School supplies donated by students to send to impoverished students in Haiti.
Hope for Haiti is a new club founded this year by senior Bela Cunha-Benjamin. Cunha-Benjamin took the time to answer some questions about the club.
Q: What do you do in the club?
BCB: Even though we have only had one meeting so far, I can see that people are really excited and have lots of ideas to bring to the table about ways to fundraise. In our first meeting, we discussed issues in Haiti that need to be addressed such as the failing education system, in which the government has little involvement. We tried to map out ways in which we can maximize donations of school supplies from kids at WJ.
Q: Why did you start this club?
BCB: I started the club with the initial idea of [having] a school supplies drive. One day at the end of the summer I was looking for leftover school supplies I had to see what I needed to buy to start off the new school year. Then I realized I [had] so [many]extra [supplies] I probably [wouldn’t] have to buy any for two years. I’m sure everyone else in the school has a little stash of supplies and wouldn’t mind sparing a couple pencils or notebooks to help a good cause. So I set out to find an organization that interested me. I liked Hope for Haiti because they always welcome a large variety of material donations while most other organizations only take monetary donations. Being 17, I know most of us don’t have that much extra change in our pockets and people aren’t as motivated to donate raw money. I believe it’s only right for each of us, living in such a privileged area, to donate a portion of our time and energy into helping those who are not as lucky to be born in such a place.
Q: How do you plan to help the community in Haiti through your club?
BCB: I chose this charity because it [benefits] the most impoverished country in the western Hemisphere. And I really wanted to help out kids with basic needs. This organization made it easy to donate materials and they have different projects for school around the country of Haiti going on right now.
We are going to put a box by the main office and collect school supplies to ship to the Hope for Haiti organization which is based in Florida. We would love to get as many donations as possible, but this means we also have to raise more money for shipping, since shipping costs by the pound. We’ve already talked about possible future projects such as sponsoring a child in Haiti, which comes at a small cost per month, but [would] provide all the basic necessities. We are still open to more ideas of how to help out. Right now I am trying to see if there is a local volunteer job we can do as a club that benefits Haiti. I hope to change the progress of at least a few schools.
Q: When does the club meet and who’s the sponsor?
BCB: We meet every other week on Thursdays in room 109, and the sponsor is Mr. Murray!
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