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Helping Haiti Fund
Student Transportation of America, Greenwich School Community Come Together to Support Haitian Bus Drivers Working in Greenwich
Greenwich Terminal Serves as Information Hub as Drivers/Monitors Await Word from Family Members
Employees of Student Transportation of America (STA), the local school bus company serving the Greenwich public and private schools, are partnering with the school community this week to support Haitian-American bus drivers and monitors caught in the emotional turmoil surrounding Tuesday’s massive earthquake in Haiti.
“We have 30 bus drivers and 10 monitors in our Greenwich terminal who are desperately trying to contact their family and friends in Haiti,” said John Spang, STA’s regional operations director. “Our hearts go out to each and every one of them. All of us, from STA employees who are local and others throughout North America, to Greenwich parents, students and administrators, are looking for ways to ease their frustration and support them and their homeland in whatever way we can. We are a family of employees at STA and, in times like these, we come together to support each other. We greatly appreciate the outpouring of support from the Greenwich school community.”
An information center has been established at STA’s Greenwich office where WiFi and several computer workstations will be operating from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day while the need exists. Breakfast and lunch are being provided daily.
“With the communications infrastructure in Haiti so badly damaged, Facebook and Twitter seem to be two of the best ways to communicate; so our workstations and WiFi will help our employees check on friends and relatives before and after their daily runs,” Spang said. “We’re also helping to connect employees to the Salvation Army and American Red Cross websites which help individuals locate loved ones amid the chaos.”
Spang also said the following additional efforts are underway:
- Greenwich Public Schools staff and families have been alerted to the plight of STA’s Haitian employees and been given information about a number of opportunities to donate to relief organizations, including Stamford-based AmeriCares.
- STA has purchased $1,000 in prepaid phone cards, which will be distributed to employees in Stamford as well as to two employees in the company’s New London terminal with Haitian ties.
- A companywide donation system is being established, which will allow STA employees in 11 states and Ontario, Canada to make donations to the relief effort in person at individual terminals and online at the rideSTA.com website.
- Plans are underway to hold a special gathering for Greenwich employees next week at the terminal to underscore the company and school district’s support to the drivers.
STA encourages all Connecticut residents to keep the Haitian people in their prayers and to donate to any one of the fine organizations working to assist the devastated nation including the AmeriCares and the American Red Cross.
The Student Transportation of America Education Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Student Transportation of America (STA), the third largest provider of school bus transportation services in North America. The STA Education Foundation is a 501(c) (3) public charity that focuses the experience of the company and the talents of more than 6,000 employees on advancing educational opportunities available to the students it transports daily in more than 200 school districts in 11 U.S. states and Ontario, Canada. Since its creation in 2003, the Foundation has raised nearly $100,000 and awarded more than 40 scholarships to students who demonstrate academic achievement, community service and leadership. Learn more about the Education Foundation and its commitment to the community at www.staef.org