LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - Seventeen students at Thomas Simpson School have a wish list that's unusual for teenagers.

Instead of consumer items like new cell phones or the latest video games these students are focused on gifts of a different nature including providing nutritious meals and literacy training to people in developing countries.

Ashton Peterson, left, Nikita Larter and Cydney Nahanni-Kwasney are three of the members of Teacher Advisory Group (TAG) 3 at Thomas Simpson School who are raising money for Samaritan's Purse. Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The students in Teacher Advisory Group (TAG) 3 have taken on the challenge of raising $1,000 for Samaritan's Purse this holiday season.

"It helps them because they don't have as much as we do," said TAG 3 member Cydney Nahanni-Kwasney.

To get their fundraising off the ground the students held cakewalks on Nov. 25 and 26. Participants paid $1 each for the chance to win a cake in each event. Thursday's walk alone raised $39.

There are also plans in the works for a community chili luncheon and a jelly bean guessing jar at the Bompas bazaar, said Ashton Peterson, who's also a member of TAG 3.

The fundraising is for a worthy cause, Peterson said.

"It's good because if something happens to us people help us," he said.

Some members of TAG are taking the fundraising efforts to another level. Nikita Larter, a Grade 9 student, is looking to raise an additional $600 on her own.

Since Grade 7 Larter has done her own fundraising. That year she raised $300 and last year she raised a little less than $600.

"I just like raising money because I have this vision in my mind of helping other people seeing as we have so much," Larter said.

Getting students involved in fundraising for social causes has become something of a tradition at Thomas Simpson School in Fort Simpson. Students have been involved in promoting Samaritan's Purse for a long time, said Teresa Bezanson-Byatt, the teacher advisor for TAG 3.

Students used to fill boxes with toys and small goods for Operation Christmas Child but transportation difficulties during freeze up made it hard to move the boxes, said Bezanson-Byatt. The fundraising now focuses on the services and goods that Samaritan's Purse can provide like helping families get safe water, which is listed at a cost of $100.

The yearly fundraising makes the students look at situations where people their age aren't as fortunate, she said.

"It's giving the kids a bigger picture," said Bezanson-Byatt.

"You have to recognize the world isn't equal. We live in an amazing place."

Although fundraising has become a yearly part of the school calendar this year the school is trying a slightly different approach. Each TAG, of which there are six in the school, was asked to examine a humanitarian topic that provides a more global outlook on the world, said principal Robert Byatt.

Two TAGs decided to fundraise. TAG 5 is raising money for Pennies for Peace. Their goal is to raise $500 that will provide a year's worth of school supplies for 25 children in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The students in TAGs 3 and 5 will be accepting donations until Christmas.