14-year-old collects water for his country
SALEM – More than two weeks after the massive earthquake that caused so much death and devastation in Haiti, “Little Man” and his friends in Glenvar collected 280 cases of water that are on their way to his homeland.
Little Man is Solyvien Favra, the 14-year-old from Haiti who is living in the Glenvar community and is a sixth-grader at Glenvar Middle School while in the United States for surgery on his maimed foot. Angel Missions Haiti arranged for him to get to the United States last summer and for the multiple operations at Carilion in Roanoke.
Solyvien Favra and his host brother, Cory Thompson, left, and friend Connor Watt sit on top of one of the three pickup-truck loads of bottled water purchased with donations collected from Glenvar Middle School and the community. On Jan. 23, they loaded the water into the tractor trailer, in the background at left, in the lot of Spartan Square Kroger. Photo by Meg Hibbert
Solyvien still hasn’t gotten word if his father back in Haiti is safe, or anything about other members of his family. Meanwhile, his host family in Glenvar helped keep his mind off the tragedy by encouraging him in his project of collecting three pickup truck-loads of bottled water to send to Haiti.
On Thursday last week, students and staff at Glenvar Middle School donated money and water for Haiti.
“Thanks to GMS students and teachers, Solyvien collected $300,” explained his host mother, Karen Croy, who works in the office at GMS. “I told him that we would purchase 90 cases of water and fill one truck to deliver on Saturday. His response was, ‘This was Thursday and not Saturday yet; why just one truck?’ ” she said.
“That is the Solyvien that we have adored since July 2009. His smile, spirit, work ethic and positive attitude have inspired us every minute of each day,” Croy said. “We then collected $550 at the Salem Walmart on Friday,” when Glenvar schools were closed because of icy conditions Jan. 22.
On Jan. 23, Solyvien, his 12-year-old host brother Cory Thompson and Croy, along with sixth-grade friend Connor Watt and his dad, David Watt, were hard at work on the project, that time in front of the Spartan Square Kroger, hoisting cases of bottled water and accepting cash donations to buy more.
They lifted case after case of water Saturday morning into a tractor trailer provided by Wolfe Motor Lines, with help from volunteers from Bethel Baptist Church’s congregation in Salem and Straight Street Ministries. The water will be distributed in Haiti by World Help which already had a presence in Haiti and has headquarters in Forest, Va.
In addition to Solyvien’s 280 cases of water, Bethel Baptist collected almost 1,000 cases of water, according to Gregg Randolph, and boxes of food for Haiti. SpiritFM Radio helped publicize the collection for World Help.
“We also collected almost $5,000 that will go to pay for the shipping of the supplies to the people of Haiti,” said Randolph, who is Bethel’s worship and missions pastor, adding that half of that was donated Sunday at the church.
“We took care of getting everything to Danville, and from there it will be taken to be shipped to Haiti, and as much as possible airlifted in by World Help.”
Croy and her family and friends arrived at the Spartan Square Kroger Saturday morning with three pickup trucks stacked high with cases of bottled water, as well as a car trailer and a minivan.
“This is the efforts of Glenvar Middle School students and teachers and the Salem community,” she said. “People came by, brought water and wanted to say hi to Solyvien for over an hour on Saturday. It was so awesome. So many of his Glenvar school friends brought water by and gave him a high five, and told him ‘Good job, Solyvien,’ ” she added.
