DPS Joins in Haiti Relief Effort

devastating earthquake in Haiti, along with their loved ones here in our country and around the world.

In the few short weeks since this tragedy occurred, DPS students, teachers, other staff members and community and business partners have sprung into action to help do what we can to aid the victims and those trying to help.

• Bethesda Elementary School

• Bethesda Elementary School is collecting "Pennies for Haiti" through Jan. 29. The funds will be sent to Mission of Hope, which is an already established group that has been working in Haiti for the past decade. The goal is to collect at least $1,000.

• Brogden Middle School

• Brogden Middle School is conducting a change drive to support the American Red Cross…Principal Renee Trapp, 560-3906

• Burton Elementary

• An ESL teacher at Burton Elementary School is married to a native of Haiti. She is leading a supply-gathering effort there, also to support Family Health Ministries. Contact Principal Tekeisha Mitchell, 560-3908.

• Carrington Middle School

• Carrington Middle School will have Hats for Haiti, a day where students will pay for the privilege of wearing a hat all day, with proceeds going to the American Red Cross … Principal Julie Spencer, 560-3916

• City of Medicine Academy

• Freshmen and sophomores will be involved in a clothes drive and juniors and seniors in a food and bottled water drive. They will package the items on Friday, Jan. 22. Contact Principal Elizabeth Shearer, 560-2001.

• Club Boulevard Elementary

• Club Boulevard Elementary School is organizing a "Dime a Day" coin drive. Principal Micah Copeland, 560-3918

• Creekside Elementary

• Creekside students, teachers and parents have partnered with The Gathering Church to assemble "relief kits" containing school and health supplies. Students are bringing various items to be placed in the kits. The kits will be assembled and shipped to a depot operated by UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief). UMCOR will transport the kits to Haiti.

• Durham School of the Arts

• Students, staff and parents at DSA have created 244 personal Health Kits for Haiti. Each health kit contains a washcloth, hand towel, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, comb, bandages and fingernail clippers. Eighth-grade members of the National Junior Honor Society coordinated the collection of the kits which were prepared and donated by the DSA community. The health kits will be delivered to the Marion Edwards Recovery Center Initiatives (MERCI) in Goldsboro, from where they will be flown or shipped to Haiti in the next few weeks. Contact Principal David Hawks at 560-3926.

• Eno Valley Elementary

• Eno Valley Elementary School students raised $1,500 in a "coin and bill" drive that they presented to the American Red Cross on Wednesday, Feb. 24. Contact Principal Tonya Williams, 560-3915

• Fayetteville Street Elementary

• Fayetteville Street Elementary School also has launched a coin drive. Principal Rod Teal, 560-3944.

• Forest View Elementary

• Forest View Elementary has raised approximately $1,000 through a coin drive to benefit the American Red Cross, and will present a check to a Red Cross representative on Monday, Feb. 15 at 8:45 a.m. on the school’s morning TV news program. Contact Principal Neil Clay at 560-3932.

• George Watts Elementary

  • Students held a Read-a-Thon to raise $9,394 to send to an orphanage in Haiti that is sponsored by Family Health Ministries. In addition, they created a paper chain, having inscribed each link with a message of hope to the children at the orphanage. The chain is being disassembled here, then will be reassembled by the children who live at the orphanage. Contact Patti Crum, 560-3947.

• Hillside New Tech High

• Hillside New Tech students have launched a campaign titled, "Hayti to Haiti." In addition to raising funds to donate to the American Red Cross, they are researching the connection between Durham’s Hayti area, a historic, African-American center of business and commerce, with Haiti, the country from which the name Hayti derives. Students are contacting local business owners as part of their combined research and fundraising efforts. Principal William Logan, 560-9183.

• Hope Valley Elementary

• Hope Valley Elementary School fourth-graders are making items to sell to raise money for Haiti relief efforts. Items will include: origami, artwork, jewelry, paper flowers, and more … Sale is Friday, Jan. 22 from 8:45 – 9:45 am … Principal Nancy Jirtle, 560-3980

• Jordan High

• Students and staff members are adopting l'Ecole Elagantissma (a K-12 school with programs that include culinary, nursing and mechanics) in Port au Prince, Haiti over the next three years. The first project a general fund collection, including the following events throughout the month of February: Information distributed at Feb. 8 open house; salsa dance on Feb. 12; general collection Feb. 15-26; and an Encore Show on Feb. 19. Click here for a WTVD news story on this amazing effort. Contact Principal Rick Webber, 560-3912.

• Little River Elementary

• Students in the autism program at Little River Elementary School are organizing a school-wide effort to gather food, clothing and monetary donations. Contact Principal Tom Seckler, at 560-3940.

• Mangum Elementary

• Mangum Elementary School is collecting monetary donations through Jan. 29 to support Haiti Outreach Ministries. Contact Principal Gwen Johnson at 560-3948.

• Parkwood Elementary

• is collecting coins from classrooms and then giving the money to the Red Cross, classrooms are collecting "shoeboxes" of toiletries for victims and also collecting soft toys for children. Some employees' donations are being matched by their spouses' places of work.

• Pearsontown Elementary

• Pearsontown Elementary's Gentleman's Club has launched a coin and bill drive. In addition, Pearsontown third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders are visiting the Free Rice Website created by the World Food Program along with Harvard University. Visitors to the website can answer questions from various subjects such as vocabulary, math, geography, and art. Each correct answer adds 10 grains of rice to the total donated, a portion of which will go to the Haiti relief effort. Pearsontown's goal is to donate 1 million grains of rice. Contact Principal Therman Flowers, 560-3964.

• The Performance Learning Center

• The Performance Learning Center will conduct a fundraising effort in conjunction with the American Red Cross at Northgate Mall beginning Jan. 27…Contact Principal Dan Gilfort at 560-9190.

• Shepard IB Middle Magnet School

• Shepard IB Middle Magnet School is conducting a fundraising effort that will support UNICEF. Principal James Ingram, 560-3938.

• Southern High School

• Southern High School students will be working with students from Duke University and North Carolina Central University – along with the Durham Rotary Club and Stop Hunger Now – to pack up 50,000 meals that will be sent to Haiti … Wednesday, Jan. 20 at Southern, beginning at 5:30 pm…Contacts are Southern Principal Kenneth Barnes, 560-3968, and Sam Miglarese, Durham Rotary Club President and Director of Community Engagement with Duke's Office of Community Affairs, 668-6275.

• Southwest Elementary

• Southwest Elementary School has raised $3,048 via to support the Village of Vision for Haiti Foundation, which in turn, supports an orphanage in Haiti. A parent of a former Southwest student has adopted a child from Haiti who will be a Southwest student in a couple of years. Principal Ari Cohen, 560-3972.

• W.G. Pearson Gifted & Talented Magnet Elementary

• First-graders are collecting baggies full of health items. The baggies will be collected and taken to a local church then bundled with other collected items and shipped to Haiti. Second-graders are collecting pennies. Fifth-graders are planning a dance with refreshments on Feb. 5. All funds raised will go to the American Red Cross. Contact principal Kecia Rogers, 560-3988.