When fourth graders, Christian Rafter and Dimitri Terenek saw photos of children kicking soccer balls along the dirt roads of Bord de Mer, Haiti, they knew they wanted to help.
Some residents of the small Haitian fishing village already have ties to Cape May County. The Social Justice Committee at Our Lady of Angels Roman Catholic Church had already raised $80,000 to build the 13 brightly colored concrete buildings that now line the streets of an area of town known as Cape May County Village.
Last year, Cape Express Soccer Club furthered the relief effort by donating a half ton of used soccer equipment to the children who live there, including the soccer balls that they are playing with in the photos posted at capemaycountyvillage.com.
But Dimitri and Christian wanted to do more.
The children in Haiti needed soccer goals to play a real game of soccer, the boys said. So with the help of their mothers, Kira Ciccarone Rafter and Elizabeth Terenik, they are doing some serious fundraising with a goal of bringing fun to children, living under difficult circumstances.
And with an art show at Our Lady of Angels, Jan. 11 that netted more than $700, they are well on their way to achieving their goal of brightening the days of the children they saw in the picture.
“It feels good to help people,” Dimitri said, and they aren’t done yet.
Another fundraiser, a “Spaghetti and Soccer Skills” event for families, will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Whitesboro. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased from the Goshen Recreation Department or the Martin Luther King Center.
After chowing down on homemade meatballs, children can participate in an after dinner soccer skills event for an additional $5. All proceeds will go toward the purchase of two regulation soccer goals, which will be sent to the children of the Bord de Mer School in Haiti.
A raffle will benefit children in Haiti as well as families closer to home who need help, since tickets can be purchased with money to buy soccer goals or with canned goods that will be donated to the United Way of Cape May County’s First Call for Help Food Pantry.
Dimitri would like to go to Haiti to meet the kids the in the photo one day.
“Maybe…when we are 12,” he said.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
