Raising funds for Haiti

A couple of weeks ago, Maya told me that she had heard about the earthquake in Haiti and wondered if we could do something to help, like we did with Feeding America. We decided to talk to the rest of the class about it and see who else wanted to help take the lead. A small group of them meet with me several times last week to come up with a plan. As a class, we did some research about the earthquake and about Haiti so that we could understand why they needed our help. The numbers we discovered were dramatic and the photos, very powerful.

• 3 million people are in need of emergency aid
• more than 217,000 people were killed in the quake
• at least 300,000 people were injured
• nearly 2 million people are living in makeshift tent cities
• at least 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings were destroyed

One of Maya's big concerns was that the money we donate should be given to a reputable aid organization. She chose the American Red Cross.

On Friday the leaders instructed groups of their own, making posters for all of our classrooms and collection envelopes while Maya and I wrote a script to use at the assembly on Monday. They learned that being in charge of other kids and giving directions can be difficult but, in the end, they got the job done.

I am so proud of the children for showing such empathy for these people they don't know. They had so many ideas about ways to help - from giving the children stuffed animals "to help them feel better" to collecting canned goods and water. Several of them spent their recess or free time talking about their ideas and making plans for the project.

Here are the basics about our project:

• We will share our project with the school on Monday, March 1st at the assembly.
• We are collecting coins and bills.
• Collection will run from March 1-12th.
• Collection envelopes will be given to each classroom and to the office.
• The leaders will collect envelopes every morning. (Money will be counted and we will keep track of money collected on a spread sheet during our math time.)
• The money will be donated to the American Red Cross. (We'll use the CoinStar machine at Wal-Mart to donate the coins and bills will be donated online via the Red Cross website.)
• We will provide daily Twitter updates about money collected.
• We will ask teachers to have their students/Families make cards or write letters to Haitians. These will be sent to Haiti via UNICEF.

We hope that you will support our project by donating. No donation is too small - every little bit helps!