Two bright middle school students, David Gallant, 11, and Arjun Venkatesh, 12, are going above and beyond to help protect vital rainforest habitat in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After their teacher, Mr. Pepe, assigned them an independent research project to identify a global issue and find a way to solve it, David and Arjun learned about the urgent threat of deforestation.

Over the course of their research, David and Arjun found that the rainforest has great intrinsic value. “The rainforest is important as it provides oxygen to the world, and without this important ecosystem service people would not be able to survive,” Arjun said. David added, “The rainforest also provides valuable medicines that can help save lives.” As both David and Arjun became aware of the numerous threats to the rainforest in the Congo, they knew they had to find a solution to help.

“Even though the rainforest in the Congo is smaller than the Amazon, people are still trying to save it,” said David.

Their solution to saving the rainforest? Sweet, whipped cream pie. Arjun and David came up with a suspenseful challenge to raise money for the rainforest that involves two pies, and, you guessed it, throwing it at someone else. If the thrower hits the other person in the face, then the receiver has to donate. If the thrower misses, then the thrower gets to donate. After the event, the receiver nominates three other people to do the challenge. All of the proceeds are being donated to Rainforest Trust to help save rainforests in the DRC.

“Research the rainforest, and inform people about what is happening,” Arjun advises to other students wanting to save the rainforest.

Both students, it should be noted, have successfully pied their teacher, Mr. Pepe.

Want to learn more about David and Arjun’s challenge? Check out their CrowdRise page.