When New Albany Plain Local Schools’ students listened to Paul Farmer, a United Nations Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti and co-founder of Partners in Health, they were moved into action. Watching Farmer speak live at the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts or via webcast in the New Albany High School gymnasium, children in all grades learned the importance of giving back. Farmer encouraged the students saying, “You need to invest in the possibilities.”
By selling t-shirts and bracelets with the message “Hand in Hand with Haiti,” and decorated water backpacks, students and parent volunteers raised $25,000 to support a sustainable tilapia fishing business at the Zanmi Beni Children’s Home, an orphanage in Haiti.
And the work continues. Students are creating a Partners in Health Club while teachers are working to develop a mission to Haiti to provide hands-on assistance.
