Ilkley fund for Haiti survivors tops £10,000 (From Ilkley Gazette)

Ilkley fund for Haiti survivors tops £10,000

7:20am Sunday 7th February 2010

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THE ILKLEY Haiti Disaster Fund has topped the £10,000 mark and is helping to provide safe haven for homeless chil-dren on the devastated island.

The appeal, set up by retired teacher Anne Wilkinson, has been inundated with donations, £9,000 of which has already been sent to established charities in the country.

The money has been split be-tween three organisations — Be-yond Borders, The Haiti Project and St Joseph’s Orphanage.

Mrs Wilkinson, who worked in Port-au-Prince’s only free sec-ondary school for five years, said she had been receiving daily reports about the charities’ activities.

“We are close to £11,000 now, it’s absolutely fantastic,” she said. Beyond Borders managed to get there right at the very beginning and they gave medi-cal aid people to the people of Haiti.

“They are now working very hard to eliminate the abuse of children. People are taking them out of Haiti without any regard for the children. Some of the children will be taken into prostitution. They are working very hard to protect the children from the streets and get them into the safe areas in the camps.”

The Louverture Cleary School, where Mrs Wilkinson taught, has remained open throughout the earthquake and its aftermath, the worst to hit the region for 200 years.

Pupils have been acting as in-terpreters for foreign doctors.

Youngsters from St Joseph’s Orphanage, in Petionville, which was flattened in the earthquake, and the Wings of Hope Orphanage, in Kenscoff, have also been moved to safe buildings.

Back home, Wharfedale youngsters are also playing their part in the relief effort.

Fifty volunteers from St John’s Church and Menston Primary School raised £750 when they turned the school’s playground into a car wash.

Around 100 cars were cleaned while drivers were served tea and coffee on Saturday. The figure will be matched by Skipton Building Society, raising a total of £1.500. Organiser Rebecca Cain said: “People were just stopping in the street and giving us tenners.”

Two schools have also organ-ised hats for Haiti days — Otley All Saints Primary School Pupils raised £482 by donning silly hats and pupils at Moorfield School for Girls were due to hold a similar event today.

St Mary’s Parish Centre in Burley in Wharfedale will be hold-ing a coffee morning between 9am and 11am in aid of the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal on Saturday.

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