Every summer Gary Hunt talks 20-25 people into taking a trip to Belize, asking them to carry on a plane the maximum amount permitted in school supplies – 100 pounds each – bound for impoverished students on that island nation. They then stay for a vacation, often taking advantage of special rates that Hunt has negotiated over the past 20 years. He calls himself the “Bookbag Santa,” and this year he’s taken on a second mission.
Hunt is looking to collect a second ton of school supplies, then ship them off to Haiti, which was ravaged by an earthquake several months ago. “We always end up with [more] perfectly good stuff [than goes to Belize],” Hunt noted as people strolled by his Belize table at last Saturday’s Local Colors celebration. Instead of offering it to local churches he’s looking for someone that can ship it all to Haiti – from pencils and staplers, to backpacks and three-ring binders.
Last year 26 people took the trip to Belize; more than 20 people wrote their names down on Hunt’s legal pad Saturday, expressing an interest in the Belize trip at the end of July. “This has been a big response,” he noted.
Meanwhile, Local Colors visitors could view dozens of booths, each centered on a different nationality; they could also sample food from around the world or watch music and dance performances on the Elmwood Park amphitheater stage. “People seem to really enjoy it,” said organizer Pearl Fu, who called the crowd “the largest we ever had.”
The crowds enjoyed everything from classical music to Hip Hop in Creole, and a host of dance performances. Surveying the bustling area on a perfect day, Fu deemed the 20th anniversary edition of Local Colors “a success.”
See bookbagsanta.com or call 342-2083 for information on donating school supplies for Haiti and Belize – or to learn more about the group traveling to Belize.
By Gene Marrano [email protected]
Gene, thank you for this very important piece on the work of Gary Hunt and his seemingly single-handed effort to provide Belizean (and now Haitian) school children with much needed school supplies.
I wanted to provide a correction to your comment in the first paragraph which states “…100 pounds each – bound for impoverished students on that island nation.”
The context of this sentence suggests that Belize is an island nation like Cuba, Jamaica or Fiji. In fact, it is a mainland nation of Central America on the Carribean Sea with Mexico bordering it to the North and Guatemala to the West and South. Though there are some small islands off the coast of Belize, it is very much a mainland nation.
I know that this may seem nitpicky, but American’s knowledge of World Geography is far below the world average and continues to slip. I think it important that as a purveyor of news, your depiction of it should be correct. Thank you very much and please keep up the good work. I especially liked your piece on DOWN BY DOWNTOWN.