Malden High School has been collecting donations for the Matènwa Community Learning Center in Haiti, for some time now, hosting different donation drives for different items needed by the school, and the surrounding communities. This year, Malden High School’s Haitian Club has collected first aid supplies, school supplies, and basic toiletries after Hurricane Matthew in October. These donations have had a “big positive effect”, says Haitian Club advisor, Paul Degenkolb.
The school supplies collected earlier this year have been distributed to twenty-five different schools, and the nurses office at the Lekòl Kominote Matènwa (LKM), or Matenwa Community Learning Center, is fully stocked. The children in attendance of “highest economic need” were given toiletry kits, as well.
This year’s final donation drive is for books for a resource library in Grann Sous, a larger, neighboring village to Matènwa. The library, however, will serve several different villages in the area. Haitian Club is looking for books in good condition, in either English or Spanish. Children’s books, novels, as well as ESL books that are “geared toward language” are all good donations.
As of May 25, five individuals have donated 40% of the initial goal. Degenkolb and the Haitian Club hope to ship the books to Grann Sous by May 31.
