I try to research #RememberingMalcolm things to do ahead of time. Maybe I need to refine my searching skills, but for our trip to Ocean City, NJ I had difficulty finding something that felt like the right fit. It is hard to identify a real area of need in this beach-resort town.
Our stay in Ocean City was just over a week, so it was long enough that we wanted to do something a bit different. Then, on our second day there, my mom found a local church (St. Augustine’s) doing a school supply collection for the children of La Montagne Jacmel, Haiti. We loved this idea, doing anything for children is the best.
We searched around OC’s boutique-y shops for items requested on the list. Shoes were crazy expensive, and school supplies were hard to come by. We finally found marble notebooks in a small book store on Asbury Ave….great! Flip them over the the price tag was……$7.99?! Well, off to Wal-Mart. I just purchased my own two children’s supplies and I knew I could pick up 16 notebooks for the children in Haiti for that same amount of money. We did pick up a few compasses and protractors at a reasonable price from the shop next door. That night we found backpacks being sold on the boardwalk for $50. Definitely going to Wal-Mart. I know we were visiting a beach town, so that is to be expected, but we are looking to get the most bang for our buck for these donations!
When my brother’s family arrived Friday, we took the kids, our SIL, and Hero Bear and made the trek to Wal-Mart (~20 minutes, not bad) to get some food and stock up on a bunch of the school supplies for La Montagne Jacmel. We were able to get so many pens, notebooks and crayons as well as backpacks and shoes.
The supply request emphasized the importance of shoes for these Haitian kids to get to class…in their education even being an option. Another moment to reflect on how fortunate we truly are, and impress that fact on my children.
Over-all, thanks to the generosity of my family, we were able to contribute substantially to this #RememberingMalcolm cause.
As always, please contact us with any #RememberingMalcolm good you have done on your vacations and we will write it up on our site. 