Everyone in 8th grade brought money to support the cause. Almost all the students in school participated in the outreach. A total of $1350 was raised. The students are now in the process of writing letters to the children of Haiti.

Mrs. Simril, principal said, “This was an example of how the family of St. Leo the Great will give back [for a cause] especially in a time of need.”

“I think it was good and effective, but I wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t for the people in Haiti,” said 7th grade student Devohn Moore.

3rd grade teacher and student council advisor, Mrs. Cephas said, “I thought it was a good thing. Almost all my students participated and some even brought more [money] than expected. The students were just excited to help!”

by Simone B., 8th Grade
Managing Editor / THE LION LEDGER

The quake that struck Haiti wiped out more than half of its population. Like St. Leo’s, La Promesse is a church school. The children that were lost in the rubble were estimated to be about 100. That is half of the student body at St. Leo the Great.

The student council brainstormed ideas and the first they came up with is planning many $5 “Jeans Days” where students don’t have to wear their uniform to school if they make a donation. The first one will be on Wednesday, January 27th.

They are sending home a letter to families explaining that, “The money will go to the American Red Cross organization and other organizations that will make sure people receive the monetary donations.”

You don’t have to wait for a school fundraiser or be an adult to help the Haitian people. There are many ways kids can make an impact too! By having a simple fundraiser of your own, like a lemonade stand, you can make a huge change in a Haitian child’s life. You can also donate things other than money, like clothes and shoes. Bring old clothes to an organization like the Red Cross or, you could donate shoes that you may not use much anymore. Though this may seem like something small, it can really impact a child’s life.

If you go to Soles4Souls.org, you’ll find that donating your old shoes will mean the world to a kid who has no shoes right now. This will protect their feet from any sharp objects that may be on the ground from the earthquake.

So please take initiative and help the children in Haiti who have been affected by this devastating earthquake.

by Simone B., 8th Grade
Managing Editor / THE LION LEDGER

MCT is a joint venture of McClatchy and the Tribune Co.

Early estimates indicate that as many as three million people may be affected by the catastrophic earthquake which hit Haiti on January 12, 2010. The American Red Cross’ efforts are currently underway to provide basic supplies like food, water and medicine. The people of Haiti are struggling to survive during this critical time of need and you have the power to help.

In an effort to inspire Americans to support relief efforts, First Lady Michelle Obama, The Advertising Council and the American Red Cross have partnered to create a national public service advertisement campaign (PSA) to raise money to assist Haitians during this critical time of need.

The PSAs encourage all Americans to contribute to the American Red Cross’ relief efforts by going to www.redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED-CROSS or texting “HAITI” to 9-0-9-9-9* to automatically donate $10 to the American Red Cross.

*Standard Text Message & Data Rates May Apply

(from the National Ad Council)

From Staff Reports
News Team / THE LION LEDGER

There were reports of some looting in the capital, even as the U.S. military assumed control of the airport and helicopters airlifted supplies from a carrier off the coast.

Evans Paul, former mayor of Port-au-Prince, summed up Haiti’s two most urgent needs: “We need rescue and security,” he said.

With the USS Carl Vinson stationed in the bay of Port-au-Prince, the commander of the U.S. military relief effort said personnel and supplies were moving into the country, though their distribution was hampered by impassible roads and a desperate population.

In some neighborhoods, angry and frustrated men created road blockades from corpses.

“If the citizens of Haiti will just remain in place and remain calm, help is on the way,” Gen. Douglas Fraser, the head of the U.S. Southern Command, said at a press briefing in Miami.

The Haitian government, he said, had begun broadcasting the locations of distribution centers for food, water and medicine.

“Go to those places. Use those places,” he said. “That’s where you can get help.”

A reprieve also arrived from President Barack Obama, who on Friday approved Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, which will allow them to stay and work in the U.S., and send money home to their loved ones.

Also Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would travel to Haiti on Saturday to review the U.S.’s ongoing relief efforts and survey damage from the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation Tuesday.

Vice President Joe Biden also planned a trip to Miami with Secretary of Homeland of Security Janet Napolitano to meet with Haitian-Americans.

As many sought to leave the island, rescue efforts for those who remained continued around the clock.

At one site in Port-au-Prince, at a house near the presidential palace, rescue workers extricated two older people — a man and a woman — and carried them away on stretchers, battered but alive. The crowd that had gathered burst into applause.

As relief workers focused their rescue efforts on the capital city, other parts of this country were still awaiting food, water and medicine.

In the coastal city of Jacmel in southwestern Haiti, scores of homes and buildings were reduced to rubble, and roads were impassible.

As encampments sprung up throughout the island, Haitians grew tired of waiting for international relief and took matters into their own hands — providing security, and rationing what little they have.

Twenty young men patrolled the rocky soccer field and surrounding community, keeping vigil over the hundreds of homeless who had camped out night after frigid night in the Marie Therese neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.

The tired and weary who camped in the field sang for comfort. “Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made … ”

Not far away, their cry for help was captured in a few Creole words painted on a bedsheet hung between two trees: “Help. We need water. We need medicine — food.”

Many Haitians were critical of their government for not acting faster to bring help.

“Nobody is coming,” said Jasmine Pierre, who along with 10 members of her family have been camped out in a Port-au-Prince park since Tuesday.

“I think only God is in charge. The government should be here, any government. There is no government in the palace right now. I don’t even really know if Haiti has a government today.”

Haiti’s government institutions struggled to recover from their own devastation.

No single federal government office building remains standing, and officials were looking for a proper headquarters from which to organize relief operations, first lady Elizabeth Preval said.

“The Haitian government has a problem,” conceded President Rene Preval on Thursday.

“Before we can help the people, we have to figure out how to function under an extraordinarily difficult situation.”

At a police station near Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, government officials set up a makeshift command center, said former Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis.

“All the government ministers — President Preval, parliamentarians, advisors — all are here and are looking at what will be the new strategy from the engagement of help and assistance of the international community,” he said.

Fraser, the commander of U.S. military operations, could not give a timeline for relief to reach the hardest hit areas.

“We don’t have a good idea of the full extent of the problems,” he said.

More military forces were on the way as well to help the 4,200 U.S. personnel already in the country or offshore on the USS Carl Vinson.

An additional 6,300 military personnel are scheduled to arrive by Monday.

(Charles, Daniel and Robles reported from Haiti. Jen Lebovich reported from Guantanamo Bay. Daniel Shoer Roth reported from the Dominican Republic. Chang reported from Miami, as did staff writers Douglas Hanks, Curtis Morgan, Carol Rosenberg, Nancy San Martin and Jim Wyss. Lesley Clark contributed from Port-au-Prince).

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© 2010, The Miami Herald
Visit them online at: www.miamiherald.com
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

by Jacqueline Charles, Trenton Daniel, Frances Robles and Daniel Chang
McClatchy Newspapers / (MCT)

MCT is a joint venture of McClatchy and the Tribune Co.