How far is Haiti from KIPP San Antonio?

I bet our 5th graders at KIPP Aspire Academy could tell you.

Here's a quick note I got from 5th Grade Reading Specialist, Judi Gibbons:

"Some Fifth Grade students along with Paula S. and Samantha B., put on a short program about Haiti last night for report card night. They collected money and [are going to] present it to the Red Cross."

Bill Gates just gave $10B to fight AIDs. I applaud him for giving out of his wealth, his gift is transformative.

Our 5th graders are raising as much as they can for their unseen friends in Haiti. They are giving out of their hearts. Their charity is also transformative.

How far is Haiti? It's not measured in miles or dollars. Haiti is as close as the impact you think you can have. Geography is circumscribed by the measure of your heart. "Topography displays no favorites."

Our 5th graders taught me that today.

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The Map
by Elizabeth Bishop
[excerpted]

Land lies in water; it is shadowed green.
Shadows, or are they shallows, at its edges
showing the line of long sea-weeded ledges
where weeds hang to the simple blue from green.
Or does the land lean down to lift the sea from under,
drawing it unperturbed around itself?
Along the fine tan sandy shelf
is the land tugging at the sea from under?

Mapped waters are more quiet than the land is,
lending the land their waves' own conformation:
Are they assigned, or can the countries pick their colors?
-What suits the character or the native waters best.
Topography displays no favorites; North's as near as West.
More delicate than the historians' are the map-makers' colors.