Books and Desks: Summer Appeal!

This past week our school’s director, David, went to Haiti to purchase the necessary text books for the school. Because the school is serving the Haitian immigrant population, it is important that we blend together both the Haitian and Dominican curriculum. Our hope is that should our students eventually choose to return to Haiti, they will do so as educated individuals. For many, the Dominican Republic is their adopted home and by being able to needs if educated leaders to return, while the Dominican Republic also require

The total cost of books for the school came up to $978 (40,000 Haitian Gourd). Thanks to a donation in early June, we have been able to purchase around 1/3 of the books needed. The remaining cost we need to raise is $678.

Books purchased and ready for use! 

Providing each child with their own set of books, is one of the main reasons we have been able to register so many at-risk children. We have purposely selected children for the school who are the most desperate from the community. Most of them are street kids or restaveks. A restavek is a child who is a domestic servant. Most of these children were brought over from Haiti to work for families who themselves are quite poor. They “pay” the child by providing them a place to sleep (often a mat on the floor), and giving them their left over food. These children are frequently beaten, and they are not considered valuable members of society. By providing a completely free tuition and providing academic materials to our students, such as text books, many guardians have agreed to send their restavek child to school.

The following list is of all the books the school will be using.

Cahier de dessin et de coloriage pre-scolaire
Mon Nouveau Livre De Mathematique 1
Mon Nouveau Livre De Mathematique 2
Langage en Fete
Mwen Konn Ekri 1
Mwen Konn Ekri 2
Meux Parler No.3
Toi, Personne Humaine
Pre-Lekti 1
Pre-Lekti 2
Orthographe pour tous
Sciences Experimental
Ti Malice, Au Pays Des Lettres

Our other most pressing need right now is for desks and chairs. The total cost to meet this need is $1,000.  Each desk is $16, and for the younger students they will use group tables, a small table with four chairs.

Please consider helping us with this appeal by donating the cost of a book or a desk.  The average cost of one book is only $6, and each student requires 4 books. You can make a secure online donation by using our Chip In link on the right!

We have a school!

 I am very excited to say, that we have officially found our school house! It is only a few doors away from the previous one we were planning on renting. However, this one is around $90 cheaper (3,000 pesos) and is much bigger. It does require some fixing up, but we can take that on slowly. The most important thing is that the actually rooms are suitable for classrooms, and all the rest will come later.

Here's a sneak peak! (Ignore the dates on the photos. The camera was not set properly.)

The front entrance. 

The Bathroom. 

Here is the kitchen. Once funds become available, we will be serving a hot breakfast to all of the students.

Living Room # 1. Closest to the entrance, will be transformed into the nursery room.

Current Living Room #2. 

The first renovation project we are planning is to paint all of the classrooms. You can notice on some of the pictures, that the paint in all of the rooms is chipping and the colors are quite dull. In December, we plan be painting all of the classrooms bright colours making them more lively. We hope to track down an artistic volunteer who would be interested in doing a mural on a few of the walls.

June

Our fundraising campaign, From Trash to a Class, is slowly gaining more and more support!  This is very exciting, however we are still a long way from our goal… 498,052 bottles and cans away!

For the month of June, we’ve set up some goals that will hopefully get things running a bit quicker!

      Improve our flyers: We will be improving our door-to-door flyers by making them bilingual, in order to reach more people.

          

      Flyer Distribution: The more people we can reach, the more chances we have for collecting more cans. For June, the goal is to distribute 2,000 flyers throughout the West Island. This will include posting them up in public places.

       Please help us kick off our month in a great way! Donate your empty bottles and cans, and share this project.

Garage Sale Fundraiser

We have begun to plan our garage sale, which will be a fundraiser for Collège Amélioration Jeunesse!


To make this day a success, we are in need of all the things that you no longer want! Here are some examples:


Baby things (basinets, toys, blankets, ..)
Books
Clothing (for all ages and sizes)
Cook Ware
Dishes
Jewellery
Paintings
Small Appliances

ETC...!

While we do not have the exact dates yet, the garage sale will be held either the last weekend of June or the first weekend of July. Please contact us if you have anything you would like to donate.

youthupliftment@hotmail.com

Step by Step, Bottle by Bottle..

On the right hand side of this page, you will find a small section called "From Trash to a Class Stats". This is where I keep an update on how many bottles and cans have been collected, and how much that amounts to.

I am very excited to say, that today we have passed the $100 mark!! We currently have collected 2,160 bottles and cans, which equals exactly $108.00!

To reach our goal, we still have a very long way to go. We are 497, 840 cans away, to be precise! 

I believe that we can reach our goal, if everyone helps out. Please consider donating your own bottles and cans, putting up a collection bin at work or school, and spreading the word. Let's take the opportunity to turn trash into a school, for some very deserving kids.

Underwear Collection

We need need your help...

To collect 145 pairs of underwear for our students!

42 for the Kindergardent Class
42 for the Grade One Class
42 for the Grade Two Class
42 for the Grade Three Class

Total = 168 Underwear (sizes 3-10)

Our goal is to provide each student with 3 pairs of new underwear on the day they receive their school uniforms.

Please consider picking up a few pairs to donate! At the Dollarstore, you can find a pack of 3 for only $2.

CNN Video: Restaveks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_zMB1EGBXg