Island to Island

Island to Island: Together We Can Make an Impact

CJ Woods and Coleton Cartmill

Hi, we are CJ Woods and Coleton Cartmill – juniors at Friday Harbor High School. Together, we are doing a community project involving a meal packaging event, which was made possible by Vic and Mo Woodward last year. The goal is that as a community we make 12,000 meals in one afternoon. These meals then will be sent to help those less fortunate in places like the Island of Hispaniola.

To make this a reality, Coleton and CJ are determined to raise $3000, which will produce the 12,000 meals. If you do the math, (and it is hard to believe), 25 cents equals one meal. The meals produced are then shipped to foreign countries in which our sponsoring partner, Children of the Nations (COTN), delivers to seven third-world countries across the globe, including Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The theme, Island to Island, is a reflection of what this community did last year by sending teams to the Dominican Republic as well as being actively involved in last year’s meal packaging event. Last summer CJ participated in a trip down to the Dominican Republic after his involvement in the meal-packaging event. CJ said, “I was able to see the impact first hand as the team I was a part of got the chance to provide these meals to those in need in the poorest sections of this country. In a way, we all realized how fortunate we are to have more than one meal a day. Most of the meals made in the Meal-Packaging event are the only one these kids will have. In fact, many kids have one meal a day, and these meals we package might be that one meal.”

You can toss some coin into one of these donation jars at various local merchants around town. This one is at The Big Store.

We find this project to be more than just a school requirement. It is an opportunity for us all on San Juan Island to join as one to help make the world a better place. Seeing all the people from all walks of life participate in the building of these meals last year was more meaningful than just about anything we have ever done. Together, we can make an impact.

The meal packaging event is planned for Saturday, May 4th, at 5:00-7:00 P.M. It’s a free, volunteer event. The location will be the Friday Harbor High School. All can come to help.

And yes, we are also asking for donations. Again, we are trying to raise $3000 by the end of April in order to make this a reality. We have already started fundraising and some money has come in. But with little time available, and much to fundraise, we are willing to accept anything.
To donate, you can send a check to Minor Reinforcement, a local nonprofit organization, or give your donation to Cheri Hancock or Sylvia Sullard. Their contact information is (360)472-0113  istop4cops [@] aol.com (Cheri) or (360) 378-4544 or sly [@] rockisland.com (Sylvia).

If you can’t donate, we would still love you to come to the event. No matter what you look like, think like, or act like, you’re part of the community. Let’s come together to make something special happen. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact CJ Woods at jdawg42 [@] live.com or Coleton at coletoncartmil [@] yahoo.com. Or you can reach us at (360) 298-0502. For more information on the project you can check out www.cotni.org.

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