A group of Union High School students struck by Cupid’s arrow gathered inside Courtney Newell’s home last week to make bracelets aimed at supporting the object of their affection — Haiti.
Newell and Emilie Pate, both freshmen, are leading an enterprise to sell friendship bracelets at Union to raise money for the devastated nation; one of several local initiatives mobilized since the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Schools, senior centers and local businesses have reached out to their communities to raise money and send medical equipment and clothing to help the ongoing rescue efforts, as well as the imminent heavy lifting sure to come when attention shifts to rebuilding Haiti.
“Their whole world was destroyed,” said Pate, who decided she wanted to help after reading about the destruction of Haiti’s schools. “I was thinking about what it would be like if there was no Union, no Camas.”
Newell had been making friendship bracelets for classmates. After she watched a TV report about Molly Hightower, a 22-year-old Port Orchard woman killed by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake, she stopped making bracelets for fun and started making them out of compassion.
Newell’s bracelets have become a must-have accessory within the walls of Union. Pre-orders for bracelets total more than $500 and Newell hopes this week will be her biggest sales week yet.
Newell and Pate plan to capitalize on Valentine’s Day by selling a package that includes two friendship bracelets, a stuffed bear and a lighted rose in the school’s cafeteria during lunch.
“We’ve been really successful so far,” Newell said. “It’s starting to become a trend at Union.”
Money from the bracelet venture will be donated to Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Haiti relief fund by way of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, which has pledged to add $1 for every $2 in donations. That would turn the $1,000 Newell and Pate hope to raise into $1,500.
“The more money they send over, the better,” said Carolyn Newell, who doubles as Courtney’s mom and the bracelet drive’s financial backer.
Courtney Newell said her friends and Union’s faculty have been a major source of support. One day last week, a group of about 10 girls packed into a room in the Newells’ home, twisting thread into bracelets with their hearts focused on Haiti.
“Basically, we’re just making friendship bracelets like crazy,” Pate said.
How to help: Bracelets cost between $2 and $5. A Valentine’s Day package that will include two bracelets, a stuffed bear and a lighted rose costs $15. The Valentine’s Day bag will be sold throughout the week at Union High School, while bracelets will remain on sale the rest of the month. For information, call Union High School at 360-604-6250.
Relief projects
Below is a list of other Haiti relief projects that have come to the attention of The Columbian:
Columbia Ridge Senior Living
Camas High School senior Rebecca Tolbert is playing a key role in a wheelchair drive scheduled for late February. The Washougal retirement center, in conjunction with Wheels for the World, hopes to fill a large cargo container with walkers, walker trays, crutches, canes, hospital beds, foam wheelchair seat cushions and other rehabilitation equipment.
Tolbert, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, met outreach director Richard Glenn while volunteering at the senior center. That meeting got Glenn thinking: virtually every senior residence or health care facility has storage rooms bursting with medical equipment formerly used by residents or patients that have moved or died — much of it brand new.
Wheels of the World distributes medical equipment to countries all over the world, but has, for the time being, focused its energy on Haiti.
“We know that people have wheelchairs and other equipment stashed away in their garages and basements,” Tolbert said in a press release. “This is the perfect time to help others, especially the Haitian earthquake victims, by giving them to Wheels for the World. Please help us.”
How to help: Collection efforts are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 25-28. A collection truck will be parked in the main parking lot at Columbia Ridge Senior Living, 2300 W. Ninth St., Washougal. For information, call 360-335-1238.
Rotary International
Clark County Rotarians have raised more than $18,000 and seek additional contributions from community members and businesses to provide shelter for the earthquake’s victims. The monies raised will go to the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund and ShelterBox, which provides tents that house up to 10 people. There are seven Rotary clubs in Clark County.
How to help: Sue Coates, president of the Lewis Rotary Club, advises giving directly to Rotary organizations, such as the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund and ShelterBox, rather than individual clubs. She suggests visiting Rotary International’s Web site, http://www.rotary.org. To contribute to ShelterBox, visit http://www.shelterbox.org/donate.php.
When the Shoe Fits
When the Shoe Fits, 819 S.E. 160th Ave., received more than 8,000 shoes for Haiti during a two-week push last month. The shoes will be distributed by way of Soles4Souls, a Nashville-based organization that has distributed shoes all over the world. Alan O’Hara, who co-owns When the Shoe Fits with his wife, Amy O’Hara, said the shop was on the verge of receiving more donations than it could handle.
Thomas Jefferson Middle School and Sunset Elementary School
The students and faculty at Thomas Jefferson Middle School also opted to contribute shoes to Haitians rocked by the quake. According to a tally posted outside the school office, they’ve collected more than 3,000 shoes. Sunset Elementary School worked with Franz Family Bakeries to contribute 971 pairs of shoes to Soles4Souls.
River Rock Church
If you’ve still got shoes to donate, it’s not too late. River Rock Church in Camas announced the kickoff of its shoe drive on Thursday. River Rock, too, is working with Soles4Souls.
How to help: Contact River Rock Church at 360-885-9000 or visit http://www.river-rock.org.
Forward Edge International
A Vancouver-based international relief and development organization, Forward Edge International, sent staff to Haiti on Jan. 27. The goal of the visit is to assess the situation to determine the level of infrastructure needed to coordinate additional volunteers. The group focuses on what it calls “phase II disaster work,” which takes place after the first responders have come and gone.
How to help: To contribute, visit http://www.forwardedge.org.
McGrath’s Fish House
Servers at McGrath’s, 12501 S.E. Second Circle, donated all tips earned Jan. 29 to the American Red Cross. The restaurant’s staff contributed $1,050.
Woodland Rehab & Assisted Living
Residents and staff at the assisted living facility raised $532 by selling hand cutouts for $1 to support Mercy Corps relief efforts in Haiti. The fundraiser ended Jan. 28.
Vancouver Christian High School
The student council at Vancouver Christian High School is putting together hygiene kits to send to Haiti that will include a hand towel, washcloth, wide-tooth comb, nail clippers, a bar of soap and adhesive bandages. The kits will be sealed in plastic bags and collected until Feb. 19. The project is a partnership between the school and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
How to help: To contribute, call Vancouver Christian High School at 360-735-7915.
Anytime Fitness
Both Anytime Fitness locations are collecting money for Mercy Corps through February. At both clubs, community members can make cash donations. Non-members at both locations can attend the club with a friend for free and the waived day-use fee will be donated to Haiti.
At the downtown location, 710 Esther St., members and non-members can take yoga and Muay Thai classes. All fees for drop-in classes will be donated.
The gym’s Zumba instructor is donating the drop-in fees from her classes.
How to help: For information, call Anytime Fitness at 360-450-6096 or 360-882-4348.
Laurin Middle School
Each month, Laurin Middle School sells some sort of gram that students can send to their friends. Recently, students raised $533 combined selling poprock-grams and conducting a cash drive. The school is also accepting jeans donations it will passon to Aeropostale, a clothing retailer located in the Westfield Vancouver mall, as part of a larger effort. The school donated its money to Mercy Corps.
How to help: Call Laurin Middle School at 360-885-5200. Jeans can also be brought directly to Aeropostale.
Woodland Primary School
Woodland Primary School students delivered a $1,456 check to Mercy Corps in Portland to help with relief efforts. The school raised the money via a noncompetitive penny drive and a donor link posted on the school’s Web site. In total, Woodland Primary raised more than $4,100.
“I had no idea how much it would be,” said Melissa Sanders, a third grade teacher at Woodland. “I think anyone who could give, gave. Even those who couldn’t afford to give, they gave also.”
How to help: To contribute, visit http://www.mercycorps.org/fundraising/woodlandprimaryschool. Call 360-225-9472.
Hockinson Middle School
Pizza is the commerce of middle school students, said Hockinson Middle School Principal Peter Rosenkranz, but that doesn’t mean students lost sight of Haiti during a one-week penny drive that saw the school raise more than $6,300.
“Every day, we would talk about the importance,” Rosenkranz said. “We were really trying to keep the focus on Haiti. You could hear kids echo that.”
The school earned the money through a competitive penny drive in which students earn points by putting pennies in their “home base’s” jar and deliver negative points to other teams by dumping “silver and dollars,” Rosenkranz explained.
A pizza prize was awarded to the winning base.
The money is being donated to Project Helping Hands, which buys medical supplies and promotes health prevention programs.
Dr. Tan Pinney, an emergency physician who lives in Hockinson, is headed for Haiti as part of a medical team dispatched by Project Helping Hands.
“He said he’s going to come back with pictures and report on how our money’s helping, so kids can see their impact,” Rosenkranz said. The principal said teacher Tara Kennedy, First Independent Bank, Hockinson Jazzercise and Hockinson Intermediate School all made key contributions to the fund drive.
How to help: Rosenkranz suggests contributors donate directly to Project Helping Hands, http://project-helping-hands.org/makeagift.php.
“There are still opportunities to help. They’re going to need to help for years,” Rosenkranz said.
