For a first-year organization, White River High School’s Club Interact is jumping in and taking its commitment to help those in need outside the United States’ borders seriously.

In a quickly-put-together fundraising effort for Haitian Relief Jan. 15, the club raised more than $580, which its community partner Enumclaw Rotary Club will match. Interact is Rotary International’s service club for young people ages 14 to 18.

According to club Vice President Payden Cawley-Lamb the group made a pitch at White River High’s Martin Luther King assembly and then stood by the door and at lunches collecting donations.

“The focus of the club is helping Third World countries,” President Steven Root said. The 7.0 earthquake that rattled Haiti to the ground Jan. 12 set Club Interact’s foreign relations director Michael Anastasi and partners in action.

With the Red Cross in mind, they were also hoping to continue to collect more donations again in the near future.

Other schools in the area, like Enumclaw Middle School, are also collecting funds for the Red Cross and other organizations to help the Haitian effort.

Crystal Mountain and its Boyne Resort partners also got into the act donating $1 from each ticket sold Jan. 16 and giving skiers the opportunity to match. Between the 10 resorts across the country more than $30,000 was raised.