The small group signed up to assist the children in the area. FEMAR and UNICEF helped to replace the materials needed in schools, but the school children themselves needed help. The St. Mary’s relief group therefore focused their efforts on the children.
When they began their benevolent endeavors they were told there were five hundred children in two main schools that needed aid. As they visited and talked to people on the ground in D’Iberville it became clear that there were many more children than the local government accounted for. In fact, there were not 500 in the two main schools, but over 600 in one of them alone.
Ultimately the relief fund took on not only the middle school and high school, but also the D’Iberville elementary school and the Sacred Heard – the local catholic middle school.
The first aid the St. Mary’s Hurricane Relief Fund personally delivered to the D’Iberville area was in the form of educational supplies stuffed inside book-bags. The St. Mary’s Board of Education helped to donate those book-bags for the relief. Tom Jarboe, one of the leaders of the mission to D’Iberville, said many of the children had never had their own book-bags or their own school supplies before. However, given the scarcity of school materials, there was clearly an urgent need.
Once in D’Iberville the St. Mary’s Hurricane Relief Fund members also made a trip to a local Wal-Mart to purchase items they hadn’t brought with them. They found, for example, one girl without underwear, and many children without socks. They also bought pots and pans for the school teachers who were themselves struggling and living in tents. The group members used company credit cards, which they since reimbursed, to buy additional necessities in D’Iberville, and they are hoping monetary donations will help to cover some of those additional expenses.
Since their trip to D’Iberville in an eighteen-wheeler the St. Mary’s Hurricane Relief Fund has also purchased clothes and necessities for each of the children and sent them to the schools individually boxed. The local Mailboxes Etc. donated the boxes and even covered the cost of shipping.
Now the St. Mary’s Hurricane Relief Fund is planning for “Operation Mississippi Christmas.” If you would like to learn more about the group you can visit http://www.smc-hurricane-relief-fund.org or call 301-866-0295 ext. 400. Donations may be sent to: St. Mary’s Hurricane Relief Fund, St. Mary’s Parish, P.O. Box 207, St. Mary’s City, MD 20686. The relief fund is requesting monetary donations in particular so they canbuy for the direct needs of the D’Iberville children.