Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Camp Jake arrival
Bonjour from Kaliko Beach! The 33 kids we had planned for turned out to be 36—a nice surprise! We quickly adapted to the change: shuffling rooms to accommodate the new campers. Their oohs and aahs were wonderful! We did some artwork together and ate dinner before helping every camper and their luggage to their room. The team was up until the wee hours planning for today, writing blog posts and unwinding. Will do our best to get the posts up quickly! But the children have just arrived for breakfast and it's time to go help them navigate the buffet. Bon appetit!
Monday, January 2, 2012
Camp Jake here we come
It's been a long and tiring day, but we made it to Haiti. Counselors came from Virginia, Ohio, Oklahoma and Louisiana. We converged in the Miami Dade Airport and were easily recognizable by our bright purple Camp Jake 2012 shirts! A ridiculously long layover gave us the opportunity to get to know each other a bit before hitting the sky for the final leg of our journey. (Author's note: an interesting observation was the size of the plane going in to Haiti. It was substantially smaller than the planes we rode on throughout 2010 and 2011. Wondering if this is due to international aid pulling out? A reduction in NGOs?)
Going through the airport was smooth, surprisingly smooth—a pleasant surprise based on our experience on previous trips. Even traffic was light leaving the airport and heading to the hotel. (Another observation as we drove was the nearly empty tent cities. Areas that had boasted thousands upon thousands of tents some months before were nearly cleared out.) Few people were selling their wares and even fewer walking.
After check in and dinner, we met in one of the rooms to organize the supplies. We were bursting at the seams with suitcases packed with everything you can think of: t-shirts, bathing suits, sneakers, water shoes, goggles, personal hygiene products, balls of every size, shape and color, games, jump ropes, candy (yes, toothbrushes and toothpastes too!), manicure items, art supplies and so on.
Tennis shoes of every size and color lined the walls.
Everything was separated by category (i.e. sports, games, water activities) and large care packages were created for each child. All of this made for poor photo opps but we think you'll get the idea!
Various board games filled several bags.
Boxes of clothing were spread out on both beds from end to end.
Finally, we discussed the next day's schedule and then headed to our rooms to catch some sleep. We had all been up since anywhere between 3am - 4am and we wanted to get a good night's sleep before heading to the camp site tomorrow.
So we wish you reve dous (sweet dreams) for tonight.
The hotel was still decorated for Christmas as well as
Haitian independence day which is celebrated on January 1st
of every year. It was quite lovely.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Camp Jake care packages
Only 4 days until the Red Thread team rolls out the first annual Camp Jake for students at St. Vincent's Center for Handicapped Children in Haiti! Amazing how time flies. Seems like only yesterday that Tom and Jake had the idea for the camp and now it is almost here.
Bags are being packed and re-packed to fill every nook and cranny with supplies for the camp. Then each is weighed and items are shuffled from suitcase to suitcase to ensure compliance with the strict airline codes. Two 50 lb bags per person, 1 carryon and 1 personal items - no exceptions!
Today's project was organizing stacks and stacks of personal hygiene products. In Ohio, a make-shift assembly line was set up and four friends turned those piles into personal hygiene kits. Each of the 33 campers will receive a full kit and be taught how to use the items.
Organizing the supplies
The assembly line
Each kit contains:
- vibrating toothbrush
- toothpaste
- mouthwash
- dental floss
- shampoo
- conditioner
- body wash
- face wash
- sunblock
- nail clippers
- nail file
- bag of Qtips
- deodorant
The packages for the older kids also have:
- razor
- can of shaving lotion
Completed kits
Many thanks to the women of Peace United Methodist Church for donating all of the supplies needed to fill the packages!
As we get closer to our departure date, please keep the Red Thread team in your thoughts and prayers for a successful camp. Also keep in mind the many campers who will enjoy new experiences, taste new foods and go to new places. We so look forward to working with these kids!
As always, we will post to the blog and Facebook frequently during the week of the camp. Electricity and internet connections are often shaky in Haiti, but we'll keep you in the loop as much as possible during camp and the weeks that follow.
Thank you for your continued support!
Raffle winners
Congratulations to the following folks who won the raffle items from our hearing aid fundraiser:
Raffle 1: Betty from Metairie, LA
Raffle 2: Brittany from Luling, LA
Raffle 3: Jeanne from New Orleans, LA
Raffle 4: Mary from New Orleans, LA
Raffle 5: Amber from New Orleans, LA
Thank you to everyone who purchased raffle tickets to support hearing impaired children in Haiti! Due to your generosity, we are able to purchase new digital hearing aids for children at St. Vincent's.
Monday, December 26, 2011
New Orleans youth takes fundraiser for the hearing impaired to new heights
Marigny and Kathy, Red Thread President,
preparing for the fundraiser
Remember Marigny, the high school senior from Louisiana who took on a large philanthropic project for The Red Thread Promise as part of her requirement for graduation? Well, we wanted to share her success and offer the opportunity to continue supporting her efforts of bringing new digital hearing aids to the children of St. Vincent’s Center for Handicapped Children.
On December 2nd, 2011, Marigny teamed with Modern Market, a lifestyle boutique in New Orleans, to host a fundraiser benefitting hearing impaired children in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Raffle tickets were sold for five dynamic prizes and, on the day of the event, Modern Market donated 10% of all sales to the project.
On the street, directing people inside
Marigny (left) and friends who helped throughout the evening
Her original goal was $2,500, quite an undertaking for a single high school student. Following the fundraiser and sales at Modern Market, donations reached $3,700. Rather than simply basking in the satisfaction of a successful fundraiser, this ambitious teen increased her goal and kept right on going!
As of this post, Marigny has doubled her original goal, bringing in over $5,000! And still she keeps going with a passion, our little red Energizer bunny, extending the timeframe for fundraising to January 10, 2012 and increasing her goal yet again.
Marigny has done an incredible job and we couldn’t be more proud of her. The Red Thread team LOVES getting youth involved in philanthropy! We are equally excited to be able to purchase 16 brand new digital hearing aids for the children at St. Vincent’s due to the efforts of a single high school student. Imagine what we could do if we were each so passionate!
Marigny has jump-started this fundraising campaign and we invite you to be a part of it. Many more hearing aids are needed to provide for all of St. Vincent’s children. The goal of the campaign is to purchase 75 hearing aids by February 2012 and a whopping 500 aids by the end of December 2012. Each hearing aid costs $300, a small price to pay to make a huge improvement in the life of a hearing-impaired child.
A note from Marigny: As an American teenager, this project has made me realize that life is not about the materialistic possessions we may have or wish to have, but about the people who are a part of our lives. In the midst of everything, we need to consider those who are less fortunate. This project has certainly made me look at my own life in a completely different way. In the future, I plan to travel to Haiti with The Red Thread Promise to see the children who will benefit from your generosity. This is a perfect way for me to become a global citizen and help those who do not have the means to help themselves. By coming together as a community of caring individuals, we are able to make a tremendous impact on the lives of the deaf orphans of St. Vincent's. We did this together!
If you are interested in joining The Red Thread Promise to give the gift of hearing to these precious children, please contact Kathy@redthreadpromise.org. Donations can be made by PayPal (link at top right) or by sending a check to the address at top right.
Marigny (far right) and the Modern Market team
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
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