CALABASAS : School Sale Nets $740 to Help War Victims

Calabasas High School students wrapped up a six-day cookie and candy sale Tuesday, netting about $740 for war victims in Bosnia. “We cannot go out and fight, we cannot go out and rescue people on the battlefield,� said Calabasas French teacher Elisabeth Boghosian, who helped organize the bake sale. “This is one small way we can do something for those victims.�

The money will be donated through the Los Angeles-based American Network for Services and Relief (ANSAR), which sent about $22,000 in small donations to the war-torn region last year. The funds pay for food, clothing and medical supplies, an ANSAR representative said.

The Calabasas bake sale was the brainchild of French student Ramy Sadek, a Muslim who said he felt a special need to become involved in helping victims in Bosnia. “I was watching the things going on over there on TV, and I just wanted to do something about it,� Sadek said.

Boghosian, an Armenian immigrant who helped organize a similar sale for victims of that country last winter, said she, too, has a special duty to sponsor outreach programs for students.

“As a foreign language teacher, part of my job is to bring the outside world into the classroom,� Boghosian said. “We have to learn more about other cultures in this country, because Americans often let themselves get isolated.�