South Range senior spending spring break building a house in Haiti

By BRUCE WALTON

bwalton@vindy.com

CANFIELD

Most high-school seniors are spending their spring break traveling or relaxing from a long school year, but South Range High School senior Holly Toy will spend it preparing for her trip next week to Haiti – not for a vacation, but to help people in need.

The Caribbean nation still has tens of thousands without homes from the 2010 earthquake, according to Amnesty International, and there’s still a need for much more aid. Toy will help build a home for the family of the child her family sponsors as well as interact with the local community with her grandfather, Roy Houser; her two friends, Brant Rothbauer and Kelly Shannon; and Kelly’s mother, Jennifer Shannon.

Toy first visited the Haitian city of Grand-Goave in 2014 on a trip organized by the youth group of Greenford Christian Church with the “Homes for Haiti” program organized through Lifeline Christian Mission. When Toy came back, she said she felt so compelled to do more and later sponsored a Haitian boy she briefly met, Fritz Louis, who was no older than her 7-year-old brother. They pay $30 a month, which helps pay for some of Fritz’s food and schooling.

While on the trip, Toy learned many things about the country, its people and most importantly herself, finding it both mentally and spiritually challenging.

Read more about her journey and efforts in Haiti in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.