The Earthquake In Haiti
For those of us who living in California, earthquakes are a common occurence. However, thanks to stringent building codes and the fact that we can afford to abide by them, we are prepared, at least for the minor shakes.
Despite that, a 7.0 magnitude shake (equivalent to half a million tons of high explosives) would effect us drastically - Hence you can only imagine what it did to a country like Haiti, where sixty five percent of the population earns less than $2.50USD a day, and lives in flimsy housing.
The earthquake, epicentered about ten miles southwest of Haiti's capital, Port-Au-Prince, rocked the island a few minutes before 5 pm, on Tuesday afternoon. While there were some sketchy reports of the damage, a clear picture was difficult to glean, because most communication from the country was lost for a while.
A clearer picture has now emerged, and as expected, the news is devastating. While accurate estimates are difficult, since a lot of people are still unaccounted for, over 50,000 people are known to have perished. For the people who survived, there is no food, water or shelter. There are reports of thousands of people huddling together in parks, either because they have no place to live or, are too afraid to go home.
However, the worst part is that over 2 million children have been either orphaned or have no contact with their family members and are now wandering around the streets all alone! Even worse is the fact that a lot of these kids get only one meal a day - at school, and with most schools destroyed, they may have nowhere to turn for food!
While we can't really do anything about what has happened, we can all pitch in to help the children and other people to rebuild their lives, no matter how young we are. Here are a few suggestions:
Earn some money by doing some extra chores for your parents, neighbors and friends or setting up a lemonade (or hot chocolate) stand.
Talk to your parents and obtain their support in organizing a neighborhood bake sale
Brainstorm with your teachers and class and see if you can set up a fund-raising effort at your school.

Here is our pledge - Come up with other great ideas on how to raise money to help the people of Haiti by adding your comments below - We will donate $1.00USD for every idea we get in the next two weeks up to a maximum of $200USD - So get going - tell your friends, neighbors and teachers to write in too, and help us reach our goal ASAP. Remember we can all make a difference!
sources:guardian.co.uk, dailymail.co.uk
Comments
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donata money
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I hope the people get money.So I WOULD LIKE TO DONATE MONEY.
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Schools to donate extra money from fun raisers.
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I FEEL SO BAD FOR THOSE PEAPLE SO I THOUGHT WELL FIRST BECAUSE WE ARE HAVING A FUNRAISER TO MAKE MONEY SO MAYBE THE SCHOOL COULD USE THE LEFTOVERS TO DONATE TO THE POOR PEAPLE I HOPE THEY CAN MAKE IT P.S. WHEN I SAID POOR I DIDN'T REALLY MEEN POOR I MENT LIKE THOSE PEAPLE ARE POOR I WILL GO HELP THEM!
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I want to help poor people from the poor contry gets there home back like they have the way its so i am going to ask my mothers for 39 dallers.I am sorry you lost your house.
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i wish i could help
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I FELL SO BAD FOR THE POAPLE THAT HAVE BEEN IN A EARTHQUAKE. I WANT TO HELP THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN IN AN EARTHQUAKE.
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I want to send money and food to the homeless really bad.Because I don't want them to run out of food.I think my dad can help because he is a CB and CB help the homeless and build homes for them.
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I want to donate money to Hati
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I feel so bad.
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I hope the people that servive are ok?
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I feel so sary.
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I feel so so bad ,but I can help by donating money.
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You should keep trying. I believe that you people can do it!
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Give the people food each day.
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lets pray for all people in Haiti for their safety, heath and to get better for tomorrow.
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PLZ DONATE ANY extra cash founfd plz o plz i have a friend who lost most of her relatives plz donate $
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You should ask for donations from the schools & local supermarkets to donate
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Thats to sad. Im almost crying.
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We should try to help them. We could use baby sisting money or if your not old anough to baby sit you could do some extra chores at home, get some extra money and donate it to the Red Cross. I heard they have been helping out Hedi alot.
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I want to help so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so soooo bad!
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i feel soooooooooooooooooooooo bad!!
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i am going to give some money from my allowence to them
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omg-that earthquake is so dangerous; poor people
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I know right.
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I hope that earthquake never would've happened, if it had not happen those kids wouldn't be ophens or homeless children. A way 2 solve this or letting people die is 2 donate some money 2 haiti 2 help their survival. But what will money do 2 help them, the stores are broken down, insted send them food, get people 2 rebuild their homes, buildings, opheniges, whatever, just help haiti. Now listen people in haiti theres a fund raiser at my school and we will donate as much as we can, by the way its called a jogathon. It's for th YMCA . We will donate the rest 2 haiti or we will buy as much as food as we can and send it 2 you guys in haiti.hope you get your lives and homes back, I really do. sincerly, MARA JADE GRIFFIN
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i feel really bad 4 the kids that will now be living in a fosters home and kids and grownups that are in pan or sad,upset,scared, or even terrified!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO WE NEED TO HELP THE PEOPLE IN haiti!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO LETS PRAY TO THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LETS HELP,HELP,HELP THE PEOPLE AND ANIAMALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I wish that they were not pore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I wish that never happended!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I feel sorry for the people who lost their homes!
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Please donate to the poor!!!!!!!!
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my dad talked to my brother and i and my bday is in feb so i am going to donate my bday money
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also my neighbors dad was sent to hati because he is trained in this situation my dad is going to
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yes the Lord definetly needs to here our prayers,no name
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Hi Brianna good for you - that is a great gift from you - best of luck to your dad and neighbor - they are doing an awesome thing - thanks for writing in.
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dear editor is my idea going to earn a dollar for the haiti fund plz do so
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hi Brianna - absolutely - thanks so much for writing in!
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We all need to get involved. We learn many things in school, but the tragedy in Haiti teaches us to be compassionate and care that others in the world are suffering. If you can't send money then give your time to an organization or your school to help organize a fund raiser.
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Great suggestion Jan - Thanks for writing in!
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My school is going to put collection boxes all around our school. Do that at your office!
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I think you could raise money by ... having a dance. People would have to pay $5 at the door, which you would pay for the dj and food. The left over money would be donated to the people in Haiti.
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OOOO NOOO WHAT A BIG HOUSE GETS DITROED
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3299 and surfer girl - those are both great suggestions - thanks for writing in
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POOR PEOPLE I FEEL SORRY FOR THEM
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I am upset for the people
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I feel sorry for people in Haiti. I will pray for them.
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I file sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy for Haiti !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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We are trying to do a fundraiser at school called Hats for Haiti to raise money.
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Hi Natan That sounds like a very unique idea - what exactly are you going to do?
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i also want to donate.........
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but i dont know how
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i feel really sad cuz of the kid that are living there
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we could have a bake sale to raise money to donate
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That is so sad. I am going to talk to my teacher about maybe raising some money to help them. Their capital building was so pretty. I hope that those orphan children can find their parents.
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People could make a program to raise money for families in Haiti. Schools can make a fundraiser or bake sale to raise money to donate to people in Haiti. We can all help people in Haiti.
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i think schools should donate money from fundraisers
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im sad for kids in haiti
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that would suck i would hate to be caught in that.
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i wish i could do something about that to help them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I hope I can help than.
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This is so sad thinking that could be us in stead of theme we could put leftover food from school that we don't eat and give it to theme. SO SAD!!!!!!!!!!
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i think that i should sit down and talk to my principle and guidance Counsler to see if we can start a charity called Haiti needs us or pitch in for Haiti
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Our class is collecting change to donate to the Red Cross!!!
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I feel sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooory for Haitians I wish it never happend!!!!!
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IM GOING TO HELP THEM!
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I AM THE VICE PRESIDENT OF STUDENT COUNCIL AND I AM SETTING UP A PROGRAM TO HELP HAITI!
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WoW ! that is really awesome derek
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i feel so sad for them
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Sony, its workers will match any donation to Red Cross and send all the Red Cross stuff to Haiti.
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this is really cool
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i love this
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awesome
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awesome
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awesome awesome
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awesome awesome
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awesome awesome awesome
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awesome awesome awesome
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:( cccccccccccrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
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i have never being in a earthquake
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i feel sad hat they had tha eartquake so i will help
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i feel sad lets help them if that was the us they would help them
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I FEEL SO SAD FOR THOSE PPL IN HAITI PLZ HELP THEM OUR PLZ,.!
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I FEEL SAD FOR ALL THE PEOPLE SO WE SHOULD DONATE CAN FOODS,MONEY,CLOTHES AND HELP OUR PEOPLE
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i fell so sorry for them in haiti because they really need help so lets help them
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i think somebody should help the ll kids i mean if my home got destroyed i would want somebody to help me and my family to have shelter and food to who wouldn't ?.**********people need money and food these days
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i think this is sad and some ppl in the world dont have money so lets help them.!
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we need to help them or else they dead
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feel sooooooooo soryyyyyyyyyy for them lets help them okay lets just help them
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who is knew-knew
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WOW THATS CRAZY HOW DID THE EARTHQUAKE HAPPEN AND WHEN AND WHAT TIME
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what is that building that crashed down. it looks like the white house
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have an aqution
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food drive!
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when i saw it on the news how they were donating money by texting i wish i had minutes cuase i would have sent it to everyone i know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wish i can go down their and help out so bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i just wanted to help. i asked my mom if we could adopt a little one help him/her live in a sfe home and food to eat on a table!!!!!!!!!!!!! i realy hope things get so much better for every single indivigal that live in Haiti!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'll keep everyone in my prayrs!!!!!!!!!!!!
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so sorry for the people.
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I hope they get lots of money, I might donate. :)
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I made some dog treats and sold them to my friends, neighbores and family. I made 86 dollars from the treats. I am going to donate all of that money to the Red Cross. You can do the same thing. Make dog treats, lemonade, cookies, hot chocolate, paintings, what ever you want and sell them. You can donate the money to Haite. They are having a terrible time. Last night (1/19/10) they had an after shock that was 6.1 and after all of the problems they already had from the first earthquake and now they have even more damage. I feel very sorry for all the people in Haiti.
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Hi Miranda - Those are great suggestions - that is a lot of hard earned money you are giving to the people of haiti - every penny of which will be appreciated - Thanks for writing in!
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y did dis have 2 happen 2 the such poor peeps of haiti?????
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to help i will donate money,
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you could donate clothes
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you could donate food
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you can donate food
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I beleive that the Hungry Howies and other famous resturuants in America should donate some food so they don't at least starve to death =)
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I feel so bad for those people!I'll see if I can donate a dollar or 2.
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I know what I can do!I can sell some things that I don't need and when I earn the money I'll donate it to Haiti!
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I Know what I can do I'll look through my cloths that are to small and give them to Haiti!
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Fried chickin is tastey and thats why I'm going to give it to the people of Haiti!
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this is so sad i am about to cry tear tear
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That's so sad I'm crying!
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our school is raising money for Haiti.
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Anyone can help! We should just raise money. Many schools are raising money for Hati. If you school isn't, then try to donate some money to Red Cross. Think about all the kids who have been left orphaned.
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i hav a donate box at my scool 2
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peace out by
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We should give Haiti money and eqiptment and then they can repare the homes and schools and things like that because they would probely do the same for us.
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i personally think this is sad
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i get what you mean victoria
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please send food and water to them children and adults in need cause you wouldnt like if you were like that would you?
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I feel sad for the people in Haiti and I hope it dosen't happen again
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Hi! again! I am writing a report to help Haiti
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wish Haiti good luck. My school is donating money and shoes to the people who need them.
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good like to this program and Haiti
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i feel so sorry
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i feel bad for hatie!
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If you have a business you can give money from what you earned or sell more things and tell people something like: If you buy I will give 30% of the money to the people of Haiti. Also depending on the weather around you, you can have a stand of hot chocolate or lemonade etc. You could ask somebody at your school to help you start a DOLLAR DONATION, where everybody at your school can bring a dollar or more.
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I have already donated $10 to red cross, $2 to the donation day at school, and as much as I can to help the people of Haiti.
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We can do a talent show for our neighborhood and charge people 50 cents to get in and donate all the money to haiti
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We can also have a gradge (sorry if i spelled that wrong) sale and donate all the money we get to haiti
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Great Ideas awesome addy!
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Hello ther Awesome Addy! I know that you were trying to spell garage - like a garage sale. But good try!!!!!!!!
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Thanks Editor! Thanks, 3299, I'm not the best speller! Are you guys going to donate $2 because i gave 2 ideas?
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I am going to give alot of ideas so Haiti can recover
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We could have a coloring contest and when you enter you have to pay a 25 cent entry fee
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We could have a pagent with an entry fee of $5 and we could make the costumes to sell to for an extra $10 and donate all of the entry fees and costume fees to haiti!
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I am going to have my B-Day party and I might ask my friends to bring money or food to donate to haiti
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Make a candy and sell it for money and donate the money to Haiti!
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I would not want to live in that and i feel really bad for them. that is really sad and if any one is cool please give me some tips to be cool. thanks for the help. and i think that people should donate food to all of the people that are in need of food.
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I have an idea. My school is selling choco bars and other stuff in Febuary! We are donating it to the Haiti relief program
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Donate! In our school we are starting to donate. Though I don't think we'll raise more then 19,000 though .__.
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At our school, awesomeaddy and i have a hats for haiti day where if you bring a hat you can wear it for 50 cents
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I feel very sorry for the people from haiti and i hope many people donate money
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Everyone should donate money to Haiti
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help help help!
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Poooor Haitians they are relly poor:(
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i am so sorry for the people who have lost family in this terrible happening! I hope they are fine and that people take care of the suriving people! i also hope the people who need medicine get what they need, and that everyone who helps, know what they are doing! I wish them all the best and so that this earth quake stops!!! <3
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i am just writing a report for my school about haiti!! its just soooooo sad!!! just like andrew did!! EVERYONE HEEELP!! <3
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OMG!! So SAD :(
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you guys have to donate pleas for the kids and the baby donate today
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wish it never happened
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sooo sad that this happened to those poor kids out there in hati all we can do is pray for those children and hope everything will be alright............ god has a plan in store for those people......... and all we can really do is pray pray pray n do a little bit more praying....... just keep praying god and donating as much money as u can to them cause they need all the help they can get!!!!! GOD BLESS EVERYONE N KEEP PRAYING!!!!!!!!!
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Our grade 3 students feel horrible about what has happened. We are very sorry for all the people. We brought loonies and toonies for the people of Haiti on P.J. Day. We decided that doing chores, using cloth bags and reducing our use of gas could raise extra money for us to donate to Haiti.
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I feel HORRIBLE!!!
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we sh643d d6nat 06ney 4 ha5t5s
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I feel so sorry for them . I hope lots of people donat lots of money to HAITI !!!!!!!!
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:( Poor Haiti. I Wish We Could Do More For Them.. :(
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omg the day i heard that there waz a earthquake in haiti, i waz ssooooooo ssssssoooooo sad. i thought about all the little children that became orphans and the people with no more family and all the things that we could do for them dont u ?
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omg i feel soooo sorry for them
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i feel horrible about the earthquake bnut cant help i amm studding it though omgggggggg the earthquake was so big
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oooooooooommmmmmmmmmmggggggggggggggggggggggggg the earthquake was gigantic so big it knocked down most of the capital it makes me feel lucky but sorry for the people living in haiti or on holiday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! did you know that angelina jolie visited the survivors i bet that would of made a little more joyful
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I really hope Haiti is a better place soon and lots of people help Haitian people because everyone has the right to be happy!!!
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GREETINGS EARTHLINGS I COME IN PEACE I AM AN ALIEN FROM OUTER SPACE U MUST OBEY ME!!!!!!! HELP THE PEOPLE IN HAITI OTHERWISE I WILL BEHEAD U AND I FEEL SORRY FOR THE THOUSANDS WHO HAVE DIED, LOST THEIR LIVES OR THEY HAVE LOST ONE OF THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS U HAVE TO HELP THEM PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY BROTHER AND SISTER ARE HELPING ME TYPE THIS IN OUR SPACE SHIP WE WILL VISIT U TOMORROW IF U DONT REPLY THEN I WONT VISIT U YOUR FROM OUTER SPACE MARVELLOUS MARIA, GORGOUS GABBY AND FANTASTIC FERNANDO
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helloooooooooooooooooooooooo
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well i feel so bad about the people of haiti so i will start a fundraiser and i 'll get as much money i can
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I WANT TO ADOPT ALL OF THE CHILDREN IN HAITI BECUSE THEY ARE ADORABOL.
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IM 8 YEARS OLD AND I WANT TO HAVE A LITTLE BROTHER OR SISTER TO PLAY WITH AND GO TO SCHOOL WITH AND LOVE THEM FOREVER AND EVER.
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little kids i love them soooooooooooooooooooooooooo sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
