Puget Sound Adventist Academy students heard early in the academic year about the needs in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in early 2010 that left the country in desperate need. Nicole Washington-Matthews, local public school teacher and chapel presenter who visited the earthquake-ravaged country, told students: "You can help."
Wells for Haiti started out as a small student-led project and turned into a school community project focused on helping others and making a real difference in the lives of people in Haiti.
Students began raising funds to dig wells through personal student donations and selling healthy gourmet cookies. In addition, students created a fundraising campaign for Haitian school supplies and developed two Facebook pages: Wells for Haiti and School Supplies for Haiti in order to develop awareness.
Students and church members embraced and supported this project by raising $2,000 for three wells in the first three months of the campaign. To date, nearly $5,000 has been raised by various means to contribute to Haitian wells, school supplies and special items like wind-up flashlights for an orphanage without electricity.
A handful of PSAA students, faculty and alumni decided to go one step further to help Haiti by joining a mission trip this June. The summer projects will include providing water supplies, improving two orphanages, conducting numerous medical clinics, distributing food and assessing school needs.
The Wells for Haiti project brings together Puget Sound Adventist Academy students to make a difference in the lives of Haitians. (Howard Munson)
Puget Sound Adventist Academy students raised funds for three wells in Haiti in addition to collecting school supplies for children. (Howard Munson)
The "Wells for Haiti" project at Puget Sound Adventist Academy in Kirkland, Wash., involved fundraising and building awareness on campus and in the community about the needs in Haiti who is still recovering from a massive earthquake in January 2010. (Howard Munson)
