Fifth-grade students at Cornerstone Christian School in Wildomar learned this week that the little things they do can make a huge difference ---- even as far as 5,000 miles away.
And they learned from an Inland doctor and nurse that children in Haiti can really use their kindness right now because of an earthquake that has killed an estimated 230,000 people and left 300,000 others injured.
Last month, before the Jan. 12 quake, the 24 fifth-graders were challenged to take part in a three-week community service project, said parent Erin Furlong. They brainstormed ways to raise money, and the results were pretty astonishing.
"We were expecting to raise maybe a couple hundred dollars, but nothing like this," said Furlong, who helped organize the project. Through bake sales, recyclable collections and coin drops, the students raised $2,107.53 ---- money that will be used to help newly orphaned children start anew in a school in the town of Hinche, northeast of Port-Au-Prince.
"At first we planned to give it to the homeless, but when the earthquake hit, all the students agreed the money should go to Haiti." Furlong added. "This was all their idea."
On Thursday, during the fifth-graders' regular chapel period, the students learned a little more about the problems the Haitians now face. Dr. Tae-Woong Im of the Rancho Family Medical Group and Shannon Holmes, a registered nurse with a hospice, briefed the students and made a slide presentation on their recent one-week visit to Haiti. They estimated that, in only five days, they treated between 700 and 800 patients.
They told of a young girl who lost both arms while trying to protect herself from falling debris and of an 8-year-old boy lying in a hospital bed who found happiness in the simplest things.
"He had been there for about a month with a broken leg and seemed very depressed," Im said. "He was so sad that I gave him a toy motorcycle I was carrying in my pocket. He started smiling right away and it changed his whole demeanor. So, every little thing counts over there right now."
Im has made several trips to Haiti as part of the Temecula-based Haiti Endowment Fund, which was formed about 25 years ago. He and Holmes were part of a six-member medical group that also included Dr. Timothy Elfelt, social worker Stephanie Tortoris, nurse John Czuczka, and firefighter-paramedic Pierre Houbein. They returned last Sunday.
"For me it was a life-changing trip," Holmes said. "The things I remember are the suffering and hunger, and yet they still have faith. There still is a big need for food and medical care."
Im said he plans to return to Haiti, perhaps in June, and Holmes vowed to return by the end of the year. Both expressed their gratitude for the display of kindness shown by the Cornerstone students.
"I'm really proud of you guys," Im told the class. "Even though you are small, you can do many great things. And you did a wonderful thing for these children and a wonderful thing for God."
