January 20, 2010 12:20 PM
SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — Just as South Berwick and Eliot school children have supported the people of Haiti in the past, students are again rallying to collect much-needed money, medical supplies, shelter materials, clothing and shoes for victim’s of last week’s devastating earthquake.
Grace Jacobs, specialist teacher of gifted services in SAD 35, and adviser to the World Ambassador Club at Marshwood Great Works School, is helping students support Life and Hope Haiti, the organization that local schools have partnered with in the past to support education efforts in Milot, Haiti.
Jacobs led the club in “Hats for Haiti” day, where students could donate money in exchange for wearing a hat to school. In total, they raised $552 for Life and Hope Haiti’s current cause: a nursing home/orphanage compound destroyed by the catastrophe. This week, students are collecting supplies that will be boxed and shipped to Life and Hope Haiti for use at the Aisle Saint Vincent Paul facility in the city of Leogane, about 20 miles west of Port-au-Prince and only five miles from the earthquake’s epicenter. Many residents, including priests, nuns and patients have died or were badly injured.
Maria Christian, a fifth-grade student member of the World Ambassador Club, has been touched by the tragedy, as her participation in past collections for Life and Hope Haiti has taught her about the suffering in Haiti.
Still, Maria was surprised to see recent pictures of the earthquake ravaged country. “We had seen the presidential palace before it was destroyed and I couldn’t imagine the White House just being knocked down,” she said. “It made me want to help all these people.”
Central School joined the Hats for Haiti fund-raising drive and is participating all week. More than $1,100 was raised on the first day of the drive. Although the suggested price of wearing a hat to school was 25 cents, several students, including Tucker and Lily Whelan, Wyatt Yager and Matt Caverly, emptied their piggy banks for the cause.
Third-grader Brooke Flynn led her classmates with a shoe and sock drive on Wednesday. Brooke proposed the idea to Principal Vicki Stewart, stating that if every student brought in one pair of outgrown shoes and socks to school, there would be enough for nearly 500 Haitian children.
“They needs lots of help in Haiti,” Brooke said. “This is a good thing to do.”
Berwick Academy is also supporting relief efforts in Haiti. Jen Onken is leading an all-school fund-raiser this week to support medical relief and basic survival needs such as food and shelter supplies. While the academy continues to work on its long-term goals with Life and Hope Haiti through child sponsorship and fund-raising, its immediate plans are to send financial assistance to Partners in Health, a Boston-based health care organization that provides modern medical care to poor communities in nine countries around the world.
Marshwood Middle School student Georgia Barlow is a member of the newly formed World Ambassador’s Club, and is working to promote education about global issues. Since the earthquake hit Haiti, Georgia and her fellow club members have raised more than $200 to support the victims and they are planning a dodgeball tournament to continue the fund-raising effort.
The Interact Club at Marshwood High is also working with the South Berwick-Eliot Rotary to collect donations for earthquake victims.
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