Original: February 22, 2011 Issue 11

By: Klara Caschau-Hansgardh

Staff Writer

Club Gathers Soap for Haiti

The week of Feb. 7, 2011, Montgomery College at Silver Spring Takoma Park’s HERO Club participated in the Hope & Soap for Haiti drive. In an effort to alleviate the cholera epidemic in Haiti, HERO Club accumulated more than 232 bars of soap.

The drive, initiated by the local non-profit organization MoverMoms, was intended to mark the one-year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti.

“Our soap might make the difference between life and death for someone,” said Rebecca Kahlenberg, executive director of MoverMoms. Kahlenberg divulged an original goal of 2011 bars of soap but believes the actual amount received was over 4000.

According to Kahlenberg HERO Club contacted MoverMoms and asked what they could do to assist in the drive.

“We love that so many in the community still care,” Kahlenberg said, “this is the way that change is done, people caring.”

HERO Club faculty advisor Allison Klophe, emphasized the importance of these donations. Klophe stated that a bar of soap costs approximately 50 cents, making it virtually unattainable for the majority of families in Haiti who live on a dollar a day.

Klophe noted HERO Club’s excitement to partake in these sorts of charitable events. “We like to do it as often as possible,” said Klophe.

According to the Associated Press, as of Feb. 18 cases of cholera in Haiti have decreased.

Nevertheless the World Health Organization continues to encourage efforts, like that of HERO Club and MoverMoms, to send methods of prevention to Haiti.

The CDC asserts that a bar of soap is one of the simplest methods of prevention in an area where cholera is present. The act of washing one’s hands before and after meals may hinder the consumption of harmful bacteria and therefore the spread of disease.