Ellenville Student Organizes Carnival for Haitian Relief

Haitian Benefit Carnival
Time: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: Ellenville High School Gym
When: Friday, March 19, 2010

Details: The Haitian Benefit Carnival will be held in the High School gym,
in which a plethora of safe, fun, and supervised activities will be
available to participate in, listed below. Carnival goers will buy a ticket
that lists the activities available, which will allow them to go through
all of the activities once. As they go around, volunteers at the booths
will check off the ticket for that specific booth. Once the ticket is
filled and participants wish to go again, they must purchase another
ticket. However, those who are sponsored, as well as volunteers, will be
exempt from tickets. The ticket booth will be set up outside of the gym
doors and will be the only place of fiscal transactions. Refreshments will
be provided. Prizes, donated by local businesses, will be awarded to
competition winners. The proceeds will go through the Haitian People’s
Support Project, a local nonprofit that has supported orphanages, health
clinics, and self-sufficiency cooperatives in Haiti since 1990 (see below
for more information regarding the Haitian People’s Support Project).

Activities:
DDR (competition)
Guitar Hero (competition)
Dance-a-thon (competition)
Face Painting/Tattoos
Popcorn
Bean Bag Toss
Jail: Decorate an area as the “jail” and have volunteers be police
officers; a person is arrested when a “friend” pays one ticket to
have them jailed. They then have to pay one ticket to get out
Miniature Golf
Twister

Prizes: Awarded to Most Money Raised, DDR, Guitar Hero, Dance-a-thon

Itinerary:
5:00-5:45: Activities
5:45-6:15: Dance-a-thon
6:15-7:15: Guitar Hero Competition
7:15-8:15: DDR Competition
8:15-8:45: Closing Activities
8:45-9:00: Winners Announced

Haitian People’s Support Project (HPSP):
HPSP is a nonprofit based out of nearby Woodstock, New York that has been
working in Haiti for twenty years. HPSP is an effective and well connected
organization that works in several community based initiatives, including
orphanages, schools, health clinics, youth leadership and vocational
training, fishing and pottery collectives, and micro-lending projects.
Following the devastating hurricanes in the summer of 2008, HPSP has made
substantial improvements through their grassroots movement to rebuild
Haiti’s countryside. Again, HPSP responded immediately after the recent
earthquake struck. A rescue team was mobilized and sent to Maison D’espoir
Orphanage in Gressier, Haiti, just 2 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter.
The team brought food, supplies, and medical and organizational expertise
to the orphanage in large part because Maison D’espoir is a hub that the
local community depends on for education, electricity, and water. Because
of HPSP’s years of experience in Haiti, they are able to effect immediate
and lasting change because they understand the cultural and institutional
barriers encountered in the relief process, as opposed to that of large
international organizations like the Red Cross that are less familiar with
Haitian communities. By donating through HPSP, we know that 100% of our
contribution is going directly to Haiti; it is not absorbed in the
bureaucracies of the aforementioned organizations. Although rescue and
emergency assistance is vital, we must recognize that long term
rehabilitation is essential in the future struggles that Haitians will
face. These are the same struggles that HPSP will be actively part of for
many years to come; their attention will not be diverted when another
disaster strikes another area. For more information visit their website:
www.haitiansupportproject.org