Youth for Haiti

There has been something strange about waking up on these January winter mornings. Every cup of coffee I drink comes from a vending machine and every newspaper I read has a front page spread of the “Devastating Earthquake in Haiti” and because of such issues has lately had me pondering about what makes us who we are and what we are doing as Canadians to invest a bit of ourselves into finding out more about this global issue. On average and from many first-hand experiences dealing with people around my own age, I had come to build up a semi-biased opinion on some of the matters these individuals choose to sink their minds into and normally my opinions are hard to change. Today I stand corrected...
As I focused my attention deeper and deeper into the Canadian involvement of the Haiti earthquake I had finally come to terms with having my opinion changed. Over the last couple of weeks I have been receiving nothing but invitations to Haiti Fundraisers and groups like “Hundreds for Haiti” (One of which I have been presently following) over Facebook and other networking websites. “Hundreds for Haiti” is a group created by 2 young girls named Shelby Morell and Katie Matheson whom of which both currently reside in the Brampton Ontario area. I was intrigued with the dedication they had shown with starting the group and decided to get in contact with one of the girls.
“I started this group as an attempt to spread awareness of the severity of the situation in Haiti to fellow classmates, family, and friends” Wrote Shelby Morell. The returning grad student of St Thomas Aquinas High School and aspiring photographer in the local Brampton area was taken back the moment she had witnessed the Quake all over the news. After witnessing the devastation and further educating herself about the matters surrounding the Haiti incident she had realized that there was more she could do to help Haiti then she had realized. “I know that if you want something to be seen - and seen fast - Facebook is the way to do it, and by creating my group "Hundreds for Haiti", this addictive social networking site has proved itself yet again.” Shelby had students meet her during and after school and has reached people as far as the Philippines to help with aid through the group.
As of January 19th 2010 “Hundreds for Haiti” has reached 1071 members and have raised almost $4000.00 to donate to the Yele Haiti foundation founded by Grammy award winner Wyclef Jean. “I have been insisting to everyone that anything they can do - whether it be spreading the word through text, inviting people to the Facebook group, or donating whatever they can - it will in fact make a difference.”
Sitting on my couch and sifting through pictures of the damaged Haitian National Palace is something that has come unexpectedly and by somewhat of a surprise but it has been (and like I had stated before) a known fact that my mind is a hard thing to change. It is with the youth of today and people like Shelby Morell and Katie Matheson that really gives us a true peer into ourselves. It is for people who have enough courage to stand up and lend out a hand to our fellow human brothers and sisters without any hesitation that will give us hope for our future generations. There has been something strange about waking up on these January winter mornings and through so much chaos can there really be such a sense of hope from our youth?



- Jaden Adams


For any further donations or inquiry about the “Hundreds for Haiti” group Shelby can be reached at 1 – 647 – 227 – 0091 or text “Yele” to 501501 to donate $5.00 to the “Yele Haiti” fund.