Notre Dame du Perpétuel Secours is a small school located in Bel-Air, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Michéle's husband's aunt, Sœur Paul Salgado, started the school almost thirty-five years ago with fifteen students; it grew to four hundred and ninety five girls, ages 6-14. For many years, Dalton has maintained a special connection with Notre Dame du Perpétuel Secours: Michéle's high school House organizes a bake sale and clothing drive every year to raise money for the children; in addition, several Houses in the High School have sponsored students from the school and sent money to them.

Unfortunately, the school collapsed after the earthquake, resulting in the death of at least four children and seventeen nuns. An unknown number of additional children are likely to be injured, homeless, or orphaned. The school desperately needs funding to secure basic necessities and to maintain a safe haven for the children.

The Dalton Administration has encouraged a school-wide commitment to support Notre Dame du Perpétuel Secours School. Our students are working within houses, grade levels and clubs to plan fundraising actitvities over the upcoming weeks. In the first day of fundraising, over $10,000 was collected, including profits from a bakesale organized by the MS Community Service Club. All donations will aid long-term relief efforts, providing basic necessities and shelter as well as on-going support to rebuild the school.

If you would like to make a donation through the Dalton PA to support the students and community of Notre Dame du Perpétuel Secours, click here to donate online or by check. Please note that this link does not require you to log in to the secure part of the Dalton website, so you can forward it to friends and family who might want to join our efforts.

A fifth grader wrote Head of School Ellen Stein with this suggestion: "Since the assembly on Friday the 15th I have been thinking about the different ways that we, as the Dalton community, can help those in Haiti. The one that I think would work best is this: If every person in the school brings in 1-5 dollars by a certain date, we can raise thousands. This would make a big difference and show that the Dalton School cares."