Students raise $2,000, give it away to charities | AL.com Estelle Hebron-Jones, second from left, an attorney for the Equal Justice Initiative, drove from Montgomery to Birmingham to receive a check today from students at N.E. The students visited and researched various non-profits, and decided who to give the money to.

One of the recipients was the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery. “Their whole thing is to help people who are wrongly convicted,” said Arlo Winston, 13, a seventh-grader.

Estelle Hebron-Jones, an attorney for the Equal Justice Initiative, drove to Birmingham from Montgomery for the presentation of a check for $560. Equal Justice Initiative has documented more than 4,000 lynchings and has been putting historical markers at the sites. “I hope that it will make philanthropy and social justice a core value for them for the rest of their lives.”

Here is the full list of organizations that received donations from the students:

The Equal Justice Initiative: Litigates on behalf of death row inmates, juvenile offenders, those who may have been wrongly charged or convicted of violent crimes, low-income individuals denied effective representation and others whose trials are marked by racial bias or prosecutorial misconduct
The CARES respite program of Collat Jewish Family Services: Provides enrichment, respite and socialization for those with memory and mobility issues. Received $560.
The Birmingham Holocaust Education Center: Educates Alabamians of all ages about the Holocaust so that new generations will apply the Holocaust’s lessons to the construction of a more just, humane and tolerant future.