Haiti

For those who want to help the earthquake-devastated people in Haiti, you can bring your old shoes (or new ones) to Newport Elementary School between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. today at the school?s Multi-Purpose Room. According to Debbie Kandel, the school?s office manager, students will donate some of their old shoes this morning, and the administration is encouraging the public to participate. ?Any size will do,? said Kandel. ?It doesn?t matter.? The school is asking that the pair of shoes either be put in a plastic bag or tied together so the pairs stay together.

Orange County students, in their own small way, contributed to the ongoing relief effort in Haiti. They brought nearly 100 pairs of shoes to various schools Friday, part of a special program underway by Souls4Soles and Sports Chalet. Nicole Hourigan’s two daughters, a first-grader and third-grader at Newport Elementary School, donated some of their shoes. “Everybody wears shoes. Everybody has shoes. Everybody can relate,” Hourigan said. “This was a great way for the children to get involved and to understand what’s going on in Haiti.

The Islamic Educational Center of Orange County, like other religious organizations and institutions throughout the county, has been raising funds to help earthquake victims in Haiti. Although Haiti does not have a large Muslim population, the Islamic community is following the teachings of its religion by helping the victims of the earthquake, said the center’s leader, Imam Sayed Moustafa Al-Qazwini. “This is a humanitarian issue, and our religion, the Islamic faith, considers all humanity as brothers and sisters,” Al-Qazwini said.

The American Red Cross received more than $3,000 in donations this week from Mariners Elementary School students who wanted to help those suffering in Haiti. The school put on a fundraiser, “Stay and Play,” to help earthquake victims. “We wanted to do something that was cheap and easy to do,” said Principal Pam Coughlin. “We thought about how much kids love to play with their teachers at recess, so why don’t we set up games after school, where parents of the kids, who want to stay and play, can donate.

Students at Kaiser Elementary School in Costa Mesa pooled their money and raised $452.63 in a schoolwide effort to help out earthquake-devastated Haiti. Between Feb. 8 and 12, nine out of 10 students at Kaiser donated money during the lunch to the “Helping Hands for Haiti” fundraiser, said Emily Barry, student council advisor. “The students would buy a paper hand, for a dollar or more, which they would write their name on and put up on a poster to show they donated,” she said.

After following news accounts of the earthquake that devastated Haiti last month, Newport Beach pediatrician Sandy Lee wanted to help, but didn’t know how. In the days immediately after the quake, emergency room doctors and trauma specialists were in demand, but not pediatricians. A month and a half later, Haitian earthquake victims are facing health issues related to overcrowding and poor sanitation, Lee said. “Even though I’m not a trauma surgeon or an ER doctor, a lot of these kinds of more general-medicine issues will start coming up because of the poor living conditions there,” she said.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and teachings are bringing people from all walks of life together to help those in need. On Monday’s national holiday commemorating what would have been the slain civil rights leader’s 81st birthday, which was Friday, many in Orange County were spending the day doing service work to honor King’s spirit. Through the leadership of Volunteer Center Orange County, at least 1,000 volunteers throughout the county took part in activities to help survivors of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.

Kirk Dominic and 18 others entered Haiti from the Dominican Republic, but, he said, words cannot adequately describe the journey there and how it changed him. Dominic, Costa Mesa’s deputy fire chief, said that as he rode in a truck following a United Nations convoy into Haiti, the jungle canopy was so low it would slap you on the head if you poked your head out the window. As they snaked through the humid jungle, they’d see dead bodies on the roadside, and towns lay in ruins when they would reach their destinations.

Delaney DeCinces, her best friend Taylor Craig, Delaney?s sisters Paige and Riley, and Taylor?s brother Jordan are ordinary American kids. But a random act of kindness on their part has inspired an adult to go beyond expectations and help the people of Haiti recover from last week?s earthquake. ?We heard there?s a big huge earthquake in Haiti and that people needed medicine and food and money for medical care,? Delaney, 9, and Taylor, 10, said in one voice. ?We felt sorry.

NEWPORT COAST — When local philanthropic couple Jeff and Jackie Bird arrived home after participating in the Haiti relief efforts, they made plans to start a chain reaction that would bring ongoing help to the families devastated by the January 2010 earthquake. The couple immediately set to work launching the Catalyst, the first line of timepieces from Epic International. The Birds' newly founded company pledges to provide clean water to Third World countries with every watch sold — beginning with Haiti for the one-year anniversary of the quake.

A local Polynesian dance troupe, Tupua, will be hosting a fundraiser Saturday in Costa Mesa, commonly known as “a plate sale” among Orange County’s Pacific Islander population. The troupe will be assembling plates of hot food available for pickup only. The plate sale will subsidize the cost of costumes for a bigger joint fundraiser May 8 with Mater Dei High School, in an effort to benefit the troop, the school and American Red Cross’ relief for Haiti and Chile.

 The scholars of Boys Hope Girls Hope are giving back -- in a very big way. On  March 14, the students organized and ran a very successful car wash to help raise funds for relief in Haiti. Jemal, currently a sixth grader at St. Cecelia’s in Tustin, learned about the devastating earth quake from his teacher at school. He was especially concerned that the children of Haiti would not have any food, water or shelter. He wanted to raise funds to help out and came up with the idea of a car wash.

Newport Beach Sunrise Rotary has answered the call from Rotary International to provide Haitians with desperately needed housing. Club President Tim Brown received a check for $5,000 that paid for five “Shelter Boxes,” emergency kits made by a United Kingdom-based nonprofit. “The club members individually truly stepped up and demonstrated the Rotary Way,” Brown said. The Rotary Clubs of Newport-Balboa and Newport-Irvine gave enough money to buy one Shelter Box each.

After following news accounts of the earthquake that devastated Haiti last month, Newport Beach pediatrician Sandy Lee wanted to help, but didn’t know how. In the days immediately after the quake, emergency room doctors and trauma specialists were in demand, but not pediatricians. A month and a half later, Haitian earthquake victims are facing health issues related to overcrowding and poor sanitation, Lee said. “Even though I’m not a trauma surgeon or an ER doctor, a lot of these kinds of more general-medicine issues will start coming up because of the poor living conditions there,” she said.

Middle College High School senior Samantha Smith and the Young Singers of Orange County choir will perform a concert in Newport Beach to benefit Haitian earthquake victims. The singers will perform Jazz for Haiti: A Fundraiser for Haitian Relief at 4 p.m. Sunday at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, 2200 San Joaquin Hills Road. Tickets will be available at the door and will cost $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for students. All proceeds will go to Haitians via UNICEF.

The American Red Cross received more than $3,000 in donations this week from Mariners Elementary School students who wanted to help those suffering in Haiti. The school put on a fundraiser, “Stay and Play,” to help earthquake victims. “We wanted to do something that was cheap and easy to do,” said Principal Pam Coughlin. “We thought about how much kids love to play with their teachers at recess, so why don’t we set up games after school, where parents of the kids, who want to stay and play, can donate.

Students at Kaiser Elementary School in Costa Mesa pooled their money and raised $452.63 in a schoolwide effort to help out earthquake-devastated Haiti. Between Feb. 8 and 12, nine out of 10 students at Kaiser donated money during the lunch to the “Helping Hands for Haiti” fundraiser, said Emily Barry, student council advisor. “The students would buy a paper hand, for a dollar or more, which they would write their name on and put up on a poster to show they donated,” she said.

Kirk Dominic and 18 others entered Haiti from the Dominican Republic, but, he said, words cannot adequately describe the journey there and how it changed him. Dominic, Costa Mesa’s deputy fire chief, said that as he rode in a truck following a United Nations convoy into Haiti, the jungle canopy was so low it would slap you on the head if you poked your head out the window. As they snaked through the humid jungle, they’d see dead bodies on the roadside, and towns lay in ruins when they would reach their destinations.