Purse Party Raises Funds For Haitian School Children

Can empty purses provide the funds to feed hungry school children?

Yes, they can. In fact, those empty bags can provide the funds to feed hundreds of students for weeks at a time.

Last week, nearly 200 people gathered in downtown Evansville to attend the third annual Haiti Purse Party. They came with their wallets open and their check books ready, and at the end of the event, over $16,000 had been raised to feed the children who attend school at St. James Parish in Plaine du Nord, Haiti.

Karen Hinderliter is a kindergarten teacher at Corpus Christi School in Evansville and a member of the Haiti Purse Party committee. She explained that Evansville area businesses and individuals donated "new and gently-used" designer and faux designer purses of all sorts for the Haiti Purse Party.

Hinderliter noted that the event, which included lunch and both a silent and a live auction of the purses, has grown from 120 guests in its second year to nearly 200 this year.

The funds which were raised will go directly to St. James Parish, which has been partnered with St. Joseph Parish in Vanderburgh County for about 30 years. Last year's proceeds were used to purchase books for the elementary school students in the parish. This year, the money will be used to purchase food for the 500 students enrolled in the elementary school there and the 200 students in the high school.

In an Aug. 16 Message story, Butch Feulner is quoted as saying, "The schools had been providing a hot meal of rice and beans on a regular basis -- until the source of their food supply basically dried up.

“For many of those students, that meal wasn't just the only hot food they got all day; it was the only food they got. We are going to use the money we raise this year to help them get the food they need to continue providing healthy nutrition to the students."