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Party donations to benefit Haiti

Money to be split between UNICEF and Wish for Haiti

Jack Weinstein
Brad Somers, owner of Hosted Tours, is organizing a Haiti relief party from 7 p.m. Thursday to 2 a.m. Friday. All proceeds will be donated to Haiti’s relief effort.
John F. Russell

If you go

What: Haiti relief party

When: 7 p.m. Thursday to 2 a.m. Friday

Where: Powder Room of St. Cloud Mountain Club, 1865 Ski Time Square Drive

Cost: Donations will be requested at the door

How to help

■ Donate to Wish for Haiti by visiting http://www.wishforhaiti....

Until Wish for Haiti achieves nonprofit status, checks should be made to Kata Loukan/Wish for Haiti and mailed c/o Nick and Tracy Metzler, 75 Copper Rose Court, Steamboat Springs, CO 80487. E-mail the Metzlers at metzler222@aol.co...

■ To aid UNICEF’S relief efforts, go to http://www.unicefusa.org and click on “Donate now.”

The Associated Press offers these avenues for donating to earthquake relief. Aid organizations say cash donations are best. Here are some that are accepting donations:

■ InterAction has a list of agencies responding and how to donate at http://www.interaction.o...

■ To donate $10 to the American Red Cross, text Haiti to 90999. The amount will be added to your next phone bill. The organization also is accepting donations through its International Response Fund, http://www.redcross.org....

■ To find out how to help the International Rescue Committee, visit http://www.theIRC.org or call 877-733-8433.

■ To donate through Oxfam’s emergency appeal, visit http://www.oxfam.org.uk....

■ To donate to Partners in Health, which already was providing health care in Haiti and now is working on relief efforts, visit http://www.pih.org. The group also is looking for surgeons, nurses and surgical teams who want to volunteer to help.

■ To donate to Doctors Without Borders, which also is treating earthquake victims, go to http://www.doctorswith outborders.org.





Brad Somers, owner of Hosted Tours, is organizing a Haiti relief party from 7 p.m. Thursday to 2 a.m. Friday. All proceeds will be donated to Haiti’s relief effort.
John F. Russell

How to help

■ Donate to Wish for Haiti by visiting http://www.wishforhaiti….

Until Wish for Haiti achieves nonprofit status, checks should be made to Kata Loukan/Wish for Haiti and mailed c/o Nick and Tracy Metzler, 75 Copper Rose Court, Steamboat Springs, CO 80487. E-mail the Metzlers at metzler222@aol.co



■ To aid UNICEF’S relief efforts, go to http://www.unicefusa.org and click on “Donate now.”

The Associated Press offers these avenues for donating to earthquake relief. Aid organizations say cash donations are best. Here are some that are accepting donations:



■ InterAction has a list of agencies responding and how to donate at http://www.interaction.o…

■ To donate $10 to the American Red Cross, text Haiti to 90999. The amount will be added to your next phone bill. The organization also is accepting donations through its International Response Fund, http://www.redcross.org….

■ To find out how to help the International Rescue Committee, visit http://www.theIRC.org or call 877-733-8433.

■ To donate through Oxfam’s emergency appeal, visit http://www.oxfam.org.uk….

■ To donate to Partners in Health, which already was providing health care in Haiti and now is working on relief efforts, visit http://www.pih.org. The group also is looking for surgeons, nurses and surgical teams who want to volunteer to help.

■ To donate to Doctors Without Borders, which also is treating earthquake victims, go to http://www.doctorswith outborders.org.

— Brad Somers just wants to do his part.

Somers said after seeing on television the destruction caused by the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti that reports say killed as many as 200,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless, he wanted to help out.

“I didn’t hear about anyone in town doing something, so I thought it was a good opportunity for the community to come together,” he said.

The owner of Hosted Tours in downtown Steamboat Springs has been working to organize a relief party for Haiti. The party will be from 7 p.m. Thursday to 2 a.m. Friday in the Powder Room at St. Cloud Mountain Club, 1865 Ski Time Square Drive.

Donations will be requested at the door, and patrons will be given a raffle ticket. Those who attend can buy additional raffle tickets for about 20 prizes that local businesses donated, Somers said. He said the businesses also donated products and services for a silent auction.

All proceeds will be donated to Haiti’s relief effort. They will be split between UNICEF and Colorado-based Wish For Haiti.

Wish For Haiti is an aid organization started by Steamboat residents Nick and Tracy Metzler, Tracy’s sisters and their families. It supports an orphanage in Port-au-Prince that was demolished by the earthquake.

Local businesses Somers has approached for donations have responded with an “anything I can do to help” attitude, he said.

“It’s a fantastic cause,” said Scott Agnew, who operates the Powder Room. The St. Cloud Mountain Club runs as a private club during the day and as the Powder Room from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. “I’ve been watching all the destruction and suffering taking place in Haiti. I thought it was a great opportunity to help the cause.”

In addition to St. Cloud, businesses donating products and services for the raffle and silent auction include Steamboat Oxygen Bar, Powder Pursuits Snowboard Shop, Room 135, Waterside Day Spa and Salon, Pisa’s Pizza & Pasta, Mountain Hair Studio, Wild West Balloon Adventures, Rocky Mountain Ventures, Hot Springs Adventures and Christy Sports.

Somers said Hosted Tours would provide free wine and beer. He said Sharon’s West End Catering would provide food.

Sandy Evans Hall, executive vice president of the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Asso­ci­­ation, said she hasn’t heard of any other Haiti relief efforts by local businesses. She said businesses often have helped with causes.

“This town really gets involved with things like this, certainly for Katrina, Samoa and things with Haiti,” Evans Hall said about hurricane and tsunami relief efforts from Steamboat businesses. “It’s nice to see the community step up.”

Any business that would like to donate an item can contact Somers at 819-2224 or stop by the Hosted Tours kiosk at Seventh Street and Lincoln Avenue.

Somers said the goal is to raise as much money as possible.

Also helping out

Several Routt County schools and classes also are collecting money and supplies that will be sent to Haiti.

In Steamboat Springs, Soda Creek Elementary School’s student council is organizing its own relief effort, Principal Celia Dunham said.

Dina Murray, South Routt School District business manager, said Richel Eskridge’s first-grade class at the elementary school in Yampa is collecting clothing, toys and hygiene items for Haiti. Murray said Brad Cooke, who teaches social studies, history, western civilization, civics and geography at Soroco High School, is collecting donations.

Jan Owen, the Title 1 reading teacher at Hayden Valley Elementary School, said staff sent home a letter to parents about encouraging students to bring in money after the earthquake. Since then, she said students have raised more than $500.

“Kids were bringing in their piggy banks,” she said. “It was really, really touching.”

Owen said donations would be accepted through the end of the week. Cash or checks made out to the American Red Cross can be dropped off at the school.

And Christian Heritage School donated proceeds from its second annual book swap Friday to the Haiti relief effort. Students donated used books that were sold for $1.

Steamboat Springs’ two rotary clubs — the Rotary Club of Steamboat Springs and Ski Town USA Rotary Club — have raised $8,000. The money will buy ShelterBoxes. The $1,000 emergency kits provide life-saving supplies including a tent for as many as 10 people.


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