Giving a Helping Hand to Haiti: The Results Are In

(Service)^K: The Power of Kids

Never let it be said that “kids” – a respectful reference to students in schools today – have little to offer the world or that they just don’t care. There’s just too much good news to counter any such perceptions. Witness the hundreds of stories of student leaders in elementary, middle, and high schools who reported to us about the activities they developed and implemented in response to the earthquake in Haiti last January.

Within hours of the first reports of the earthquake, we learned that cell phone donation capabilities were already in place to forward much needed money for relief to the millions affected by the earthquake in the already-impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti. Within days, musicians from all backgrounds, were gathering to demonstrate their concern by doing what they do best – performing for a cause. At the same time, in classrooms and meeting rooms in schools around the nation, student leaders were asking, “What can we do to help?”

Starting last February, the student programs of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NHS, NJHS, NASC, and NEHS) asked our members to share what they were doing to demonstrate their concern. In the midst of our data collection, another earthquake hit the nation of Chile, adding to the international needs for immediate aid. While nations and private corporations, along with their non-profit organization counterparts, rallied to the cause, our student leaders were setting goals, organizing projects and activities, and rallying their peers to raise money and supplies to send to Haiti. Through these efforts they raised awareness among their peers as well – adding the “learning” component to the “service-learning” projects being implemented. Out of all of these efforts also came the raising of spirits – school and community spirit, pride and unity and a new awareness that out of a sense of caring can come amazing results.

What did they do?

Our survey received responses from nearly 200 schools around the nation and the world. Reporting in were elementary, middle, and high schools and the student councils and honor societies found therein. But the responses were not limited to these two groups of students. Instead, they represent commitments of entire student bodies, collaboration among many school and community groups, and engagement that lasted anywhere from a single day to several weeks.

Some schools merely adapted existing projects to focus on Haiti such as diverting the profits from the already-planned Valentine’s Day dance from the student council coffers to make a donation for Haitian relief. Other schools created brand new activities focused around themes like “Hearts and Hands for Haiti”, “Hope for Haiti”, or simply “Help for Haiti.”

The easiest response came in the form of collecting donations – using cans, jars, hats, buckets, and jugs to collect spare change in the halls, in the lunchroom, or in the stands at a basketball or volleyball game.

Taking collections a step further, many schools implemented “Penny Wars” or “Coin Wars” pitting grade levels, classrooms, or advisory groups against each other to see who could collect the most donations in a minute (the “Miracle Minute” collections at ballgames), an hour, or a week’s time.

Special Events:
In addition to coin collections, there were the special events that included:

Clothing alternatives were a popular activity to raise money. Through these activities students and staff would pay to wear hats at school for a day, pay to wear casual clothes or jeans instead of school uniforms, pay to wear pajamas on Pajama Day.

Sometimes local businesses were incorporated, such as when a local Chick-fil-A restaurant offered to donate a percentage of every meal sold on a given night to help raise money for Haitian relief, or when local radio stations offered free advertising for a school's "Donation Drive Thru," or when community organizations agreed to match the donations collected by the students in their fundraising campaigns.

Competition and incentives were numerous. Grade level competitions were popular; competition between class periods was common; competition among schools in a district was sometimes encouraged by the local superintendent of schools. Sometimes pizza parties were awarded to the winning group. Principals agreed to shave their heads; advisers agreed to dye their hair; teachers agreed to get a pie in the face all for the cause of raising money.

Student health was improved in some schools through these efforts. Walk-a-thons were organized; a hula-hoop competition was set up in one school; even “Hop for Haiti” was sponsored in the PE classes of one elementary school.

Activities incorporated not just students but local business leaders, a city judge in one community and a superintendent in another who rallied the community in support of the school’s activities, principals, teachers, parents and families, local fire and police departments, and many, many human service and faith-based groups throughout the country. This was truly a national effort to respond to an emergency in 2011 just as responses came in following Hurricane Katrina, September 11, and other disasters from the past.

Who benefitted from these activities?

Ultimately the people of Haiti benefitted, but the donations of money and supplies (health supplies, medical supplies, infant supplies, food, shelter, clothing and more) were sent to groups such as:

Service-learning skill development

It wasn’t only these organizations and the people of Haiti who benefitted from this outreach, the students themselves learned many lessons about caring from these experiences. They also learned to set goals – stretching to raise enough money to make a difference. They learned how to plan and organize events that lasted an hour or a week – detail after detail to help them reach their goals. They learned skills in publicity and public relations as they shared their ideas with others in the hallways and in the community. They became communicators – sharing the urgency of the need and the steps for people to take to demonstrate their concern. They learned collaboration – that through cooperation and combined effort among many student and community groups that a greater goal could be accomplished and greater good could be achieved.

We are certain that these are but a few of the projects that took place – and are still taking place – in schools since the earthquake struck on January 12. We are proud of our student leaders, along with their advisers and principals who supported them, as they raised money, raised supplies, raised awareness, and raised the spirit of their schools and communities in support of their brothers and sisters in need. One student leader, Belinda Niu, NHS president from SEK Boca Raton Preparatory Academy in Florida, summed up the effort: “Let this be a message that however busy our own lives may seem, however troubling our own affairs may be, there is always a duty to help people whose troubles greatly surpass our own.”

The Power of Kids.