On Tuesday January 12, 2010 at 4: 53 PM, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the vigorous city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, reaching the near equivalent magnitude of the 1989 San Francisco earthquake that left over thousands homeless. This horrendous earthquake took the lives of numerous people and has become known as one of the most catastrophic events in Haiti’s history. The large magnitude quake was then followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitudes.
    Many of us watched as loved ones rushed to seek missing members of their families, as panic struck the nation, and as innocent and humble people gathered in the streets praying for help; and overall many charitable Americans weep at their turbulent fortune and are making charitable actions to help the people of Haiti whom are in desperate need of our help.
    Many American doctors, charities, and government-funded organizations have traveled to Haiti in the height of its desperation to help civilians. But even people without fancy medical licenses, or even driver’s licenses for that matter, are doing their part for the cause.
    Many students here at LACES are organizing garage sales, bake sales, charity concerts, and other funding charity events where all proceeds are being donated towards helping the people affected by the Haiti earthquake. Many have taken time out of their day to help the cause, for the greater good of their actions.
    “I really wanted to help, but I didn’t think that my help was going to make an impact,” said sophomore Makaila Shannon. In the last week of January, Shannon and her twin brother Miles collected shoes for the people in Haiti.
    From Nikes and Jordans to barely worn-in sandals, Shannon collected over 400 pairs of shoes for the people of Haiti who were in need.
    They donated the shoes to the organization Soles for Souls, and after everyday of collecting the donated shoes in the Parent Center, they would drive to the Beverly Center, and overflow the donation basket in the shoe department.
    “A lot of kids have shoes that they don’t wear that they want to get rid of,” said Shannon. “I always thought that ‘I’d rather give them money and food’ but then [realized] Haiti needs everything they can get, and they are proud people; so even if they had one pair of shoes, they would wear them until they were finished.”
     Although it was a long process of counting the pairs of shoes, making sure each shoe was in tact with the other, and having trouble stuffing all 400 in the car, it was still worth it. The whole process has inspired Shannon to do even more for the people of Haiti, in their most desperate time of need, admiring their strong pride and their hope.
     “I wanted to do something to help Haiti after seeing the stuff on TV, and [since] I don’t really have money to donate, I tried to think of a way to raise money for it [Haiti], and to be fun!” said sophomore Lily Chait. Chait threw a garage sale/bake sale on February 13, at her house in the hills to raise money for the people of Haiti.
     Many news channels such as CNN and Fox News have shown explicit, and emotional footage of the crisis, inspiring us to help out in any way we can. Shannon isn’t going to stop at just her shoe drive, she plans on having a dollar drive, and other fundraisers to help out the people of Haiti in any way that she can.
     “It’s a really devastating thing that happens, [and] when something like that happens to the world, it’s important for everyone to come together and do their little part,” said Chait. “And I wanted to do my little part; and hopefully I helped spark some ideas to help other join in.”
   Both Shannon and Chait’s charitable functions are both inspirational and selfless. There have been many other accounts of LACES students making charitable actions towards the devastating earthquake relief effort.
     These functions included a house benefit show with help from LACES students that grossed about $1,500 for Haiti relief and LACES Leadership who are hosting a special Mardi Gras dance in which all proceeds go towards the relief effort in Haiti.
     “It’s really important to provide antibiotics [for the people of Haiti] because a lot of the people are suffering from infections that can be resolved by a nickel, so a dollar will give [around] twenty people antibiotics,” Chait commented.
     “I was watching the news,” said Shannon, “and thought, what if that happened over here? What if my Mom died and I was stuck under a house?
     Kids know that an earthquake happened and that a lot of people died, but they need to be aware [that the same thing can happen to them.  Even though] the earthquake only happened for around a minute, the consequences are still happening.”