As Thanksgiving approaches, students are thankful to be able to go home, eat a good meal and visit with family. However, during the holidays Ole Miss senior biology major Brooke Parker is focusing on the second half of the word Thanksgiving.
For example: instead of traveling home for winter break, Parker plans to spend her holiday in Haiti to provide medical care with the organization Bless Back Worldwide. Parker also has plans to build a home for a family in Haiti through funds she raises through a project called Houses for Haiti.
Houses for Haiti is a small charity that Parker started in September in order to raise money to build the home. It cost $5,000 to build a home for a family in need.
“I started Houses for Haiti because I wanted to help make a difference in someone’s life,” Parker said. “This would impact an entire family. Providing a home for them would mean no more sleeping on the hard dirt ground and providing them with a sense of security, comfort and peace, giving them a sense of hope for their family.”
According to Amnesty International, hundreds of thousands of Haitians live in fragile shelters consisting of tents or tarps. The January 2010 earthquake left some 2.3 million homeless. It is estimated that more than 350,000 people currently live in 496 camps across the country.
“They live in a condition that is so hard to fathom and humbles me as an individual just thinking of their circumstances,” Parker said.
One way Parker decided to raise awareness for her charity was by creating a video.
“I had been to Nicaragua with Bless Back over the summer on a medical trip, and we saw over 1,600 patients in one week,” Parker said. “People walked over three miles each day just to come see a doctor because they had never seen one before. We had an awesome person filming with us that week, so I thought if I could show people what we do when we go to Haiti and Nicaragua, they would be more willing to give. My friend Skyler helped me make the video to send out around campus.”
Parker also created a Houses for Haiti T-shirt, which is available on the JC Graphics website, www.jcgstore.com. With each purchase of the shirt, $6 will go toward Houses for Haiti.
“I haven’t got the influx of response that I was hoping for,” Parker said. “I know everyone is so busy with school and different things going on, but November is a month to be thankful, and if every person gave just $5, we could easily come up with the money. Every dollar raised is impacting a life.”
— Kayla Carpenter
