By Cathy Spaulding
OKAY — Okay High School students got the ball rolling by collecting more than $100 to help earthquake victims.
The Junior Civitan Club of Muskogee, a newly-chartered Muskogee youth organization, got a jump start in its Haitian relief efforts this week when Junior Civitan secretary Isis Brown, an Okay sophomore, collected $102 for the campaign. The school has only 250 students in grades nine through 12, counselor Teresa Orwig said.
“I was shocked. I didn’t know people would care as much as I thought they would,” Brown said. ”I made announcements three times a day, and people are running out to their cars. If I don’t make the announcements, I get yelled at by the other students.”
The Junior Civitan Club, chartered in December, is raising the money to help the American Red Cross aid people continuing to be affected by the January earthquake in Haiti. The quake may have killed up to 300,000 people and left more than 1 million homeless, a Reuters report said.
“We’re trying to set up donation cans in private businesses and in our schools, said Hilldale High School sophomore Alessandro Calderoni, co-president of Junior Civitan. “We have members from four different schools and towns.”
Calderoni said no goal or deadline has been set for the donation drive. He said he plans to keep a can at his school until spring break begins March 15.
Brown said another donation can has been set up at Taco Mayo, where her mother works.
“I am so pleased with the generosity of the students,” Orwig said. “They are trying to catch the spirit of generosity and giving.”
Brown said she joined Junior Civitan because she always has been interested in helping others.
“Mrs. Orwig told me about it, and I jumped on it,” Brown said.
Junior Civitan sponsor Cynthia Barton said the organization’s efforts are all student-led and planned.
“Everyone is working together,” she said.
Calderoni said he became interested in earthquake relief efforts after seeing a Red Cross fundraising telethon on TV.
“On the news, they were showing conditions of people who were affected,” he said. “I felt it would be a good thing to help the Red Cross.”
The organization has about 19 members at Okay, Hilldale, Wagoner and Muskogee schools.
Reach Cathy Spaulding at 684-2928 or cspaulding @muskogeephoenix.com.
