Local fundraisers hope to help people of Haiti
February 10, 2010
By Laura Geggel
NEW — 1:46 p.m. Feb. 10, 2010
People across the Snoqualmie Valley are finding ways to show their compassion for the victims of Haiti’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake. Whether selling cookies, collecting coins, asking for shoes or selling paintings, locals are making a difference.
Shoes for orphans
The family of North Bend Elementary School teacher Shari Myers lost a dear friend in the earthquake. Molly Hightower, a 22-year-old from Port Orchard, was the little sister of Jordan Hightower, a friend of Shari Myers’ daughter Kelsey.
“Molly was donating her time and sacrificing all the comforts of home to physically disabled Haitian orphans,” Kelsey Myers wrote in an e-mail. “When Molly lost her life, family, friends and even strangers decided that the best way to remember Molly was to carry on her mission. This mission was to get shoes to these orphans, who are often barefoot or in other cases only have one shoe.”
Myers’ students decided to take on the project. They are collecting new and gently used shoes (in boxes) as well as monetary donations that will benefit Friends of the Orphans, the orphanage where Molly Hightower worked.
Donations can be made until Feb. 25 at North Bend Elementary School, 400 E. Third St., North Bend.
Students donate change
North Bend Elementary School students are holding a coin drive to help the people of Haiti rebuild their lives. School officials encouraged community members to hold coin drives in their offices and then donate the proceeds to the school drive through the end of February. As of Feb. 5, the students had raised $422.
The school will donate the money to Friends of the Orphans in honor of Molly Hightower.
Other schools have their own coin drives. Snoqualmie Elementary School is holding the Great Penny Caper with coin collection jars in each classroom. Students will divide the proceeds between the Red Cross and Heifer International.
Cascade View Elementary School raised $2,036 and donated it to the Comfort for Kids program of Mercy Corps in Portland. The Key Club at Chief Kanim Middle School raised $1,400 by playing bingo, and Fall City Elementary School raised $300 from a coin drive.
Toiletries on the way
The students at Twin Falls Middle School decided to hold a coin drive to help the survivors of Haiti. The drive was so successful, it netted $2,000.
“Kids were coming in with bags of coins,” math teacher George Warren said.
Working with the nonprofit Convoy of Hope, the school used its money to buy much-needed toiletry supplies for Haitians.
After school administrators made a trip to Costco, students assembled the toiletry kits, putting things like washcloths, toothpaste, soap, toothbrushes and combs into plastic bags for shipment.
“They need money to help themselves,” seventh-grader Colten Green said as he assembled one of the kits.
A bar of soap doesn’t hurt either.
Paintings for Haiti
North Bend artist and woodcarver Adi Hienzsch invites art lovers to his workshop, Edelweiss-Chalet Alpine Paintings, 14410 436th Ave. S.E., North Bend. Through at least the month of February, Hienzsch will donate half of his proceeds to a relief fund supporting Haiti.
Most of the 60 paintings for sale range between $125 and $400, and feature Pacific Northwest landscapes. The paintings come in various sizes.
“You like to help out where you can,” his wife Eva Hienzsch said. “And this would be the best way for us to help out.”
Call 425-888-0490 to learn more.
Bake sale nets $2,734
A group of six seventh-grade girls found a sweet way to raise funds for the earthquake victims. They raised $575 from a bake sale held at the North Bend QFC Jan. 24.
Two fathers from the bake group agreed to match the money, including Greg Pfiffner, at Alpine Chiropractic in North Bend, and John Tedeschi, of Acceptiva, bringing the total to $1,725. After a second bake sale, the group netted a total of $2,734.
The proceeds benefit the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.
Snoqualmie Middle School seventh-grader Hannah Kirk said she and her friends wanted to help the people in Haiti any way they could.
“It’s extremely tragic and very unfortunate for people who lost family members and friends,” Kirk said. “It is going to take forever to repair the damages and broken structures of Haiti, so my friends and I are going to help out.”
Twin Falls Middle School seventh-grader Kiley Pfiffner said it was important to help people who had “no homes and no food.”
Her stepmother, Ann Landry, said the girls would send their donations to the fund by Valentine’s Day. To donate or learn more, call Landry at 206-227-8481.
Landry challenged other Valley businesses to match the bake sale funds or to hold other fundraisers for Haiti.
“It would be really good to mail a pile of checks off from Snoqualmie Valley,” she said.
Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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