Money for Haiti Students at Motley Elementary School collected coins (and some dollar bills as well) to help raise money for the people of Haiti who recently were victims of a devastating earthquake. In less than a week, the students raised $619.46; all of which will be sent to World Wide Village (www.worldwidevillage.org). Pictured above, front row from left: Kiyrrae Olson, K; Brooke Ferdon, 1st grade; Cassidy Radueg, K. Back: Travis Eisel, 4th grade; Elijah Sams, 5th grade; Kristin Beach, 5th grade; Simon Johnson, 2nd grade; Keegan Johnson, 3rd grade. (Staples World photo by Dawn Schimpp Timbs) For one little girl at Motley Elementary School, the recent news of the devastating earthquake in Haiti hit especially close to home.

Although Brooke Ferdon, a first-grader at MES, has lived in Motley since 2004, she spent the first year of her life in a Haitian orphanage called ‘Maison des de Dieu.’

“That’s where she was living when Keith and I adopted her,” said Debbie Ferdon, a kindergarten teacher at MES and a strong advocate for the people of Haiti.

Keith was the one who first had a connection with the country.

Now a major in the MN National Guard, Keith was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1997, deployed to Haiti on a peace-keeping mission with the United Nations. “They built wells and fixed roads while he was there,” Debbie said.

Keith was drawn to the Haitian people; and his enthusiasm transferred to his wife. “I was able to go

Meeting their daughter Keith and Debbie Ferdon of Motley traveled to Haiti in September of 2003 to spend time with ninemonth old Brooke, their adopted daughter. After spending much of her short life at the there two times before we

got Brooke,” Debbie said. “We met so many wonderful

people during those visits...I wonder where they are now...how they are doing.”

Debbie has not heard how Anne Rose, one of the nannies who cared for Brooke at the orphanage, is doing. “We don’t know what happened to her. We think she was still working for the orphanage, but we’re not sure,” Debbie said.

As the family watched the news on television Jan. 12, with the devastating pictures of the earthquake and its aftermath, sevenyear old Brooke said to her mother, “I’m lucky I wasn’t there,” Debbie shared.

Brooke wanted to do something; and she spread the word to her friends at school that, “The people of Haiti need our help.”

Like her daughter, Debbie was compelled to do something for the people of Haiti. “Things were already tough for them before the earthquake...I can’t imagine what they must be going through,” she said.

Loving nanny Anne Rose, a nanny at an orphanage in Haiti, helped take care of Brooke Ferdon while she was a baby. Brooke was adopted in 2003, by Keith and Debbie Ferdon of Motley. The Ferdons believe Anne Rose was still working at the orphanage at the time of the recent earthquake. They have not heard how she is. (Submitted photo) Debbie showed pictures of the earthquake to her kindergarten class; and they talked about what they could do to help the people in Haiti.

“It was really something,” Debbie said. “They flew back in here Monday with all sorts of coins...emptying piggie banks and purses. They wanted to help.”

Other classes at MES joined in the project as well and by the week’s end, the students in grades K - five had collected $619.46.

The money will be sent to World Wide Village (www. worldwidevillage.org), Debbie reported. “They support Heartline Ministries as well as Real Hope for Haiti, a missionary family that Keith knew when he was in Haiti in 1997.”

Heartline Ministries is a reputable organization, Debbie said, adding that the students at MES will be able to track where their money is going.

“We’ve talked in class about the things the people in Haiti need...food, fuel,” Debbie said. “Obviously, we aren’t able to send those things in the mail; but we can send money for them to purchase these things.”

Although she has not been back to Haiti since she and Keith adopted Brooke, Debbie said she

thinks about the people she

met there on a daily basis. “I have such an admiration

for them. They are strong and resilient in spite of some tough things that have been dealt to them.”

Keith returns to Minnesota this weekend, having been deployed to Iraq since February, 2009 (he was home on leave last July).

No doubt the Ferdons will spend time catching up on each others’ lives. They’ll also most likely remember their friends in Haiti and the Maison des de Dieu orphanage, where they first met their daughter, Brooke, in 2003...prior to the earthquake that would forever change the land of her birth.

In the halls and classrooms at MES, echoes of coins being dropped into jars can be heard; as well as the voice of Brooke saying, “The people of Haiti need our help.”