Hoops for Haiti

Zachery Beers, left, and Drew Wilson, students in Brianne Temple's Grades 1 and 2 class at the Integrated Day Charter School in Norwich, examine their piece of plastic pipe to be used to make a hula hoop on Monday. The school will hold a Hoops for Haiti fundraiser on Wednesday to benefit the Norwich-based Haitian Health Foundation. The benefit was inspired by second-grader Thsarny Pierre, a native of Haiti. The the idea of school secretary Rachel Stahl was turned into a festival with games and contests to raise money. Hoops for Haiti is scheduled for Wednesday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the school at 68 Thermos Ave. The snow date is Feb. 24 at the same time. Supporters and businesses donated tubing, clamps and bright red and blue cloth - colors of the Haitian flag - to wrap the hoops. Some classes made hoop earrings. The fundraiser is part of the school's service learning curriculum. Hoops sized for children and adults will be sold for $15. The festival will include lessons on how to use the hula hoops, student basketball hoop contests, face painting and Olympic-style games involving hula hoops. For information, contact the school at (860) 892-1900.