Young Malden students band together to help Haiti
Monday, February 8th, 2010Middle school students at the Salemwood School are wearing their support for Haiti on their wrists and are close to raising $1,000 to help earthquake victims.
A project dreamed up by sixth grade teachers to sell rubber bracelets imprinted with the words hope, strength, survivor, and faith, has taken off. Students received permission to sell the bracelets, which come in blue and red, the colors of Haiti’s flag, during lunch.
There is no minimum donation required to receive a bracelet but many students have been generous in their offerings, sixth grader Caron Camille said on Thursday.
“It started with dimes and quarters and the next thing you know we’re getting 20s,†she said. Camille grew up in Haiti and saw her former schools and neighborhood reduced to rubble during television coverage of the disaster. “I was crying ever day,†she said.
The bracelet sale raised nearly $1,000 for the American Red Cross in its first week, said sixth grade English teacher Jane Wright. Of the 500 bracelets purchased for the drive, only 20 remain.
The earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12 has left its people and infrastructure in ruins. Watching rescue workers and Haitian civilians pull survivors and the deceased from the wreckage, it was difficult not to feel for the people of Haiti and want to help them.Three Samuel Staples Elementary School (SSES) fifth-graders felt the same way. Greg DeCarlo, Sam Pronovost and Joey Sherwood individually approached Principal Kimberly Fox-Santora, wanting to help.