Rotary Interact Club Helps Family In Haiti

Officers of the Rotary Interact Club of Newtown Middle School presented the Newtown Rotary Club with a check for $500 for a “Happy House” for a family in Jeremie, Haiti.

Andree Minor, president, and Margaret Riley, treasurer, presented Rotary President Duane Baumert with a check for $500 to help a Haitian family build a small home. The people in Jeremie live in one of the poorest sections of Haiti, which is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Most of the families live in shelters made from branches and leaves, which do not provide much portection against rain. The donation provides a family with a concrete floor and house with a galvanized roof, which many consider an impossible dream.

The program is organized through The Haitian Health Foundation in Jeremie, founded by a Rotarian dentist in Norwich, Dr Jeremiah Lowney. He started about 20 years ago with the help of a few Sisters of Mother Teresa.

Over the years, Rotary Clubs in Connecticut and many other people contributed and helped Dr Lowney build, train and staff the Haitian Health Clinic in Jeremie that has the responsibility of the health care of about 200,000 people in the area.

The Middle School Interact Club conducted a Read-A-Thon at which fellow students came to the library with a list of sponsors who paid a small contribution for every page read. Now a family in Jeremie will have a two-room home about the size of a one-car garage with a plaque on the door stating that the house is the “Contribution of the Interact Club of Newtown, CT, Middle School.” The club will also get a picture of the family who will live in the house.

The club is now organizing a New York Cheese Cake sale for other worthy service projects.