Home

Westisle students pitch in for Haitian relief





  

    

                  

        	    						 
							
Related Media

                                
				                    
Images

                                            

                                                    

                                            

                                                    

                                            

                                                    

                                            

                                                    

                                            

                                                    

                    								

               
						
        	           
 Wed, 01/27/2010 - 04:04 

		  
		
             
              
 
        
                          
              
			  			  

 		   			  
            
  
	  

	  
By Jim Brown
jim@peicanada.com
 




 


 


The images flashing across television screens from Haiti after a powerful earthquake struck on January 12 were horrifying and heart-breaking.


Westisle Composite student Debra Lynn-Lee was one of millions of Canadians who saw the disaster unfold on her television set. She saw the desperate efforts to free countless numbers of men, women and children buried under tonnes of rubble.


The quake and its aftershocks killed more than 200,000 Haitians and left millions of others injured and without food and shelter. They also moved Debra to action.


“It was pretty harsh. There was footage of little kids trapped in buildings. I was just crying my eyes out,” she said.


The 16-year-old Grade 11 student decided she couldn’t sit idly by.


She and her mom had contacted a Red Cross number scrolling across the screen to make a personal donation and then Debra went a step further, taking her mom’s advice to solicit help from her classmates.


One day after the disaster she started a fund raising campaign in which she and others visited classrooms seeking donations.


“We had a whole bunch of students take their lunch money and put it in,” said Debra.


It didn’t taken her long to get the full and enthusiastic support of Westisle’s student council, Principal Charles Murphy, teachers and staff. 


Students stepped forward to work during lunch hours, setting up booths in the main hall near the office to sell hot chocolate for Haitian disaster assistance. They also sold hundreds of 50 cent paper links to a chain Debra hopes will stretch as far as the eye can see.


“The first day we got over three hundred dollars and that was pretty good,” she said, adding her target was $1,000.


Less than two weeks later, students had raised an astonishing $1,700.


The campaign was halted on Friday, because of exams. But it is expected to continue.


“It will resume after exams, with some different ideas,” said Mr Murphy.


 Debra says every dollar received from students, teachers and staff is worth two, since Ottawa is matching those donations.


Other schools in West Prince have also launched fund raising efforts to help devastated Haitians.