Orphanage in Haiti receives help from Christian School students
COSHOCTON – When Patty Gray went to Haiti in April 2016 she knew it wouldn’t be her last trip there.
“My daughter is now going to school to be an orthopedic surgeon and it was her idea for us to go with a mobile medical team,” Gray said.
She wanted to find a way to do more and since she is a midwife she first thought about creating a birthing center for expecting mothers.
“There is no place that is clean and sanitary for them to go,” Gray said.
They also have trouble getting food and safe drinking water, have no electricity, and no mail or trash system.
“They are desperately poor,” Gray said.
It also is not always the safest place to be.
“When we were there in July riots broke out,” Gray said.
Once she got started, her project in Haiti turned into an orphanage, which now houses 14 children, who range in age from 3 to 16. Those children will have an extra special Christmas thanks to junior and senior high school students at the Coshocton Christian School, where her son Isaac is a sophomore.
“I matched them with students at the orphanage so they could get them toys and small little things,” Gray said. “I gave them each a gallon size bag to put things in and a lot of them came back with two or three.”
She travels to the orphanage every three to four months and recently made a trip with partners in her project from Columbus to take items from the Christian School students down.
“I’m going to try to put these things away for Christmas,” Gray said. “I want to say thank you to the students for donating. I hope this was life changing for them. When I spoke at the school they were all onboard.”
The name of her organization is Haiti’s Angels. To find out more about how you can help, visit mdwforbabies.wixsite.com/haitisangels.
“We’ve accomplished a lot in a short amount of time,” Gray said. “I’m so thankful for everyone’s help. This is life changing. These kids are going to be thrilled at Christmas.”
Category: Education
