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Darien, IL —
A Darien school and a Hinsdale-based doctor have strong connections to the relief efforts being undertaken in Haiti, devastated by a recent earthquake.
For the past three years students at Lace School in Darien have been raising funds to help a school recently founded in Haiti build an addition to its existing structure.
By Tuesday morning students at Lace learned their efforts have taken a sudden, and more serious, turn following the earthquake that has devastated the island capital of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region.
“The school, located in Darbonne, was totally destroyed,” said Cynthia McGann, director of Kids4Good, an organization of students at Lace dedicated to several service projects.
Three years ago, McGann said, the organization adopted Institution Mixte Nao, a K-4 school, and began raising funds for the school’s expansion.
More than $1,000 has been raised, but that pales in comparison to what is needed following the earthquake, McGann said.
“Today we are at ground zero with the project,” McGann said. “This has been a very powerful lesson to the kids.”
To generate relief funds Kids4Good is asking students and families to participate in Giving Games4Haiti, in which electronic games and games systems will be collected at the school and exchanged for funds to go to relief efforts.
Giving Games4Haiti is an ongoing fundraiser, and was not started as an outgrowth from the recent earthquake, McGann said.
“At this point we don’t really know what the plans are for the school itself, so in the short term we will collect toward the overall relief effort, not the school project,” McGann said.
Depending on whether or not Institution Mixte Nao officials choose to rebuild the school, McGann said she is unsure how Kids4Good funds will be distributed in the future.
Kids4Good has been collecting funds for the school for the past three years through the Hope4Haiti Program after McGann got in contact with a man named Maxandre Bien-aime, a Haitian who wanted to start a school for children K-4, McGann said.
According to the organization’s Web site, 70 percent of the Haitian population is illiterate and few children make it past the sixth grade.
Bien-aime started the school in 2002 as an alternative to the schools operated by the government there, McGann said.
Following a four-day holiday weekend, McGann said she was able to inform students at Lace that despite the carnage in Haiti, there was a small ray of hope.
“We were able to make contact via phone, and we found out that Maxandre survived,” McGann said.
A Darien school and a Hinsdale-based doctor have strong connections to the relief efforts being undertaken in Haiti, devastated by a recent earthquake.
For the past three years students at Lace School in Darien have been raising funds to help a school recently founded in Haiti build an addition to its existing structure.
By Tuesday morning students at Lace learned their efforts have taken a sudden, and more serious, turn following the earthquake that has devastated the island capital of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region.
“The school, located in Darbonne, was totally destroyed,” said Cynthia McGann, director of Kids4Good, an organization of students at Lace dedicated to several service projects.
Three years ago, McGann said, the organization adopted Institution Mixte Nao, a K-4 school, and began raising funds for the school’s expansion.
More than $1,000 has been raised, but that pales in comparison to what is needed following the earthquake, McGann said.
“Today we are at ground zero with the project,” McGann said. “This has been a very powerful lesson to the kids.”
To generate relief funds Kids4Good is asking students and families to participate in Giving Games4Haiti, in which electronic games and games systems will be collected at the school and exchanged for funds to go to relief efforts.
Giving Games4Haiti is an ongoing fundraiser, and was not started as an outgrowth from the recent earthquake, McGann said.
“At this point we don’t really know what the plans are for the school itself, so in the short term we will collect toward the overall relief effort, not the school project,” McGann said.
Depending on whether or not Institution Mixte Nao officials choose to rebuild the school, McGann said she is unsure how Kids4Good funds will be distributed in the future.
Kids4Good has been collecting funds for the school for the past three years through the Hope4Haiti Program after McGann got in contact with a man named Maxandre Bien-aime, a Haitian who wanted to start a school for children K-4, McGann said.
According to the organization’s Web site, 70 percent of the Haitian population is illiterate and few children make it past the sixth grade.
Bien-aime started the school in 2002 as an alternative to the schools operated by the government there, McGann said.
Following a four-day holiday weekend, McGann said she was able to inform students at Lace that despite the carnage in Haiti, there was a small ray of hope.
“We were able to make contact via phone, and we found out that Maxandre survived,” McGann said.
