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January 21, 2010
Editoral Board
In 2005, the United States was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, which claimed over 1,800 lives and $100 billion of damage to the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Unfortunately, disaster has struck again in the small, impoverished country of Haiti.
On Tuesday, Jan. 12 the capital city of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, was rocked by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 on the richter scale. Over 30% of the buildings in the city completely collapsed and roughly 100,000 people were announced as dead or missing within 24 hours of the initial quake.
Although Haiti is not a territory of the United States, we should still feel obliged to provide the country with as much aid as possible. The school has already reached out for monetary donations through a jeans day, but more can be done to give Haitians support in their time of need.
Students who buy lunches in the cafeteria can easily donate their spare change for Haiti. The Peace and Justice Club can make Haiti’s situation more understood and encourage more of the Hoban community to help. Winter sports teams can dedicate games for Haiti’s sake – similar to the efforts given in the “Kash for Kory Wiitta” campaign at the district semi-final football game. If half of the students at the Hoban vs. Walsh boys basketball game were allowed to shoot a half-court shot for a prize in exchange for a dollar donated to Haiti, both of the school’s communities would demonstrate their generosity to the poor simply by shooting hoops for Haiti.
Within a few days of the disaster, U.S. President Barack Obama stated clearly to the Haitian community: “You will not be forsaken.” In this critical moment for the struggling and destroyed country of Haiti, the Hoban community must not forsake millions of our hemisphere’s poorest people.
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