Catastrophic events have lead to drastic damage in Haiti, ranging from broken homes and damaged agricultural crops, to injury, and death, caused by hurricanes and earthquakes.
Hurricane Matthew was the third strongest hurricane on record to hit the country, and the strongest to hit Haiti since Hurricane Cleo in 1964, which both struck as a category four.
Hurricane Matthew lasted from Oct. 2 to 5, 2016, and resulted in 546 fatalities. The combined effects of wind, coastal flooding and rain caused heavy flooding, landslides, and the destruction of a great deal of infrastructure, agricultural crops and natural ecosystems.
The Sedro-Woolley High School Leadership class will be collecting coins throughout the high school, and throughout the town of Sedro-Woolley.
The other donation locations are: The Woolley Market and the Sedro-Woolley Les Schwab. The drive will start on April 8, and end on May 10. All funds will be sent to The Lambi Fund of Haiti.
The Lambi Fund of Haiti is a way for the community to connect with and send money to Haitians.
The Lambi Fund of Haiti has a mission, one of which is to sustain development. “Sustainable agricultural projects help increase food security and income for peasant families. Many of these projects benefit women, who bear more of the burden in the agricultural economy.”
Sedro-Woolley High School leadership teacher, Kelly Hawkins tasked her students with creating a “big project.”
Creating a “big project” teaches students skills like time management, work breakdown structure, planning skills, and communication skills.
Hawkins feels that this project is important on more than a local level, “This project is caring about people and their basic needs – I am hoping Sedro-Woolley High School really steps up to do their part in a big way,” said Hawkins.
A relatively new member of the Sedro-Woolley community, Danny Crosby, who is also the Sedro-Woolley High School’s Security Supervisor, is very intrigued with this upcoming project.
“Anytime others reach out to help those in need is always good. So personally, I think it’s a great project,” said Crosby. “Being new to Sedro-Woolley, and it being such a small community, it’s really hard to say if the community would be willing to donate.” Crosby wasn’t aware of this current foreign issue.
This issue was brought forth to Sedro-Woolley High School students, when the Current Foreign Issues teacher, Anna Melnick, taught this topic to her students in one of her units.
Melnick has a first hand perspective with this issue. Melnick worked at an orphanage in Haiti for a short time.
“When there I saw how poor the people were, and how antiquated the agricultural aspect of Haiti was,” Melnick said. “I met a few people who are trying to help some locals start a chicken farm to be self-sustaining. I am not completely sure how much is needed for equipment, I do know it is hard to come by there and expensive.”
Melnick says that she is “super excited” to see where this project takes the community.