Haiti

This past Monday was the MLK holiday, and schools were closed.  We took the opportunity to hang out with my Mom, Aunt Jessica (my SIL) and my niece and nephew for the day.  The weather was beautiful and mild, and we took the kids to lunch and were heading back to my house for an afternoon of playing together.

On our way home, we came upon a bustling bake sale in the parking lot of a little store near my house.  Enthusiastic kids, moms and dads were waving drivers in, balloons were flying and all the signs said "Cupcake Sale" and "Kids 4 Haiti".  Of course we pulled in.

We live in a bubble and I know in all honesty, my kids will probably, hopefully, never have to think about being hungry or cold, or not having any shoes or clean clothes to wear.  There isn't a day that goes by I'm not thankful for all we have and can give to our kids.  One of my friends was recently telling her third grade son about what's happening in Haiti and that the people there don't have enough to eat.  He replied "Well, why don't they just go to Costco and buy more?".  Its just beyond their comprehension what it would mean to be hungry, to not have dry clean clothes and a bed to sleep in.  I can't even imagine it myself.

I have seen images of some of the children in Haiti, who are now burned beyond recognition, parentless, homeless, and it makes my heart hurt. 

When the tragedy in Haiti occurred, Andrew and I sat down to talk to Dylan about it.  We showed him where Haiti was on Google Earth, and talked about what happened there.  We didn't share any pictures with him....we've always been very consistent about not watching the news when the kids are awake.  They're always listening, even when we think they aren't, and the world is just too scary sometimes.  We'd rather tell them of events in terms we think they can understand.  And we tried to put Haiti into terms he could comprehend.  Not to scare him, but just to make him aware that sometimes horrible things happen to innocent people and we have to be grateful for everyday we live. 

We told him we were making a small donation to Red Cross, and that if lots of people all made a small donation, more people there could get the water and food and medicine they need.  We thought briefly he was going to offer some of his own Christmas money.  We didn't expect him to, but really the point was to have him understand when tragedies like this happen, its important to have compassion and try to help people. 

So, on Monday, we pulled into this bake sale.   There were tables and tables of cupcakes, every color imaginable. Cookies, brownies as far as you could see.  And so many smiling kids and their parents, all spending their day off of school and work trying to raise money for the people of Haiti.  There were no prices.  You chose what you wanted and donated what you could.  And it was just swarming with people waiting for a parking space to open up.

People pulling in to buy a cupcake or two, just to feel in some small way, they were helping.

Today, I saw in our local paper that cupcake bake sale on Monday raised $5,789 for Haiti.  The woman who organized it said the money she thought she'd raise over the entire day was raised in the first hour.  Here is a video of her talking about the idea, and how it came about in a very short amount of time.  (Click on Kids 4 Haiti on right side, it won't let me embed this clip into my post).

I'm so sorry for the pain and suffering so many are enduring in Haiti.  And I'm not implying that buying a few cupcakes is going to solve the problems of the world.  But it at least reminded me that sometimes the biggest tragedies bring out the very best in people, and sometimes we have to look for the that little silver lining and embrace it.