“Some of my family had to move,” said Nital Patel, a student at West New York’s Memorial High School. Members of his family are living close to the region in India that was recently plagued by earthquakes.
“The houses are made of bricks in India,” said Patel, claiming that people were afraid that the house they lived in was going to fall. “So if the building collapses people are going to die.”
Luckily, no one from Patel’s family died in the earthquakes, although, at least, 17,000 people have died. Most of the damage took place in the towns of Bhuj and Ahmadabad, and aftershocks continue to stir the area.
With a second earthquake in El Salvador raising the death toll to more than 1,000 and tens of thousands of homes destroyed in that country, many families in Hudson County have felt the effects of the disasters. “When I was talking to my grandmother on the phone there was an aftershock,” said Jose Prudencio, another Memorial High School Student whose family lives in El Salvador.
“Everybody sleeps outside now,” said Prudencio, explaining that people living in that country are afraid their houses will fall.
These two students, along with the other 100 members of the school’s Key Club have started a fundraising drive for the victims in both of these countries.
“We are going to divide the money in two,” said student Darita Velazquez. “We are going to give half the money to the El Salvador relief project and half to the India relief project.”
The drive, which began on Feb. 21, will collect money from the students and faculty until March 16.
“We were thinking about collecting supplies,” said Velazquez. “But we called the hotline and they said that what they really need is money.”
“With the money they can also get medicine,” said Prudencio.
“It is also cheaper to send the money and have them buy the supplies there,” said Buddhdew.
The students did not set a goal of how much money they would like to raise, but said that they want to raise as much as possible.
“Every penny counts,” said Key Club member and student Stella Bravo.
Getting started
While the drive did not officially begin until Feb. 21, Buddhdew began collecting money on his own for the relief project.
“I began collecting money about one week after the first earthquake,” said Buddhdew, who has already collected about $135.
When the program was formally initiated on Feb. 21, the students began carrying containers with hopes that other students would throw spare change or dollar bills as they pass them in the halls.
“We will bring in cans that we decorated ourselves and try to get people to donate money,” said student Nancy Murillo.
The students also designed a bulletin board to make the students aware of the situation in these countries. The bulletin board includes newspaper clippings, statistical information and pictures of the two countries before and after the earthquakes.
We are trying to motivate students to donate money,” said Diana Serrano.
While the club is looking into asking outside businesses and residents to help in their drive, the fundraiser is still only taking place within the school.