My mom & I surely plan to donate something personally via our church. It's such a sad situation. My mom saw the saddest thing last night: An 11-yr old girl separated from her family was trapped under some rubble & cried to her mom, "Please don't let me die!" Later at the hospital, she dies. Here's some info: http://www.worldvision.org/
Our student leadership group is having a meeting on Monday during the lunch hour to decide what we are going to do as a school.
We're meeting after the long weekend, too, to determine what we should do. We donated items last year to a school in Haiti as one of our service projects. We learned that the school collapsed during the earthquake and some of the children are unaccounted for. We're hoping to find a way to help that school community directly.
We haven't discussed doing anything as a school yet, but I should talk to the principal about it on Monday. I plan to donate through my church.
I'm the advisor for the Red Cross club, and we had already started a county-wide "$5 saves a life" cannister drive; we're emphasizing that any donations will assist the organization's efforts in Haiti.
We've donated some money. It's the only way I can help besides pray and be thankful for the rescue teams there. I know someone who donated their earned vacation days at work to help out people affected there in Haiti.
It is a sad situation. I was watching the news and a woman from North TX was there with a mission group. She was trapped under the rubble and prayed that she didn't want to die under there. She was freed from there but later died at the hospital. I don't know if our school is doing anything for Haiti or not, but I sure will ask Tuesday!
We're doing a hat day. The students pay $1 to be allowed to wear a hat in school. We're also going to wear the color of the Haitian flag.
Several students are wearing pins with the Haitan flag colors and we did a very successful collection in home room on Friday. We have finals this coming week (block scheduling means finals in January for fall classes and June for spring classes) so I'm sure nothing will be happening then.
Actually, last year we had a huge drive and sent them medical supplies. Today was the memorial mass for the son of one of our secretaries, the one who died suddenly the other day of meningitis. It, along with the luncheon to follow, was held at school. So I think that, and her, have been a big part of the focus of the past few days. And I think maybe they're waiting just a little, to: a) make sure supplies can actually get through and b) determine the status of the family members of our kids and faculty who are in Haiti and still not heard from. As to my family, right now my husband is photographing a mass in Creole (I'm pretty sure, though it may be French) in one of the local parishes that have a large group of Haitian immigrants. The bishop is saying the mass. Tomorrow all the churches in the Diocese will have a special collection for Haiti, and we'll include a check.
Our chapel offerings from the year will go to a local missonary organization that supports a pastor, church, and school in Haiti. The kids brought up that they wanted it to go to Haiti instead of other charities they had chosen because of the immediate need. Also, we will be doing something special to collect money during National Lutheran Schools Week--possibly some sort of penny wars between the Lutheran schools in our county.
I just got an email from the teacher who is the head of our social committee; she suggests that in lieu of the "Secret Friend" we usually do in February, we donate the $15/person to the Red Cross instead.
Our student council is having a crazy sock day and a hat day to raise money. We're also collecting donations.
Our entire district is having a Hat Day. Similar to the post before - the kids pay $1.00 to wear a hat in school all day! The kids always think it's a pretty good deal!
Dh's office is matching all donations, as well as making a large one themselves. Last we heard, they had given over 8k. That makes us feel so amazing, as it's not a huge office. I just hope that the charities are wise stewards with the money, and that it makes the impact Haiti needs right now.
We're having a one-day collection today. We're passing an envelope around in homeroom. I love the day we do this-- no perks, the kids get absolutely nothing in return. They do the right thing because it's the right thing to do. One girl asked yesterday why they don't just take $1 apiece off the tuition. My response was: a) that money is earmarked for something else b) the bigger picture: this isn't simply about mom and dad doing something for Haiti. It's about THEM learning that sometimes someone else's "needs" are more important than your "wants." I said that this was a short week (we're off tomorrow for Founders Day, and were off Monday for MLK.) And that those 2 days of lunch money from every kid who would have bought lunch would make a huge difference. We'll see how it goes.
We're having an assembly tomorrow and the kids are all encouraged to bring donations. There's also a big jar in the library for a coin drive; I was out of the building most of the day yesterday so am not sure how full it is.
Today we brought in almost $10,000. They're extending it one day (Monday, since we're off tomorrow for Founder's Day.) The check will be in the mail Monday night.
My son is with Friend Ships. They do mission work and disaster relief. Being a mom, my first instinct was to go out and buy anything I could from their list of needs. I quickly realized that what little I could send would not go very far. I opted for a donation.
Our kids brought 10 peso coins today. I heard we brought in 23,000 pesos, which only equals about $2,000 US dollars, but I think they did great, and we are a pretty small school. I mean, if every single school brought something to the table, imagine how incredible that would be...
Make sure whatever donations are collected are sent to reputable recipients- Red Cross (indicate Haiti Relief), Doctors without Borders are two good ones...Haiti is known for corruption and money often does not end up helping those in the most need when sent directly to the country...sad to say.
They put together a video to show the kids-- the snow days delayed it until today. In two days, my school raised $10,700.
The Lutheran schools in our area have been raising money by collecting change for the past two weeks. On Monday, we will all gather at our National Lutheran Schools Week chapel service, and the pastor of the church/school our area supports will be there to talk to the kids and they'll present the donation to him then. Our small school raised almost $1,000; there are 4 or 5 others participating as well. I think the best thing, though, will be for the kids to see Pastor again--they were all very worried about him.
We donated our 50/50 winnings to Doctors without Borders and since we have 16 students from Haiti at my school, they put together a "Hands and Hearts for Haiti" campaign and we raised several hundred dollars.
