When Melissa Betancourt signed up to volunteer in Haiti this month, she set a goal of raising $250 to donate to the devastated orphanage where she will be working.
Friends and family kicked in and helped her get together $400 to donate for the children there.
But then Sunday, less than a week before Betancourt was scheduled to leave, her wallet — with the donation money in it — was stolen.
“I was shocked,” Betancourt, 21, of Seymour, said Tuesday. ​“I was really upset, distraught. I’m leaving on Saturday. I have four days to try to find $400.”
Betancourt filed a report with the Trumbull Milford Police Department.
But in the meantime, Betancourt is trying to get together another $400 before she leaves for Haiti on Saturday. She said if the police are able to recover the money from her wallet, she will donate that money to the orphanage as well.
“I just want to get the money back for the orphanage,” Betancourt said. ​“I’m trying to raise that money back. The kids don’t have a lot, so we were trying to give them as much as we can.”
The Trip
Betancourt is going to Haiti with a handful of friends from her church, Gateway Christian Fellowship in West Haven.
She is traveling with David Simmons of New Haven and Daniel Ellis of Bethany. Ellis’ girlfriend is already volunteering at the orphanage, and the group plans to meet here there.
They have signed up with the international service group Youth With a Mission to help volunteer at an orphanage run by the non-profit group Reach Out To Haiti.
The orphanage, in Port-au-Prince, was severely damaged by the earthquake this past January, Betancourt said. She has been receiving information about the situation from friends who are already volunteering with YWAM.
“The country was smashed,” Ellis said. ​“It’s still pretty dire there.”
During their stay, Betancourt said the volunteers are expected to help out in whatever way needed.
Their tasks could range from cooking meals to rebuilding the structures where the children live.
“Anything they need, we’ll be doing,” Betancourt said. ​“Our focus is to help and give them everything we can while we’re down there.”
The Donation
That’s where the donation came in.
Betancourt said YWAM asks each volunteer to bring at least $250 to donate to the orphanage. The money helps offset the cost of housing and feeding the volunteers, and provides extra money to help out the orphanage too.
Betancourt had raised $400, in addition to the money she gathered to pay for her own flight to Haiti and needed shots and exams required to travel there.
The friends and acquantainces who gave money to Betancourt for the orphanage ​“were just impassioned with everything that’s going on with Haiti,” she said.
The Theft
Betancourt said she had the money in her wallet Sunday, and intended to bring it to the bank.
Her friend drove her, but wanted to make a quick stop at the Trumbull Milford mall to pick up a dress before they stopped at the bank, Betancourt said.
While they were in the dressing room, Betancourt said she put her wallet on the ground for a minute to help her friend and then accidentally left it there when they left the dressing room.
Betancourt said she realized the wallet was missing as she got to the register. She went back to the dressing room to find it cleaned out already.
“The police are investigating,” Betancourt said. ​“They’re going to go back to the mall and look at the videos.”