Bakersfield residents and foundations are helping raise money for the Haiti earthquake that left many people seeking shelter under tents and a country in ruins.?

Ana Lopez, organizer for the Bakersfield Play-Date-Pals, held a bake sale outside of Wings Pizza ‘N’ Things on Sunday, Jan. 24, to raise money for Haiti. “We have 40 moms or so in this club and we like to get together to help our community but we also like to help those in need when disasters like Haiti occur,” said Lopez.

Lopez and other mothers baked chocolate chip cookies, brownies, cheesecakes and rice krispies among other pastries. “Helping out a place in need by simply selling bake goods is a great way to corroborate in these times, because we never know when it can happen to us,” said Melissa Cotelo, member of the club.

The money collected from the bake sale is going to the Red Cross and Lopez hoped to do another bake sale in the near future. “We want to see how this bake sale goes today, and if it all turns out great, then we will definitely look into having another one because the point is to help as much as we can,” said Lopez.

?The American Red Cross of Bakersfield is providing its help toward the Haiti disaster as well. Gaby Tamayo, health and safety director,?said the Red Cross received a phone call from the Washington D.C. National Voluntary Work organization when the disaster occurred. “We, the Red Cross, survive on donations but when things like this occur, the community really helps out,” said Tamayo.

Bakersfield residents were taking water, food, diapers and medication to the Red Cross, but they had to turn it down. “The cost of shipping items overseas is expensive, and because we survive through donations, that money was going to have to come out of our own pocket and it’s too expensive,” said Tamayo.

However, they were able to raise $53,000 during a donation drive downtown on Saturday, Feb. 23. “We were only expecting to raise maybe $30,000, but we definitely exceeded that,” said Tamayo. The money collected will be sent to Haiti and will help buy supplies around nearby countries.

Having kids walk into the Red Cross with their piggybanks and any extra change they had in their pocket, was something that Lopez appreciated. “I thank all of the Kern County schools, restaurants and residents who all have big hearts because without their donations, we never could have raised so much money.”