A local small group of students is raising money to help 10 girls go to school in the Solomon Islands.

Saiya Mcelderry of Odyssey/Commodore Options schools in Bainbridge Island, said the effort is a continuation from last year, when they helped seven girls.

Mcelderry said the girls can’t afford to go to their public high school in Malaita on their own. So four local students are working with Melanesian Women Today, a nonprofit led by a local parent that helps women there with business, education and health.

The graduation rate there is only 10 percent and 66 percent of families can’t afford school, forcing many to drop out, particularly teenage girls, which can have a huge effect on their lives, Mcelderry said.

“Being in communication with girls similar and very different from us out of our own country has been a very educational and inspiring experience,” Mcelderry says in an email.

Because of COVID-19, the local service-oriented volunteers could not do any in-person fundraising, like the bake sales and concerts they did last year.

Instead, they have an online store to sell items like t-shirts, hoodies, holiday cookies from Blackbird, face masks that students designed/made and more.

The students have until February, and they have raised about 55 percent of their goal.

“We are trying to approach the global problem of the lack of educational opportunities for young women,” Mcelderry said. “Out of the 138 million kids who are of high school age but can’t attend for environmental, access or economic reasons, a majority of which are girls, we are trying to help 10.”

For details or to donate go to www.melanesianwomentoday.org