NGES studetns raise money to help Haiti

Nine-year-old Kalia Page of Stanardsville understands money.
The Nathanael Greene Elementary School student understands that presents cost money, and so does relief.
“At Christmas my mom gave me lots of presents and I wanted to be able to give some to her, so I started saving the money I was paid to clean up around the house,” Kalin said.
And then, on Jan. 12, a catastrophic earthquake leveled the Haitian capital of Port au Prince.
Within 12 days at least 52 aftershocks had been recorded.
By Jan. 27 it was reported that nearly 20,000 commercial buildings and 225,000 residences had collapsed or were severely damaged, and 170,000 bodies had been counted.
Kalia was watching the story unfold on television news.
“I heard there were a lot of earthquakes,” she said. “Houses fell down, and a school fell down with children in it.  A lot of people died. 
“People that didn’t die didn’t have enough to eat, so I wanted to donate a lot of money for them to buy food.”
While countries around the globe were responding to appeals for humanitarian aid, pledging funds and dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and support personnel, Kalia was bussing tables at the Blue Ridge Café.
“My mom is a waitress there and she paid me to help her,” she said.
But she didn’t stop there: Kalia offered to give head and foot massages to family members for a fee, and even donated some of her personal Christmas fund to the cause.
She wanted her schoolmates to give, too.
“Kalia wrote a petition and one day, she got 28 signatures during a 15-minute recess,” said NGES Librarian Joyce Morris.
At the time, Morris continued, “we didn’t know that the school’s Student Council Association was deciding to raise money for Haitian relief as well.”
Winkie King, public support coordinator for the Central Virginia Chapter of the American Red Cross, presented the students with a certificate of appreciation when she visited them at their school last week.
The certificate read: “The American Red Cross Central Virginia Chapter proudly presents this certificate of appreciation to gratefully recognize the students of Nathanael Greene Elementary School for their generous contributions to aid and support the victims of the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti.”
King said children in the area have given money to the effort from their savings and from the tooth fairy, and they have made gifts.
Sometimes those donations have come with a personal sacrifice: “I’ve given so much I don’t have any money left for ice cream,” said Kalia.
At press time, the NGES Student Council Association had raised nearly $2,000 for Haitian relief. Kalia had raised about $150.