Kurn Hattin has a close connection to Haiti. Two current students have family there and a current and former houseparent work with a Haitian orphanage and a women’s program. Houseparent, Sara Frantz helps run an English camp among other tasks when she’s in Haiti. The Kurn Hattin children met one of the Haiti orphans a few years ago when he was here to receive medical treatment.
According to Dylan Bussino, president of the student council, the disaster in Haiti has directed the student council to make raising money for the victims in Haiti a high priority. One of his cottage mates, who is one of the children who has family in Haiti, immediately put out a bucket to collect change after the earthquake. Together they collected $60 over that weekend alone. This set the Kurn Hattin Haiti Relief Fund in motion. The student council and the rest of the Kurn Hattin community have committed themselves to a long-term partnership with these organizations where we have this personal connection. The benefactors of their fundraising efforts will benefit God’s Littlest Angels and Heartline Ministries orphanages. Funds are being collected in a variety of ways: a raffle on Family Day in February and an ongoing Change War (collection of loose change) and with the proceeds collected at a Rotary spaghetti dinner at the Bellows Falls Moose Lodge where the 7th & 8th graders will be serving. At our two big music invitationals, the Annual Choral Invitational and the Jazz Band Invitational featuring the Keene Jazz Orchestra, donations accepted at the door will go to this endeavor.
Of note, since the inception of this and other charitable projects this year, the Kurn Hattin students have given more to charities than they have spent on themselves. They have been very generous.
