Students raise money for Haiti relief
|
|
Student representatives from city schools meet at the high school with their donations for Haiti. Vyto Starinskas / Rutland Herald |
Toolbox
By Cristina Kumka Staff Writer - Published: February 13, 2010
There's the story of a Haitian man who was walking down the road staring at his wife and children who were waving at him from their doorstep when he saw the roof collapse on top of them, killing them.
There are more than a million people living in tents on concrete-dusted streets because they're too scared to live under a roof, out of fear they may also get killed, said Rutland lawyer Bill Meub, who returned from his relief effort in Haiti this week.
Then there's also an account of a 5-year-old Rutland girl who donated all her money from the tooth fairy to save the lives of children she would never meet.
Meub and his wife and fellow humanitarian Carolyn, say local donors like the dozens of Rutland schoolchildren who collected penny after penny for Haiti relief efforts and gave the $3,000 collection to orphanages Thursday, will directly help the people dying and struggling in the impoverished country, further destroyed by a massive earthquake and after-shock last month.
About a dozen student representatives from five schools in the Rutland Public School District and Stafford Technical Center handed over a tin can of cash and jars of coins to Alison Remy, a special educator at Rutland High School who is married to a Haitian and volunteered there for years.
Remy in turn will give the money to Hearts with Haiti, an organization that supports three orphanages in the country for abused, neglected and disabled youth.
The money will be used for food, water and rebuilding what is left of the orphanages, Remy said.
Meub, who was in Haiti for four days last week with his Rutland-based organization, Pure Water for the World, which has helped supply thousands of gallons of clean water to Haitians each day since the early January tragedy, said the students' charity won't go to waste and every dollar still helps.
"If the money is going to them (orphanages) and you have that kind of direct connection, you are changing lives and saving lives," Meub said.
Haiti is still in a crisis phase and international aid workers have yet to start relief or recovery, Meub said, speaking from personal experience in the nation's capital of Port-au-prince and in Cité Soleil, one of the largest slums in the northern hemisphere.
Although more monetary help is needed for the basics from the international community at large — supplies to clean wounds to save lives, water and food — there is hope for survival now and in the future, Meub said.
"They (Haitians) understand that today is today and they say, 'I'll accept it and do the best I can,'" he said.
Hope also came Thursday from the mouths of Rutland schoolchildren who said they had a sense of the importance of giving back.
The students raised money through bake sales, school stores, days where staff and students wore jeans and hats for at least $1 sponsorships, and through people just reaching into their wallets, the students said.
"It's really a good cause," said 13-year-old Matt Abatiell of Rutland Middle School. "Every little cent counts."
And they aren't alone — students from Shrewsbury Elementary School, Castleton Village School, Sherburne Elementary School, Rutland Town School and Lothrop School donated a total of about $1,500 to Pure Water for the World's Haiti efforts, Carolyn Meub said.
"I think that what happens, and I don't think it's Vermont alone … is that kids are driven to want to help other kids," Meub said.
"That is the prime motivator."
And in Rutland, students get to see and learn from the very people who have gone or who are going to Haiti to watch over how the people there are using the charitable donations to recover, Meub said.
Remy said what the students didn't know was that it would all their good work and good intentions would likely come back to them one day.
"We have some pretty amazing kids in Rutland," she said.
"It's nice that the money they have raised will go to help kids their age in Haiti."
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
13