HEATH — After an afternoon surfing off the coast of a picturesque Ecuadorian fishing village, Phoebe Michel, 16, of Heath was heading home in a car that “started swerving and we couldn’t stop. When I got out of the car,” she remembers, “there was dust all around — from a landslide. Things you couldn’t imagine were on the ground.”
That was how she experienced the April 16, 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 660 people, and injured nearly 28,000 others. Phoebe and her mother, Noy Holland, stayed for another week, handing out food and clothing to people who had lost everything, before they returned to Heath.
“Our house was sound, but most people lost their homes, people we knew (died). The town was just destroyed,” she said.
“It breaks my heart to see the streets where we lived and experienced such ease and happiness, reduced to rubble,” said Phoebe. “To see loved ones living the way they are now is something that I can’t live with in good conscience.”
Phoebe, who is homeschooled and who has periodically lived in the small village of Canoa since she was 8, wanted to do something to help the children who had lost everything — and now she has.
Through online fundraising, Phoebe raised $10,000 to help children get an education until their earthquake-destroyed schools can be rebuilt. The money will be used to help the Los Algarrobos School in Canoa add teachers, new school space, books, desks, supplies and counseling for children whose homes and public schools have been destroyed, who are now living in tents and who were traumatized by the earthquake and its outcome.
“For now, we want at least to give them a chance, some stability and a place to go,” Phoebe wrote on her YouCaring crowdfunding page. She says 100 percent of the money donated will be used to reopen the private, nonprofit Algarrobos School and to open this to public school children for part of the day.
“My fund is aimed at getting the education system running as soon as possible,” she said. “Statistics say that 2 percent or less of money raised for communities in this kind of distress goes to education.”
Phoebe wanted to especially thank all the Heath residents who donated to this cause.
Phoebe’s original goal was to raise $6,500 for education, but when that goal was surpassed, she raised the goal to $10,000. Phoebe said those who wish to donate may still do so, by going to youcaring.com then search under Canoa Schools.
Phoebe said her family hopes to go back to Canoa in August. “I’ve grown to love it as my home,” she said. Hopefully, we’re going back in August. I feel like I want to be with my friends there, who have really come through hard times.