Students’ global project focused on fighting Ebola

The death toll from the Ebola virus numbered 4,447 as of Oct. 14, according to the World Health Organization. Students at North Kitsap High School are doing what they can to help West Africa fight the virus. A donation drive will take place at the high school Oct. 13-24 for Children of the Nations, a nonprofit based in Silverdale.

POULSBO — The death toll from the Ebola virus numbered 4,447 as of Oct. 14, according to the World Health Organization. Students at North Kitsap High School are doing what they can to help West Africa fight the virus.

A donation drive will take place at the high school Oct. 13-24 for Children of the Nations, a nonprofit based in Silverdale.

The donated items will be part of a shipment heading to Sierra Leone’s Moyamba district in December as part of a long-term outreach project, said Dave Schertzer, resource director for Children of the Nations. The supplies will be expected to arrive March 2015, he said.

The nonprofit has been working in Sierra Leone for more than 20 years and continually sending needed supplies and resources, Schertzer said. However, with the outbreak of Ebola, there’s been an increase in efforts.

“We’ve really ratcheted up our activity,” he said.

Children of the Nations is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising children out of poverty so they can become leaders who transform their nations. The organization provides care to orphaned and destitute children in Sierra Leone, Malawi, Uganda, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. By partnering with local people, they establish Children’s Homes (for orphans) and Village Partnership Programs (to benefit orphans and children living with destitute families or caregivers who cannot properly provide for them).

The nonprofit serves about 2,000 children in Sierra Leone. It has distributed supplies to surrounding areas for support.

The nonprofit’s ministry site and the Moyamba district have been quarantined since the end of September, when President Ernest Bai Koroma added three more districts to the quarantine list on Sept. 24, according to a press release from the office of the president of Sierra Leone. Moyamba is located in the southern province of Sierra Leone.

The nonprofit is beginning to build a perimeter fence around the ministry site’s Children’s Village, according to its website. Efforts to raise money to purchase an ambulance are also under way. The ambulance will be used to transport anyone with a potential case of Ebola to a proper care facility, Schertzer said.

The donation drive is being led by the North Kitsap High School ASB as part of its global campaign project.

Items accepted for donation, along with checks, include latex gloves, alcohol solutions and wipes, surgical masks, hand sanitizer (60 percent alcohol), eye shields, and isolation gowns. The supplies can be dropped off at the North Kitsap High School athletic office.

There will be donation tables set up at sports events as well. A table will be set up for the rival football game against the Kingston Buccaneers at North Kitsap Stadium on Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. Tables will be set up at the girls soccer and volleyball games against Sequim on Oct. 21.

As of the afternoon of Oct. 14 no donations had come in, but it was early in the campaign.

“We’re still getting the word out to the community,” ASB member Molly Lemmon said. “We’re hoping people will bring things out to the game[s].”

Lemmon, a varsity volleyball player, said the campaign is a way to make a difference. Some people have a misconception that ASB is just about making posters, she said.

“We make a difference in people’s lives,” she said. And even a positive poster can have an influence. “Just knowing you changed someone’s day is good, I guess.”

The global campaign adds to other projects North Kitsap ASB has done. In the past, ASB has collected supplies for homeless youth with its “Fill the Bus” campaign, and helped raise money for Ian Gunnell’s Positive Fight Mode, to assist him in his battle against a rare form of leukemia.

ASB coordinator Chris Franklin expects the current campaign to have an impact.

“I think it hits home, because of all of [the attention] in the media,” Franklin said.

The efforts to provide Sierra Leone and the ministry site is part of a long-term project. Schertzer said Children of the Nations could be sending supplies for more than a year before the virus outbreak subsides. He said the virus is “wreaking havoc” on the local economy there; there is food insecurity, less farming being done, and fewer goods being distributed. There are supplies available in Africa, but those are depleting, he said.

“It’s imperative we send supplies from here,” he said.

Top: Molly Lemmon, a junior at North Kitsap High School, is helping to collect medical supplies for Children of the Nations in Sierra Leone. Kipp Robertson / Herald

Above: Staff members at a Children of the Nations clinic in Sierra Leone explain the importance of the hand-washing stations that will be used in an effort to stop the spread of the Ebola virus. Children of the Nations


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