With the news of the earthquake, I immediately thought of my trip to Haiti last year — the children, the ”mommies” and Dave Harris, our Lifechurch volunteer staying at the orphanage. In 2009, Lifechurch assumed leadership of Rescue Children Orphanage, and I got to know the 11 children who were rescued from slavery, abandonment, extreme poverty and abuse. The quake destroyed our home, but our children and staff were alive — thank God.
It’s Tuesday, Jan. 12, around 5:30 p.m. My phone rings and Ramon Crespo, missions director at Allentown’s Lifechurch, nervously shares that a 7.0 magnitude earthquake just hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He tells me the children and employees at our Rescue Children Orphanage survived, but we lost contact with them.
Asbury United Methodist Church is making and collecting health kits for Haiti. These kits contain personal hygiene products and are used by the United Methodist Committee on Relief both in Haiti and after disasters all over the world.
Presbyterian Women of the Lehigh Presbytery assembled hygiene kits and baby kits for Church World Service. These kits will supply and replenish those kits already sent to the Haitian earthquake site.
Students and faculty across the Allentown School District are responding with compassion for the victims caught in the devastation of the earthquake in Haiti, raising thousands of dollars, most of it going to the American Red Cross.
The faculty, students and administration of Moravian Academy have been working together to organize fundraising events to benefit the people of Haiti. Moravian Academy has identified two organizations, Church World Service and the Gaskov Clergé Foundation, as the primary recipients of their fundraising efforts. Moravian Academy had relationships with both organizations before the earthquake. Their staff and volunteers are in position to channel the funds we raise directly to the people who need it most.
Nitsc hmann Middle School’s Grade 7-1 led our school efforts to help the people of Haiti. On Jan. 15, 19 and 20 in lunches for Grades 6-8, students donated change. Our goal was to reach $100 per grade level for each day for an expected total of about $900. In these three lunch periods, the students raised oveer $1,500. Students were bringing in bags of coins.
We were all devastated to learn of the earthquake in Haiti that took so many lives and left so many people injured and homeless. We wanted to help so we took up a collection within our dealership, and the owner graciously volunteered to match any amount we raised with $5 for every dollar donated.
Student Council and the Community Outreach Committee did a Helping Hands For Haiti fund drive at Schnecksville Elementary School in January. Students from Student Council and parents from the Parent Teacher Organization greeted students every morning in the bus lobby. The response was overwhelming.
The Hillside School in Macungie is raising money for Haiti. The fourth-grade students of Ms. O’Brien’s class are spearheading the project. After talking about the earthquake in class, the students decided that even a small effort could make a big difference. They presented their idea to the student body, consisting of 114 students, grades kindergarten through six. One of the fourth-graders told his fellow students, “It doesn’t matter if you donate a penny, a nickel, a dime or a quarter, just please show your kindness to Haiti.”
