Family ties boost help for Haiti
Tiffanni Watkins (left) holds her son Peterson, 5, while talking to her friend Kristi Dorcheus, who is holding her son Kobe, 3, during a donation breakfast Feb 13 at Cherry Valley Elementary School. Kristi's husband, Nate, plays with Tiffanni's other son Adlerson, 3 in the background. Both families adopted from the Chances for Children orphanage in Haiti.
In the wake of the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in more than 100 years, many people across this country are donating anything they can to help the hundreds of thousands of victims affected by this catastrophe.
But for one Polson couple, the urge to help lies in a reason a little bit more personal.
Tiffanni and Mike Watkins finalized their adoption of Peterson, 5, and Adlerson, 3, on June 26, 2009. Both boys are from the Chances for Children Orphanage just east of Port-au-Prince, where most of the damage from the Jan. 12 earthquake occured.
UNICEF reports that nearly 40 per cent of the Haitian population is under the age of 14. Following the earthquake, estimates place the number of newly orphaned children in the tens of thousands.
“For a couple of days after the earthquake I thought, ‘I have to do something, I have to do something,’ but I didn’t know what I could do,” Tiffani said.
On Feb. 13, almost one month exactly after the quake, about 150 people attended a fundraiser breakfast at Cherry Valley Elementary School in Polson that was organized by the Watkins family and their friends and co-workers.
The Watkins said the proceeds from the breakfast would go to the Chances for Children orphanage, which did suffer some infrastructure damage from the earthquake, but is still standing.
In conjunction with the donation breakfast, a silent art auction raised money with paintings, sketches, crafts and ceramics by local artists.
Proceeds from the art auction will also go to the Chances for Children Orphanage.
Cherry Valley principal Elaine Meeks said that some of the school staff held a discussion on what the school could do to help.
“It’s been a whole group effort,” Meeks said. “Cooking, cleaning and setting up, making this whole thing run as smoothly as it has.”
Meeks said about $2,000 was raised with $800 coming from the art auction and $1,200 coming from the breakfast.
The breakfast included Haitian style food and drinks: crepes, with choice of toppings, including peanut butter, cherry and apple filling, yogurt, powdered sugar, syrup and whipped cream filled diners’ plates.
Friends of the Watkins family, Nate and Kristi Dorcheus, made their way from Kalispell to attend the breakfast. The Dorcheuses adopted their son Kobe about the same time as the Watkinses.
Kobe and Peterson were best friends in the Chances for Children Orphanage and their adoptive families try to get them together at least once a month.