By Scott Meeker
smeeker@joplinglobe.com
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — The students lined the back wall of Brady Hill’s current world affairs class Tuesday at Carl Junction High School, a classic assembly line formation making quick work of bagging up boxes of donated items.
The bags — hygiene kits packed with items such as shampoo, soap, a towel, a comb, toothbrush and toothpaste — were created as part of the “Kits 4 Kids” drive and will make their way to children in Haiti who are living without basic necessities.
Hill said the 36 students in both of his classes were quick to respond when the opportunity arose to send help to Haiti.
“They’ve taken a lot of ownership of (the project), and it has been something that they’ve really enjoyed,” he said.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education partnered with Convoy of Hope — an international relief organization based in Springfield — to assemble 100,000 hygiene kits to deliver to Haiti. Carl Junction students were among classrooms from all over the state contributing to the effort.
They placed posters around the school to raise awareness of “Kits 4 Kids,” and set up a box where community members could make donations.
“This is very important, and I’m glad we’re doing something about it,” said senior Brittany Puller, as she placed bottles of shampoo into the empty plastic bags and sent them down the line.
Puller said that when she first learned the scope of the disaster that resulted from the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked Haiti on Jan. 12 and left hundreds of thousands of people homeless, she didn’t know if there was anything that one student in Southwest Missouri could do to make a difference.
The “Kits 4 Kids” program proved that there was. Enough items were donated to fill about 150 hygiene kits.
“This shows that people our age can help in even the worst situations,” Puller said.
Near the end of the line, where he placed folded towels into the bags, senior James Cullen said that it felt good to be able to contribute to the relief effort.
“We’re all coming together for one mission,” Cullen said. “It made me happy to see all the people who care.”
Road to Haiti
As the “Kits 4 Kids” were assembled, Carl Junction teacher Brady Hill loaded them into boxes and taped them closed, stacking them against the back wall of his classroom.
Hill said he will load his truck today and deliver the boxes to the Southwest Center for Educational Excellence in Webb City. From there, they will be taken to Convoy of Hope’s staging area in Springfield and flown to Haiti.
