Project KID Press Release
Lenore Ealy
Media Contact: Lenore Ealy, 317-502-2735, len...@thinkitecture.com
25 in 25 Drive Aims to Equip Project K.I.D. Play Care Centers in Haiti by February 25
February 1, 2010—Indianapolis, IN—Today Project K.I.D. announced a “25 in 25” Drive to collect supplies for twenty-five PlayCare Centers in Haiti. The group, which established a dozen PlayCare Centers across the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, plans to collect 25 supply kits by February 25, 2010 (25 days) to ship to the centers that they are establishing around Port au Prince and throughout Haiti.
“25 in 25 provides a practical opportunity for schools, church groups, and other community organizations to provide much needed and targeted assistance to the children of Haiti,” said Project K.I.D. co-founder Paige Ellison-Smith who is in Haiti to aid in the set-up of PlayCare Centers.
PlayCare Centers provide children a safe, welcoming environment where they can begin the healing process. PlayCare also provides respite childcare relief to parents while they seek to assess damage and piece their lives back together.
“Natural disasters create conditions of extreme stress for children and their families; our goal is to provide a safe environment where children can play and begin to get back to being kids,” says Project K.I.D. co-founder Lenore Ealy who has conducted extensive follow-up research on paths to resilience with recovering families in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
A key component of “25 in 25” is the goal to collect 500 amputee dolls for distribution to children in Haiti who have lost limbs. Partnering with The Just Me Project, Project K.I.D. will also distribute books featuring Henry, the resilient three-legged cat, a story proven to assist amputees on the road to psychological recovery.
“Few will understand just how important this will be. Kids are resilient, but if you can get in there and give them some help to get through this terrible initial period they may turn out even stronger in the future.” Said Project KID Advisor, Harold Koenig, MD, Vice Admiral (ret.), Former Surgeon General of the Navy, “I believe more people can experience Post Traumatic Growth than will suffer PTSD, if we just provide some assistance to them early on, when they are overwhelmed. ProjectKid is doing just that.”
Information about the kit components is available at www.project-kid.org/HaitiResponse. The group is asking that each kit contain a range of materials from health and hygiene items to toys ranging from infant to pre-teen.
About Project K.I.D
Project K.I.D., Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity that promotes the development of intentional and integrated community-based capabilities for effectively addressing the needs of children and families in disasters. Project K.I.D. was founded in September 2005 in the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina and successfully developed and deployed its PlayCare response model in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana for six months. www.project-kid.org.
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