WYSE Work Abroad Contributes to Relief Efforts for Haiti
At the start of the 2010 Work Experience Travel Market and IAPA Annual Conference in Miami participants in WYSE Work Abroad’s Volunteer Project spent a productive & enjoyable morning working for Fanm Ayisyen Nan, loading bottled water, sorting donated clothes and putting together hygiene kits, all destined for Haiti.
This was the second WYSE Work Abroad Volunteer Project to take place, following on the success of the inaugural one at last year’s WYSTC in Manchester, UK. The Volunteer Project was created at the suggestion of WYSE Work Abroad’s Volunteer Working Group, which includes: Jill Tabuteau (BUNAC), Elizabeth O’Neill (CIEE), Randy Sykes (International Student Volunteers), Randy LeGrant (GeoVisions), Alex Bleach (SASTS), Ninad Sharma (IDEX) and Bettina Weidmann (Experiment e.V.).
WYSE Work Abroad thanks Roxana O’Harra of Volunteers for International Partnership and the Educational Resource Development Trust (ERDT) who arranged this project for us. We also appreciate the generous donation of over 1,000 items for the hygiene kits by the Keefe Group in Fontana, California thanks to the efforts of Account Manager Adrian Francoz, who expedited a last-minute delivery at the request of Andre O’Harra, Chief of Police for the Temecula, California Police Department.
The group of 30 volunteers, made up of WETM-IAC conference delegates from around the world, was able to complete in one morning, work that FANM staff said would have normally taken several days. Volunteers were able to enjoy the time getting to know one another better while contributing in a small way to the relief effort for Haiti.
WYSE Work Abroad was pleased to be able to donate $850 to FANM towards the purchase of tents to provide shelter in Haiti’s imminent rainy season.
Interested in making a donation? These can be made easily through FANM’s website.
If you’re attending WYSTC in Beijing this October – watch for details of our third Volunteer Project nearer that time.
