Helping in Haiti

Amber Chandler's morning preschool class at Senath-Hornersville pose for a photo with some of the Kits 4 Kids packages put together by the district.

Photo provided

More than 5,000 kits of hygiene supplies donated from area schools were shipped from Cape Girardeau, Mo., on Friday afternoon as part of the Kits 4 Kids project to help needy children in Haiti.

According to the Department of Education, state education officials, along with an international relief organization based in Springfield, Mo., kicked off the statewide project to involve Missouri schoolchildren in relief efforts for Haiti, following the devastating earthquake.

The kits were collected and distributed in Haiti by Convoy of Hope, a Springfield-based organization that already has resources on the ground in Haiti, according to the Department of Education. The organization has been in Haiti for three years, serving meals to as many as 11,000 children a day.

Area schools collected the supplies -- toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, a bar of soap, a comb, and a hand towel, all packed in a zipper bag -- and transported them to the local Regional Professional Development Center (RPDC) at Southeast Missouri State University for pick-up by Convoy of Hope.

According to RPDC Director Cheri Suemmeler, a total of 5,090 kits were collected through schools in Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Dunklin, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Ripley, Scott, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Stoddard, and Wayne Counties.

"We really appreciate our school districts for the efforts they took in getting the supplies to us," Suemmeler said, adding that the majority of the donations came from schools south of Cape Girardeau.

"Many were those [schools] were in the ice storm last year and I feel that they could really identify the need for those supplies," Suemmeler said.

Locally, both the Kennett and Senath-Hornersville Districts participated in the program.

According to Preschool Instructor Amber Chandler at Senath-Hornersville, the district collected a total of 305 kits.

Chandler said all three campuses in the district participated in gathering the supplies. She said when the district representatives delivered the kits at Cape Girardeau, they were told they were one of four districts that had brought more than 300 kits, including Portageville, Ste. Genevieve, and Kennett.

According to Kim Lowry, who helped to coordinate the program for the Kennett School District, approximately 400 kits were put together through the four campuses.

According to Ron Showers, outreach director for Convoy of Hope, the hygiene kits will "make an immediate difference in the lives of the children in Haiti."

"With an estimated 1.5 million homeless survivors, there is a great need to make sure they are supplied with the most basic necessities of life," Showers said. "We look forward to the huge difference the students of Missouri are going to make in the coming weeks."