Organizations and individuals across the area are pitching in to help Haiti earthquake victims by sending funds, supplies and even themselves to the devastated Caribbean country.
The efforts range from sending thousands of dollars to less than $100, but those helping agree that any effort is appreciated.
At Park Terrace Elementary School in Gloversville, Principal Steven Pavone said the school has told its students and staff that donations will be accepted in the main office and anything given will be sent to the American Red Cross.
"We're about helping people here," he said. "Our effort will be minuscule compared to the need, but if we can help just a few people, that's better than none."
Pavone said teachers are collecting donations from students and bringing them to the office. Former Park Terrace employees also have been stopping by to make donations, Pavone said.
"Park Terrace people are coming back and recognizing the efforts at the school," he said.
Many local churches also are collecting donations to help the victims of the disaster, which began last week when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake leveled a portion of the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as numerous villages across the country.
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At the Northville Baptist Church, Pastor Richard Klueg said parishioners are eager to give to the effort. A number of parishioners also are going to the country next month, if they are able to get a flight there, to help at the Double Harvest site outside of Port-au-Prince. Double Harvest is an aid organization with a complex near the capital that has a school and a hospital.
"People are looking for ways to help," Klueg said. "We didn't have to push it at all."
The church also has collected more than $500 from its parishioners and sent it to Double Harvest.
Northville Presbyterian Church parishioners also are helping, said Pastor Kirianne Riehl. The church recently sent $500 to the area, she said.
"People are asking. They're really concerned and touched," Riehl said. "It's a major disaster."
At the Church of the Holy Spirit in Gloversville, parishioners donated more than $1,600 to the relief effort. At the Holy Trinity Parish in Johnstown, parishioners sent more than $2,000, according to church officials.
Local schools and churches aren't the only organizations pitching in. At Nathan Littauer Hospital, officials are sending 10 boxes full of medical supplies to the area with a group of Capital Region doctors. The effort was organized by WTEN television personality Lydia Kulbida, Littauer spokeswoman Cheryl McGrattan said.
McGrattan said the hospital's emergency services director decided on the supplies to send. A lot of the donated supplies focus on the items needed to treat orthopedic injuries, since many of the injuries are broken bones stemming from victims being caught under rubble.
"We're sending crutches for small children, catheters and syringes, bandages, baby formula," McGrattan said. "[Kulbida] said herself that it is the smallest hospital [Nathan Littauer] that is giving the most."
In Johnstown, New Process Cleaners owner Joel Bien-Aime, a Haiti native who has many family members and friends who live there, said he has finally contacted all his relatives and friends, and all of them are alive. He said they are struggling to survive from day to day, and it is hard to get information from them. He is unsure where many of them are staying, he said.
Bien-Aime said he is still searching for a person or organization whom he can work with to help provide long-term relief to the country to help the children who have been left homeless and parentless. He said he is encouraging local people to donate to the American Red Cross.
At Chef Lomanto's Market in Gloversville, owner John Lomanto said his 8-year-old daughter Nina is selling cookies and popcorn at the store to raise money for the American Red Cross.
"We were watching the news, and she said it's terrible that this happened," he said. "She said we should do something, so I told her she could sell popcorn and cookies."
Nina Lomanto and her friends sold about $40 worth of popcorn and cookies on Monday, Lomanto said. He said the pair would probably be back at the store on the weekend to raise more.
Price Chopper supermarkets are also raising money to help Haiti. The stores are selling $1 Red Cross pin-ups and will match the first $25,000 raised.
