Jacksonville Preschoolers Add their own Relief for Haiti

At first glance it looked like any normal preschool’s art lesson.

Holding construction paper, Chana Novack gave the 10 Jacksonville 4- and 5-year-olds a choice of colors.

“Fold it in half so it will look like a card,” Novack told students at the Early Childhood Development Center at the Chabad of Southside, where she is director.

“Look, Natalie spelled ‘I Love You’ all by herself,” she said. “Make sure you have your name in it.”

These weren’t Valentine’s Day cards for the parents. Thanks to a Chabad member who has been deployed to earthquake-stricken Haiti to coordinate shipments of relief supplies, the decorated cards they made will join donated dolls he will give to people who need it the most.

“It seemed like a great idea because every morning when we do our prayers, we actually talk about giving,” Novack said. “It was a great opportunity for them to actually see how the stuff they bring from home will go to those kids. … That’s a way of giving, and the cards make it personal.”

Chabad lay leader Amilcar Bezares told members at the Jewish synagogue on Alumni Way a few weeks ago that instead of coordinating Wal-Mart shipping from his Jacksonville facility, Agility Logistics wanted him in Haiti to direct relief supply transport. Rabbi Shmuel Novack said that started him and others thinking about how they and Bezares could help those suffering in the quake’s aftermath.

Parents of the preschool’s 27 students and Chabad members are collecting dolls, joined now by handmade cards.

“It was at a Shabbat dinner that he made his announcement that he was leaving,” said the rabbi. “Right away it became much more personal for us, so our minds started racing, what could we do? How can we not do something if we have our guy there running a massive part of the operations?”

Students drew hearts and happy faces on the cards, adding sparkling stars with globs of glue. Some were a bit messy. But Natalie Schechter, 5, didn’t mind.

“It is for poor people whose house is broken,” she said. “I feel happy. I put stars and made a big heart because I like them.”