Editor’s Note: Is your community organization, club or business helping with the Haiti relief effort? If so, the Daphne Bulletin wants to hear from you so we can report on other endeavors. (Open only to Daphne and Spanish Fort organizations.)

Please e-mail bulletin@gulfcoastnewspapers.com with a brief note explaining your organization’s efforts, and whether the public can be involved. Publication is not guaranteed.

DAPHNE, Ala. — Local schools have conducted programs to support Haiti earthquake survivors and help the island recover from devastation.

Daphne High’s Key Club and Fellowship of Christian Athletes President Kathleen Wainwright, inspired by gutwrenching images she saw on the news, started an out-of-uniform fundraiser.

“Originally, the idea was to place containers at the snack bar so students could donate their loose change,” Daphne High science teacher Stephanie Wainwright, Kathleen’s mother, said. Kathleen got the idea from watching an ad on MTV the day after the quake: it gave viewers directions on how to donate to relief organizations.

Kathleen approached school administrators and requested they authorize an out-of-uniform day in which students could wear jeans — instead of their uniforms — in exchange for a $2 donation; Principal Don Blanchard agreed to set aside Friday for that purpose.

“They came to me right after news of the quake had hit and asked if they could do something,” Blanchard said. “It was their idea to make this a two-week project.”

Kathleen created a six-minute video that showed pictures of Haitian devastation and told students about the “jeans day” and containers at the snack bar. By Tuesday, the snack bar had collected a few dollars, but the students at Daphne High went beyond that.

Sophomore Nicolaus Morgan asked his teacher Viki Powell, “Aren’t we supposed to have a box for Haiti donations?”

Morgan was right.

“I reminded her,” he said. “So I gave some money, and a girl gave some money and it just kinda became a competition.”

Foreign-language teacher Hollie Hunter, Powell’s niece, also started a collection with her classes. By Thursday, Hunter’s classes had donated almost $56, and Powell’s classes had collected around $64. 

In the spirit of giving, the competition spread throughout the school and as of Friday, the clubs and classes had collected more than $750.

As of press deadline, the students had raised approximately $1,000.

All funds raised will go directly to the American Red Cross, Stephanie Wainwright said.

Those in the area who remember the effects of Hurricanes Katrina, Ivan and Camille know firsthand the impact a natural disaster can have on a community and may relate to those affected by the quake, Stephanie Wainwright said.

“Living on the Gulf Coast, where we have seen our share of disasters, has probably played a large part in our students’ willingness to be so generous,” she said. 

“I just think it’s a simple humanity thing,” student Charis Singleton said.

“They’re our brothers and sisters in a way and we have to have their back,” student Brie Singleton said.

Fundraising efforts haven’t been limited to the older Trojans. Donation boxes have been placed in teacher workrooms at Daphne Elementary. Daphne Middle has instituted a similar “blue jeans” fundraiser in which contributions toward an out-of-uniform day will be donated to the Red Cross. W.J. Carroll Intermediate fifth-grade teacher Elaine Herring has led a campaign to collect items like toothpaste, toothbrushes, combs, hand towels and soaps. Herring said the items collected have been placed in sealed bags and will be donated to Convoy of Hope, an international relief organization.

“A lot of it has to do with the sense of community in a small town,” Herring said of the drive to help Haitians. “There’s never a question (that) we’re going to help.”

At Bayside Academy, the Girls Sevice Club has been selling T-shirts that read, “I Love Haiti,” with profits benefiting the Red Cross. The school also has a “Change for Haiti” program planned that will last two weeks with funds raised going to UNICEF. Once the student council has voted, Bayside’s student government will draft a check and send it to a Haitian orphanage, a representative said.

At 4:43 p.m. Eastern Standard time on Jan. 12, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale shook the foundation of the tiny island nation of Haiti. The center of the quake was about 16 miles from the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

Estimates reportedly place the death total at as high as 200,000. Many buildings collapsed, including the president’s palace and the national assembly building.

Relief efforts to help rebuild the country’s infrastructure have been committed from the Red Cross, UNICEF and Direct Relief International as well as the federal government, which has provided financial relief and medical supplies.

Some reports expect it may take up to three months to restore electricity to the nation’s capital.

A live benefit concert, “Hope for Haiti” — featuring a star-studded lineup of music legends playing from different locations around the world — aired on several television stations and reportedly raised $60 million.