North Georgia Students Collect Change for Haiti

More than two weeks after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake leveled Haiti, help continues to pour in from the Tennessee Valley.  Students at just about every school are finding a way to give back.  Wednesday, students at Northwest Whitfield County High School proved just that.

Freshman Savana Ballard is on a mission, not just to sell sweets, but to help Haiti.  "We're selling pastries," she says.  In fact, the French Club has pastries, croissants, cookies and truffles, or "chocolate, covered in chocolate, wrapped in chocolate," describes Ballard.  And all of it is going for about a buck, some for even less.  The students are calling it "Change for Haiti" and it's adding up fast.  "We just wanted to show that there's people here in Dalton that care," says Senior Carolina Valencia.

And even that says a lot.  This high school is in a county with some of the highest unemployment numbers in Georgia.  Many of their own families are struggling.  Yet anything they can scrape up is going to people who have even less.  "I had a student actually come to me the other day and say 'I found this penny in the hall, here,' says French teacher Diane Hearn.  "And then we've had donations of $100." 

Valencia has lived in Columbia and she knows what it's like in a third world country.  "In other countries like Haiti, I know that they really do need help and I'm sure that anything we can do is good enough help."

So far they've collected about $500 but that's barely a drop in the bucket when billions are needed.  The lesson here:  it's more about just collecting cash.  "It will help," says Hearn.  "Even though you have people donating millions of dollars every little bit is going to help."

The money will be given to Doctors Without Borders, which was started in France.  And because French is Haiti's native language there's a common bond for these kids now, who are learning to say "I care" in more ways than one.

Meanwhile other groups at Northwest Whitfield County High School are collecting for other organizations.  Some are collecting jeans for teens and they just wrapped up a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness.