Press release from the American Red Cross:
Local Nine Year Old Hosts Birthday Party for Red Cross Haiti Relief & Development
Asks Friends, Family to Donate Money in Lieu of Birthday Gifts
Before she turned nine years old on February 18, Jocelyn Ambriole of Fort Wayne was already thinking about how she could help those less fortunate. She knew that she wanted this birthday to be different, originally planning to have her friends and family fill back-packs with food for hungry children in the area. However, when Jocelyn saw images of the January 12 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, she knew what she would ask her friends and family to do.
Jocelyn recently celebrated her “rainforest theme” birthday party to benefit Haiti at the Botanical Conservatory in Fort Wayne. Nearly 50 friends and family members joined in the day’s activities that included traveling “around the world” with personal passports and a visit from Mark’s Ark, a local rescue animal show provider. Jocelyn decorated canisters for her friends and family members to place donations. In all, the birthday party raised over $300 towards Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development efforts.
“We are very proud of Jocelyn for taking the initiative to do something like this,” said Jocelyn’s parents, John and Kelly Ambriole. “We try to lead by example and instill in our children that you give to others without expectation, validation or judgment.” This is not the first time Jocelyn has given back to those less fortunate. She has adopted children in need, many of whom she has not meet, and bought them new clothing and supplies for school and toys to make it through difficult times, as well as personally delivered blankets and her father’s old coats to a local men’s shelter.
In part to Jocelyn’s efforts, the American Red Cross has spent or allocated more than $106.4 million to meet the most urgent needs of earthquake survivors in Haiti and will continue to support survivors until the last donated dollar is spent. In the two months since the earthquake, the global Red Cross network has:
- Provided relief items for 400,000 people.
- Handed out nearly 99,000 tarps, tents and toolkits.
- Supplied meals for more than 1 million people.
- Distributed 40 million liters of clean drinking water.
- Built more than 1,100 latrines.
- Helped vaccinate more than 125,000 people.
- Coordinated the shipment of more than 1,800 units of blood to medical facilities.
- Treated more than 55,000 people at Red Cross hospitals or mobile clinics.
- Sent more than 23 million text messages with critical health advice to survivors.
- Received more than 28,400 registrations on its family linking Web site.
- Assisted more than 25,000 people who arrived in the U.S. following the earthquake.
- Deployed more than 600 responders to Haiti.
For more information on how the Red Cross is assisting in Haiti, please visit redcross.org/haiti.
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