#609: Donate supplies, help kids in Haiti (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

Published Thursday, September 30, 1999, in the Miami Herald 
 Donate supplies, help kids in Haiti HANS MARDY Herald Writer 

 Members of the South Florida Haitian American delegation who traveled
to Haiti in August have organized a three-day drive to collect
educational supplies at South Florida locations this weekend. Donations
will be shipped to help needy kids in the island nation. ``Anything
related to school will help,'' said Dr. Sylvan C. Jolibois, a Florida
 International University professor and coordinator of the collection
project. ``Our support will help our kids in Haiti face the new academic
year with greater confidence.'' Jolibois is one of hundreds of Haitians
who returned to Haiti as part of Diaspora Week observances -- designed
to bring Haitians living outside the country back home to invest in its
future. Jolibois and other volunteers will set up collection points
Friday through Sunday at sites from Homestead to West Palm Beach. They
hope to collect enough supplies to distribute to about 5,000 students in
Port-au-Prince as well as rural cities. Schools in Haiti are expected to
open Oct. 4 -- for those who can afford to make it. School is considered
a privilege for a small group. Therefore a large percentage of the
nation's children who are school age stay home because their parents
cannot afford the cost. About 80 percent of the schools are privately
owned. Items needed include: accordion folders, pens, pencils, crayons,
rulers, composition notebooks, erasers and calculators. The group will
not accept money.

 Supplies can be donated at the following sites:

 In South Dade: the Haitian Organization of Women, 162 SW First Ave. in
 Homestead; and Christ the King Catholic Church, 16000 SW 112th Ave.
 In Miami: COIN, 8365 NE Second Ave.; Libreri Mapou, 5911 NE Second
Ave.;
 VEYE Yo, 28 NE 54th St.; the Haitian Refugee Center, 119 NE 54th St.;
Lumily's
 Mission for Haiti, 6416 NE Second Ave.; J.C. Cantave, 625 NE 124th St.;
 Gay Immigration Service, 16455 NE Sixth Ave.; and the Haitian American
Foundation Inc. at 6660 Biscayne Blvd.

 For more information on Haiti School Supplies Project, call Sylvan
Jolibois at 305-348-3485 or Jean Claude Cantave at 305-899-7712.