Ascension Lutheran Church, 600 E. Penn Grant Road, Willow Street, will participate in a clothing drive in partnership with Danita's Children to support communities in need in Haiti. The church will collect donations until the end of September in the form of clothing and monetary contributions, and will it post an Amazon wish list for other specific items that are needed.

Ascension Lutheran Church first began supporting Haitian communities with mission trips in 2007 and started a program to assist Haitian students as they attended college in the United States. "The program was something we really felt called to do through the church," said Kelly Moore, a member of the church and organizer of the clothing drive. "Education is so important, and it's so hard for them to get. The whole idea of the program was to support students so they could in turn support their own communities."

The first beneficiary of the program was Marie-Claire Charles, who studied at Millersville University from 2009 to 2014 and went on to earn her master's degree in business administration. She returned to Haiti in 2020, where she became the director of operations for Danita's Children. "Marie-Claire Charles is exemplary of the student program's goal to help students support their communities," said Moore. "She began organizing the clothing drive and enlisted Ascension's help. She's doing really good work," Two other students have received educational assistance through the program in addition to Charles; however, Moore noted that the church has been unable to continue many of its endeavors in recent years due to COVID-19. "We've veered away from hosting students but want to become involved again. We hope this is the first of many partnerships with Danita's Children," said Moore.

Danita's Children is an organization with the goal of caring for and supporting impoverished and orphaned children throughout Haiti by assisting with educational, physical and emotional needs. Although headquartered in the village of Ouanaminthe in the northeast region, Danita's Children provides nutritional, medical and dental care throughout the country.

The organization was founded by CEO Danita Estrella-Watts, who first visited Haiti on a mission trip at the age of 11. She returned 25 years later with modest financial support from her church and the goal of caring for those in need throughout the country. Danita's Children now includes a home for over 80 orphaned children, a pediatric medical care center and a feeding program that provides over 16,000 meals monthly.

For more information or to donate to the drive, contact Kelly Moore at kellylmoore@comcast.net. To learn more about Danita's Children, visit http://www.danitaschildren.org.