Ready to Help

  WESLACO — With catastrophic events in Haiti reaching critical proportions, students from one local elementary school are showing that even the smallest hands can be used to help those in need.

After news of the quake spread throughout the Rio Grande Valley, students at Cleckler-Heald Elementary set a $1,000 fundraising goal to assist local doctors who were planning a humanitarian mission to Haiti.

Lisa Sanchez, the sponsor for the Hall Monitor club, said her club and the Recycling Club are required to perform a community service every year. When the students found out, about Haiti they immediately wanted to help.

“We launched the event January 22, just the announcement we would start in the next week and we set a goal of 1,000 dollars,” Sanchez said.

Little did the students or Sanchez realize that their generosity would far exceed their expectations. In just a week, students surpassed their goal, raising $3,000. Sanchez said the students raised the money through donations and through “Clothing of Choice” day, where students paid $1 each to wear casual clothes rather than uniforms.

“There was one case with a little boy who picked up aluminum cans, and brought in the money,” Sanchez said. “That was a big deal to us because other people did go to businesses but he did that on his own, he is in kindergarten.”

Cleckler-Heald donated the money to a group of Valley doctors that left to Haiti on Jan. 30. Sanchez said that although there are many wonderful organizations to support, this one lets their students know exactly who was handling their money and where it is going.

Principal, Elizabet T. Garza, could not express the enjoyment she felt when she realized they had surpassed their goal.

“It just warms my heart to know that our students, staff and parents showed so much compassion…I am just so excited,” Garza said.

Garza mentioned that although the effort started with the two student groups, the rest of the school quickly got involved in the fundraising.

“We do a lot of community service projects and so it’s not like the first time we have done it,” Garza said. “It is just so wonderful to see them open their hearts like that.”

Elementary students range from ages 5 to 11 years old, but many still understood the dire situation in Haiti and knew that they could help.

One Cleckler-Heald student and Recycling Club member, 10-year-old Ana Lisa Sanchez, wished that she could give everything she owned to help.

“I would give all that I received at Christmas, New Year’s and I would even give my (Nintendo DSi),” Sanchez said. “It’s a very bad disaster, I want to go over there one day and meet all of the people over there.”