24579: Hermantin (news) Lantana girl organizes donation effort at Indian Pines Elementar

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leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Lantana girl organizes donation effort at Indian Pines Elementary
By C. Ron Allen
Staff Writer

March 27, 2005

When Johana Pierre learned that one of her teachers at Indian Pines 
Elementary was sending school supplies to needy children in Peru, the 
fifth-grader set out to duplicate the effort in Haiti.

"One of my friends asked him if he could send some stuff to Haiti and he 
said, `No, but that we could.' So we decided to do it," Johana, 12, of 
Lantana, said.

Johana recruited friends at the school west of Lantana, and the seven girls 
brainstormed, collected supplies, and peddled items at yard sales and flea 
markets.

Today, two months later, they have collected five big boxes of school 
supplies and raised about $600 for the children.

"They're going real well so far," said teacher Barry Grace. "It is so nice 
to see the kids giving back and not the ones expecting something."

The girls have been meeting after school and during lunch, Grace said.

They have not named the group, but Grace is leaning toward Erika's Hope as 
the Peru project is called. He is considering replacing the word hope with 
its Creole translation espwa.

Plans are under way to form a nonprofit organization, he said. The girls, 
all of whom are budding leaders in their distinctive way, have elected 
officers among themselves.

They chose to be creative and have replaced titles such as president with 
manager because of the negative connotation it sends, said Johana, who like 
others in the group has family in Haiti.

"I don't like president. It sounds too bossy," she said.

"I manage the business," said Johana, who recently was recognized as a South 
Florida Sun-Sentinel Character Counts! kid for responsibility in the Palm 
Beach County School District's character-education program.

Since the girls became involved in the project, Grace has seen improvement 
in morale and grades, which has been contagious.

They have been reading biographies of famous philanthropists and unsung 
heroes in class, and many were in awe after learning about Mother Teresa, 
who spent her life saving children from the slums of India, he said.

"They were just bouncing off the wall ... with excitement," said Grace, who 
has spent the past nine of his 37 years as a teacher at Indian Pines. "I 
said, `Yes, you may not be able to save the world, but we can make a 
difference in the lives of the ones we touch.'"

Grace said he is excited to see enthusiasm the girls show in helping the 
less fortunate.

"It gets them outside of themselves," he said. "They talk more about helping 
people now. They see themselves as givers and not takers."

He anticipates the membership will soar once word gets around about the 
group. Already about 20 other children have expressed interest in 
participating, he said.

Student Thalene Jean Baptiste, 11, knows firsthand about the need in her 
homeland. She moved to Lantana in 2001 and stays in touch with relatives 
still living in Haiti.

"Some of the kids and people are so poor they don't have any food or clothes 
or supplies there," she said. "Some of the kids go to school without 
[school] clothes."

Conditions worsened after Hurricane Jeanne, which killed thousands and 
destroyed much of the economy last year, she said.

Johana said she hopes to partner with local churches or civic groups to 
collect more supplies and help with the shipment to Haiti, as the aid has 
not yet been sent there.

On a recent Saturday morning, the girls, family members, teachers and Grace 
sold everything from household goods to clothing at a flea market at Barton 
Elementary in Lake Worth.

Teachers and faculty members there donated many of the items, they said. 
They also credit some of their teachers for giving them many of their ideas.

Each day the girls bring in toothbrushes, clothes, pens, pencils and other 
school supplies, which they lock in a closet in Grace's room.

"The amazing thing is these are kids who many still have blue tarps on their 
roofs [from the hurricane]," Grace said. "They're not rich by far, but they 
want to help out."

This is another in a series of stories about students who best exemplify the 
six pillars of the Palm Beach County School District's Character Counts! 
Program: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, caring, fairness and 
citizenship.

C. Ron Allen can be reached at crallen@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7917.


Copyright © 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel