What do you do for a group of 8th graders who raised $4,000 and collected 700 gallons of water for Haiti relief? You applaud, and that's what the staff did today at Food for the Poor, the international relief agency based in Coconut Creek.
"I was waiting for the opportunity to do something right and that was it," said student Kenny Yerves, who matched each jug of water collected by his classmates from St. Jude's Catholic School in Boca Raton with money from his own pocket. "They helped me a lot and I just hope I helped the people of Haiti."
Certainly, the kids' effort was impressive, but of course, it's just a drop in the overall relief bucket. Food and supplies collected in South Florida by Food for the Poor have been pouring into Haiti. Since the earthquake five weeks ago, the charity says it's delivered 359 shipping containers full of relief and has served tens of thousands of meals, beginning a few days after the disaster.
"Since then we have continued a relentless delivery of clothing, food, medical supplies, of oxygen to hospitals, and we are raring at the bit to start reconstruction," said Angel Aloma, Food for the Poor's director.
With millions of Haitians left homeless in tent cities, Aloma says his agency is ready to start building simple homes, pending approval from the Haitian government. Each one costs about $4,000 to construct, the same amount raised by the St. Jude kids. The project started in a meeting of National Junior Honor Society students.
When asked if it felt good to help, Kelsey Chalous, one of the organizers of the effort, replied: "Very good, and it inspires you to help out more and do other stuff."
Without question, much, much more remains to be done. Aloma says relief efforts will be needed for years to come, because the earthquake killed not only people, destroyed not only buildings, but jobs, too. Many Haitians have no way to buy food. That's why efforts like today's are so important.
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"What this symbolizes," Aloma says, "is an attitude of service in our young people, so it augurs well for our future if kids who are 13, 14, to fundraise $4000 and to bring in 700 gallons of water for people they will never know, never meet, never see."
Aloma says Food for the Poor has two major needs: money for building homes, schools, and water delivery projects in Haiti, and continued awareness from the public that the emergency there is not over.
To donate, go to www.foodforthepoor.org.
