Fort Christian Grade 3 teacher Brenda Mueller and her students are raising money to build a playground in the Ukraine.

Grade 3 students at Fort Saskatchewan Christian are looking to make their mark in a small village halfway around the world.

Led by their teacher, Brenda Mueller, the students are raising money to build a playground at an orphanage-turned-school in Prostore, Ukraine.

The project began to take shape last June, when Mueller's cousin was travelling in the Ukraine and sent photos of the school. Mueller ultimately shared those photos with her students as part of their social studies lesson.

"When we saw pictures of the school and everything, it looked really nice — and then we saw the picture of the playground and we went 'Whoa!,'" Mueller recalled. "Our playground is so big and beautiful, and theirs just doesn't look like much fun."

With that in mind, the class decided to start raising funds to build a new playground for the Ukrainian students. As of Tuesday (Feb.5), they had collected more than $2,600 of their $20,000 goal.

"A lot of Ukrainians live around here and they came from Ukraine or have relatives in Ukraine," Mueller said. "We've just been so blessed by the Ukrainian culture, so we just thought it would be really nice to give back."

In January, Mueller and her students started a club to brainstorm more creative ways to raise money. For instance, they're currently working on posters to put up in the local Co-op and other area businesses.

All funds exceeding the $20,000 mark will go to the Fort Sask Food Bank.

For more information on how to donate, contact the school at 780-998-7044.