Students Donate T-shirts for Haiti

Earthquake survivors walk amidst collapsed buildings and rubble in downtown Port-Au-Prince, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

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By Jillian Petrus

Story Created: Feb 2, 2010 at 9:50 PM CST

Story Updated: Feb 2, 2010 at 10:29 PM CST

ANAMOSA - Students at West Middle School in Anamosa are joining many others across the country in helping earthquake victims in Haiti.

What makes their gift unique is why they are giving. The students say they feel connected to the earthquake survivors after a group of sixth graders had their classroom ceiling collapse on them last month.

Thankfully no one was hurt, and now the students want to do all they can for Haiti, even if it means giving the clothes off their backs.
"We had a tenth or a millionth of what they would have experienced," said sixth grade teacher Marissa Nie. However, it was still enough to get students thinking about how they could help.
"We have everything that we need," said Reese Ehlers a sixth grade student at West Middle School. "But they need some stuff that we have too much of."

Something the students say they have too much of are t-shirts...lots of them. So, the kids started putting up signs and asking for donations. After just a week, they collected about 800 t-shirts.
"They are willing to see that other people are in positions that aren't anything similar to ours and wanting to help them out," said Nie.

Students donated shirts for both kids and adults. Most of the shirts say "Anamosa" or "West Middle School". Sixth grader Gabriel Finn says he hopes this reminds people in Haiti how much Iowans care.
"The coolest ones are the ones that say Anamosa, because then they know that a little town in Iowa was helping out with this tragic disaster."

The students are collecting t-shirts until Friday. The school is having some trouble finding a way to get them to Haiti. If you think you can help get the shirts to Haiti or would like to donate head to the news links section on KCRG.com for more information.

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