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GREENSBORO — Relief efforts continued to expand both abroad and here in the Triad on Thursday, two days after a deadly earthquake rocked the impoverished island nation of Haiti.

Children set a goal of raising $5,000  over the next month at the Salvation Army’s Boys and Girls Clubs of Greensboro. A local family, moved to tears by the plight of the Haitians, started collecting items to sell Saturday at a yard sale to raise money for relief efforts.

And local Rotarians passed the hat at their meeting Thursday morning, collecting $800  for a larger effort to provide emergency shelters to Haiti.

“I was saying 'What can we do? What can we do?’” said Kayla Pratto , 45, of Greensboro.

Her daughter Raina , 21 , came up with the yard sale idea. A junior at Cal State in Long Beach, she posted a request on Craigslist seeking donated items for the yard sale.

She also cleared out old clothes from her closet and pulled from the attic the childhood memorabilia that she had previously been unable to part with.

“This is actually making a difference in somebody’s life,” Raina Pratto said. “It’s just so easy to say 'I don’t need this.’ ”

The family is still looking at charities to decide which will receive the money raised. Leftover yard sale items will be sent to the Salvation Army.

That agency is still looking at possible fundraisers, said Shannon Rogers , a member who recently returned from a mission trip to Haiti. She said they will speak with Bob Poff , the Salvation Army’s director of disaster services for Haiti, to see what is needed.

Meanwhile, The Salvation Army Boys and Girls Clubs of Greensboro decided Wednesday  to focus the efforts of its service clubs on raising money for children in Haiti, said Amos Quick,  executive director.

“Our children have been touched by this story,” Quick said. “Out of their own initiative, out of their own compassionate hearts, they want to help out.”

The goal is to raise at least $5,000 by Feb. 15. They will collect loose change, hold bake sales and take donations at events such as dances and a Super Bowl party, he said.

“When they heard about and actually saw some of the pictures and video footage of the devastation, they said, 'This is something we have to do,’ ” Quick said.

About 260  children ages 10 to 18 belong to the service clubs.

Rotary clubs across the Triad started raising money Thursday to pay for mobile emergency shelters to send to Haiti. Each shelter costs $1,000.

The “ShelterBox” includes a tent that will house 10 people, tools such as axes, eating utensils and water purification kits. Each shelter also includes coloring books and crayons .

By Thursday afternoon, more than $10,000  had been raised, with $5,000 of that pledged by the Greensboro Rotary Club, said Mike Conrad, governor of the 15-county  district that includes Guilford. The district is matching what the clubs raise, which means $20,000 has essentially been raised, he said.

“As Rotarians, that’s what we do,” Conrad said. “Our motto is 'Service above self.’ So when something like this happens, Rotarians go into action.”

His group, the Gate City Rotary, raised $800 Thursday morning  by passing a hat around at its meeting, he said.

The shelter kits, designed by a Rotarian, have been sent to sites previous disasters such as tsunamis and Hurricane Katrina, Conrad said.

The Rotarians can quickly ship them out once the money is raised, he said.
 

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com