Paper Girl Delivers Food and Shelter to Haitian Family
Taphatna Duncan is a normal sixth-grader with a paper route. But she does something extraordinary with her $100/month in earnings. She supports her family.
Taphatna was adopted at age seven from the “orphanage” where her biological father had taken her when he and his family could no longer afford to care for her. Her Canadian adoptive mother, Deborah Duncan, has four children, three of whom are adopted, and is an adopted person herself. She met Taphatna at age five, while on a trip to help deliver food for a relief agency. After volunteering in Haiti for years, she had decided to adopt a Haitian child in need of a home.
Last year, she received an email with the news that Taphatna’s father had died, bankrupting her mother and younger brother with funeral expenses. They had been living on the street until someone was able to contact Deborah. The Duncans quickly sent money for food and the funeral and solicited help to find them housing. But rent in Haiti must be paid a year in advance, so the Duncans also borrowed $600 to rent a home for Taphatna’s family. Now Taphatna is working to pay back that loan and earn next year’s rent as well.
Mom, Deborah, helps Taphatna deliver the papers twice weekly and has organized a walkathon to raise money to help Haitians in poverty. To join in or otherwise help, visit To Hope For Haiti.
See also:
Adoption Tide Turning in Florida?
Pregnancy, Birth and HIV: The Good News
image: Jennifer Moreau of Burnaby Now
That is an awesome young lady.