Volunteers from the Brunswick Acres Elementary School packed hundreds of donated items last week in an attempt to offer some relief to the people of Haiti.
For nearly two weeks after the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake hit Haiti, the Brunswick Acres School collected gently worn, lightweight clothing of all sizes to be sent to those affected by the tragedy. The school also organized a loose-change coin drive, which raised over $2,200 for the International Red Cross.
On Feb. 2, about 20 parent and student volunteers from Brunswick Acres packed up 78 large storage boxes of donated clothing, toiletries and baby formula.
Nina Mendes, 9, a fourth-grader at Brunswick Acres, donated a large amount of her own clothes and helped to pack the goods.
“Some of my summer clothes were too small, and I thought I [should] bring them in,” Mendes said. “I like helping out.”
For over two and a half hours, the volunteers sorted the clothing by size and gender and then pack the items for shipment.
“I thought we were going to have very few, but the amount people gave is really surprising,” said 9-year-old Sharon Robinson, a Brunswick Acres fourth-grader. “Helping is the best thing you can do for another person.”
Nina Trach, 10, also commented on the large quantity of boxes and donated items. The fifth-grader noted she wanted to help pack the items because she thought they could use the extra hand.
“The earthquake in Haiti damaged and destroyed [everything], and we need to help them out,” said 9-year-old Elena Grushinskaya. “It’s a good thing to do.”
To help alleviate costs, the Home Depot provided the school with a $25 credit for buying tape, and Lackland Storage donated 30 boxes for pack, according to Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) President Debbie Lazare.
A friend of a Brunswick Acres alumnus, who traveled to Haiti through a nonprofit organization, picked up the items from the school on Feb. 3 en route to Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, according to PTO Public Committee chairwoman Barbara Trach. The clothing will be brought to Haiti and distributed to the village of Jacmel, which is just south of the epicenter of the earthquake.