Belvidere School District 100 donates school furniture to Haiti

By Anne Eickstadt

ANNE EICKSTADT PHOTO Belvidere Republican
School Superintendent Dan Woestman and the Blue Thunder basketball team filled a second ship-ping container (for a total of four this week) on Thurs-day, June 13, to go to Haiti.

Editor

In collaboration with Hope for Haitians, a Rockford based foundation, and Food for the Poor, a charity based in Florida, Belvidere School District will be donating over 300 pieces of surplus school furniture to the country of Haiti. Loading and shipping was set for Thursday, June 13, at Belvidere South Middle School, 919 E. 6th St. Belvidere. The first shipment container is scheduled to be loaded at 8 a.m. while the second shipment container was scheduled to be loaded at 11 a.m.

Developing countries such as Haiti can lack the basic educational equipment such as desks, tables, and chairs to accommodate their students. School Superintendent Dan Woestman says the district is excited to be involved with this project. “We have furniture that we have been storing for six or seven years,” he said. “The board has declared it to be excess, but we hesitated to throw it into a landfill. The furniture is perfectly good.

“When Dan first went down to Haiti, what he asked was ‘What is one of your big needs that you can’t fill?’ The answer was ‘school furniture.’ The kids end up sitting on the ground. Dan started calling school districts for help and we said ‘yes.’ This furniture is in good shape, it is just old.”

Dan Maguire of Hope for Haitians said, “The conditions down there are horrendous and we began building small communities for them. They have filtered water, cinderblock houses, a school, and a community center. They have farming. They have teachers, educators, and students. They need school furniture.

Belvidere has been remarkable. This is our fourth container (semi-truck-load) from District 100. They have given us 1300 pieces total – including desks, chairs, and tables.

“The impact this will have is truly indescribable. It is a wonderful thing. Kids volunteered to come out to load the furniture on the truck. (Football team at 8 a.m. and basketball team at 11 a.m.) I told the football team to keep in mind what an impact of these on exposed lives – better than they can imagine. All of this is destined to go to a community just outside Caphaitian in Haiti.

“Toys, the kids don’t have any. They go nuts and we have to distribute toys carefully. I have to quietly give soccer balls to the leader/counselor to bring out at a time he deems right.

“Hope for Haitians has been around since 2001. We have built 15 villages of about 40 to 60 houses, a community center, and a couple of business opportunities. In the US we have safety nets for the poor if they choose. In Haiti, they have no safety nets. If they are hungry, they stay hungry until they find food or food is given to them.”

Bob Pfundstein, executive director of Hope for Haitians said, “We provide hope and dignity for the poorest of the poor in Haiti. We are just trying to fill some of the gaps and…

For complete article, pick up the June 20 Belvidere Republican newspaper.