military families face.
“Living off one income is hard,” Lilly said. Avery added, “With only one income and trying to go to college or find childcare, you really need support.”
One of the programs that stood out to them was NMFA’s Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholarship Program.
“We looked at a couple of different military support organizations,” Lilly explained, “and NMFA did the most to help military families.”
“NMFA makes the scholarship easy to apply for and receive—really helping the spouses in military families,” Avery added.
With additional resources on deployments, child care, and more on the NMFA website, Lilly and Avery felt confident in making their case to the class.
In their persuasive essay, they wrote: “You should have no hesitation donating to the National Military Family Association. Remind yourself of the military families going through rough times right now.”
Support Military Families
After each round of class presentations, Mr. Ball selects a winning team and makes a donation in their name to the organization they advocated for.
“From the beginning, Lilly and Avery were both very focused and clearly invested in the work they were doing,” Mr. Ball said. “I could see they were finding strong facts to support their point that the National Military Family Association is a very worthwhile organization.”
With veterans in his own family, Mr. Ball shared that this project—and others like it—help students understand the importance of service and sacrifice; a value deeply rooted in the Wadsworth community.
“We talk a lot about respecting our military families with gratitude and appreciation,” he said. “I remind them that we’re able to do what we do because of people who are sacrificing—missing holidays, missing family time. That matters.”
Though Lilly and Avery are no strangers to community service, they said this project opened their eyes to how even small efforts can make a big difference.
“We can all do a part,” they agreed, “even if it’s small, to support military families.”
Together, we’re stronger®.
Learn more about how you can support military families at militaryfamily.org.
By: Angela Sablan Tenorio, Content Manager
