Old Town Elementary Helps Victims of Earthquake in Ecuador

By Gabriela Camacho

First-grade teacher Old Town Elementary School

I am originally from Ecuador and my extended family still lives there. After the devastating earthquake in Ecuador I felt completely helpless not being able to do much from far away.

I heard from a friend that the Ecuadorean embassy had made requests for donations to send to Ecuador so I got in touch with the consulate in Charlotte. Delta had generously offered to fly supplies down to Ecuador so all I needed to do was gather as many supplies as I could.

With a list of urgent items needed to be donated, I approached the Old Town community and asked for their help with donations and with spreading the word about my request.  I never in my wildest dreams thought I would receive such a warm and generous response.

Our own staff and volunteers were generous beyond my expectations.  My classroom was flooded with such things as toilet paper, batteries, tents, diapers, water, canned food, etc.

A group of my students' parents helped spread the word throughout their community and selflessly gave food and clothing. As you know, our school is a Title 1 school and most of our parents have a difficult time making ends meet. The mother who helped collect items from the community simply told me she had to do something to help since "Today it's for Ecuador; tomorrow it may be for us."  

I loved that.

We had so many items donated our problem went from having enough items to figuring out how to take them all down to Charlotte.  Fortunately, a staff member allowed us to use her large truck and, with our own SUV, my husband and I made the drive down with everything in just one trip.