PARKSVILLE - Craig Gooding is thrilled by the generousity and support from the people of Oceanside who helped him raise over $5,300 to expand a school in Haiti.
Gooding is a local builder who went to Haiti last year with 11 other Canadian men to build a four-room school for the charitable oganzation Faith and Love In Action (www.faithandloveinaction.org).
One year later the school is overcrowded with 360 children and nine teachers. So the team of builders - mainly from the lower mainland - are going back to Haiti for two weeks to build two more classrooms on to the school.
Gooding has received more than $1,800 in cash donations alone from colleagues and business associates and donations are still coming in.
"I was amazed at the response from the community and how generous people have been considering how tough times have been for a lot of people in our community.," he said. "They still reach out to people who are more in need than they are. I have never been so proud of my mum and all her amazing friends for all their hard work. I really look forward to seeing all the kids and doing what I need to do to make their lives a little better."
Goodings mother, Tina, also had a giant garage sale on Feb. 4 and 5.
" I want to thank all the people of Oceanside who donated merchandise and attended the garage sale," she said. "I also want to thank all the volunteers who helped make the garage sale such a great success. I was hoping to raise $1,000 and with the help of all these wonderful volunteers we raised $3,437.96.
"I also want to thank the local newspapers and radio station. Without the coverage in the media we would never have been able to raise so much money. The success of the garage sale was not just monetary - the strangers we met, the stories we heard and the fun we had was an added blessing to everyone".
— News Staff
PARKSVILLE - Craig Gooding is thrilled by the generousity and support from the people of Oceanside who helped him raise over $5,300 to expand a school in Haiti.
Gooding is a local builder who went to Haiti last year with 11 other Canadian men to build a four-room school for the charitable oganzation Faith and Love In Action (www.faithandloveinaction.org).
One year later the school is overcrowded with 360 children and nine teachers. So the team of builders - mainly from the lower mainland - are going back to Haiti for two weeks to build two more classrooms on to the school.
Gooding has received more than $1,800 in cash donations alone from colleagues and business associates and donations are still coming in.
"I was amazed at the response from the community and how generous people have been considering how tough times have been for a lot of people in our community.," he said. "They still reach out to people who are more in need than they are. I have never been so proud of my mum and all her amazing friends for all their hard work. I really look forward to seeing all the kids and doing what I need to do to make their lives a little better."
Goodings mother, Tina, also had a giant garage sale on Feb. 4 and 5.
" I want to thank all the people of Oceanside who donated merchandise and attended the garage sale," she said. "I also want to thank all the volunteers who helped make the garage sale such a great success. I was hoping to raise $1,000 and with the help of all these wonderful volunteers we raised $3,437.96.
"I also want to thank the local newspapers and radio station. Without the coverage in the media we would never have been able to raise so much money. The success of the garage sale was not just monetary - the strangers we met, the stories we heard and the fun we had was an added blessing to everyone".
— News Staff