Donation Opportunity to School of Blessings in Haiti
Helping Hands in Haiti
We recently received an email from a school in Haiti appealing for help with supplies for their vocational program. The purpose of the program is to give the students a skill that could raise them out of poverty, and contribute goods and services to their community.
The concept of the school has been in the works for some time, but the actual classes have just begun. In June a class started with 10 girls from the village that will teach them how to sew on treadle machines. They will be learning to control the machines, make pincushions, drawstring bags, and eventually PJ shorts. This is being viewed as a summer program.
The other big part of the school started the first week of July. It is a sewing center intending to train seamstresses in the area. They will be trained on the 3 electric machines currently owned by the school. They will be making 5 different high-end bag patterns. A volunteer who has run factories in Puerto Rico and Orlando, and is very talented at both sewing and running a production line is guiding them. The hope is to create jobs in the village, and expand the school. Eventually these bags will be imported and sold in the US. They are making these bags in beautiful Earth tones and they feel very certain these bags will do very well and have the potential to grow into a serious operation that could affect many families in this community. When I asked them what is the one thing the Guild could send that would help them immediately they said they could use polyester thread in BLUE, WHITE, KHAKI and BLACK. I will update the Guild as soon as they have a better idea of fabric specifics and other supplies they might need, but in the meantime all of your thread donations will be well received.
There is no way to send a package of supplies to Haiti directly so we have to be careful to send only what is requested. Those supplies will be hand delivered by the volunteers from Florida as they go down to oversee the school’s progress.
This is a small school and we can collectively make a big difference. I have had so many people approach me with an open heart just waiting to hear how they can contribute. I will keep you posted with this fast moving and evolving program. If you would like to make a donation independently or in addition to the collective effort, the web address is http://schoolofblessings.org. There you will find the ability to sponsor a student or provide a sewing machine or a desk. You can also send them a check or make a donation through Paypal, and those options are discussed on the web page. Thank you so much for the enthusiasm you have shown for this project.
Toni Anderson