If you want to do something to abate the suffering of the people of Haiti during the most recent cholera epidemic, then donate to the Center for Political Participation’s “Help Haiti Heal” project. The CPP is honoring the legacy of President John F. Kennedy, who proposed 50 years ago to start a war on poverty.
Beginning Sunday, Nov. 21, and continuing through Dec. 16, the CPP will collect items that will go directly to Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Bernard Mevs is one of the last hospitals left standing after the devastating earthquake there last Jan. 12.
Allegheny College graduates Elizabeth Lemley Stanley ’05 and Briana Rusiski Kelly ’01 were at the hospital last June with Project Medishare. The organization was founded in 1994 by doctors from the University of Miami School of Medicine, a non-profit dedicated to sharing its human and technical resources with its Haitian partners. Stanley and Kelly are asking that students, faculty and staff, as well as the entire Meadville community, donate any basic-need items, including:
- toothbrushes, toothpaste, sanitary wipes, shampoo, soap, bandages, Q-tips, sheets, blankets, even old slings and crutches
- clothes (t-shirts, new packaged undergarments) that are clean and in good shape
- flashlights
- hygiene and personal items.
The goods collected in the next month by the CPP will be sent to Project Medishare for Haiti at the University of Miami, which will then forward everything directly to the hospital.
Donations can be dropped off at the lobby of the Campus Center, beginning Sunday, Nov. 21, or at the CPP office at Brooks Hall during the week. Call Mary Solberg at 814-332-6202 for more information, or e-mail msolberg@allegheny.edu
Allegheny College is a member of Harvard University’s National Campaign for Political and Civic Engagement. The CPP and other schools that belong to the consortium are undertaking several projects to mark the JFK 50th: National Campaign Service Day on Nov. 21.