Kid Reporter Charlie Kadado and Danielle Desroches at the studios of WDIV news station in Detroit, Michigan. Desroches is a volunteer at the Haiti Relief phone bank. (Photo courtesy Charlie Kadado)
Detroit Lends a Hand
Area church has a local link to earthquake that struck Haiti
The city of Detroit, Michigan, was ready in an instant to help one of the world's poorest countries this week. Haiti, which covers part of an island about 700 miles south of Miami, Florida, was struck by a massive earthquake on January 12.
A phone bank run by a local news station in Detroit was just one of the many ways people raised money for Haiti over the weekend.
"We need medical help, medications, food, and water," said Danielle Desroches, a volunteer at the Haiti Relief phone bank.
The phone bank is working with another Haiti relief association to save as many lives as possible.
"We want as many people to survive as possible," Desroches told the Scholastic Kids Press Corps. "Making a donation financially is the best way to help at this time."
Other cities in the Metro Detroit area have stepped in as well. From churches to schools, many organizations are willing to lend a hand.
Pastor John Hearn Jr. of the Christian Faith Ministries in Garden City, Michigan, is accepting donations of clothes and cash.
"The people of Haiti necessitate basic needs at this time," he said. "They need clothes, toiletry, bandages, toothpaste, and other necessary requests."
Hearn has an adopted daughter in Haiti.
"Luckily, I received a text message from my daughter saying that she is doing OK now," Hearn said. Hearn went to Haiti a year ago and is hoping to go again sometime this month. He will be traveling with local Congressman John Conyers.
Before the earthquake, 90 per cent of the people in Haiti were living below the poverty level. The average person was living on $2 a day.
"Life before the earthquake was rough," Hearn said. "The earthquake just made things worse."
For information on how to contribute to the American Red Cross to help the people of Haiti, log onto the organization's website.
CRISIS IN HAITI
Check out the Kid Reporters' special report Crisis in Haiti for more information on the country and how to help.
NEWS FOR KIDS, BY KIDS
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