Football team car wash helps raise funds to assist in Haiti

The Del Norte High Warrior football team did their part to help those less fortunate over the weekend.

On Saturday, the team held a car wash at the Chetco Federal Credit Union parking lot in Crescent City.

They earned a total of $774, including $179 during the tailgate BBQ at the football game on Friday night.

All of the money that was  raised will go towards the purchase of medications for a medical mission to Haiti, which will take place in November, said Caroyln Dykes, a physician assistant at the Del Norte Community Health Center. She is part of a team of local medical providers and helpers assisting those in need in Haiti.

She is the sister of varsity head football coach Ray Rook.

“Ray told me he wanted to help with this effort for Haiti because he wants to teach these boys more than just football,” Dykes said.

“This was a great thing for the boys to learn that the world extends beyond frozen coffee and Friday nights,” she added. “It was a chance for them to know that just 90 minutes from Disney World is the poorest place in the Western Hemisphere where people are happy to have a tarp to live under.”

Dykes said a special moment occurred at the carwash when they met a Haitian police officer who was traveling through with a Coast Guard commander and his wife.

“She stopped and told a story to a few of the boys of how she is issued only three bullets per year for her gun and she has used those within the first two weeks of her duty year,” Dykes said.  “She has been assigned to work with the USCG since 2009 and was with the Coast Guard during the time of the earthquake. She was impressed with the efforts of the Warrior football team to help fund raise for the mission.”