NORMAN WELLS - As 12-year-old Tyler Bennett sat watching sports on television last month, images of injured earthquake victims in Haiti began flashing across the screen.

Students at Chief T'Selehye School held a hot dog day to fundraise for Haiti. From left, Shalina Gully, Kyran Kakfwi, Rebecca Gully and Desera Caesar. The Fort Good Hope school collected more than $4,700 for the cause. - photo courtesy of Jessa MacDonald

It made him feel lucky to be at home in Norman Wells.

"I felt really lucky, but then I felt sad," said the Grade 6 student at Mackenzie Mountain School in Norman Wells. "I thought that must have been pretty sad for them because anytime an earthquake happens, it's pretty bad."

Bennett was just one of many students at schools across the Sahtu who collected thousands of dollars for earthquake victims in Haiti over the past couple of weeks.

The communities of Colville Lake, Deline, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells and Tulita all participated in a fundraising challenge beginning late last month to motivate students and their families to give to the Red Cross.

They organized charity events such as movie nights, pizza and hot dog lunches, iPod listening sessions and pie-in-the-face days.

The money raised from each school was being counted late last week and the total was not immediately available, although it amounted to more than $6,000.

Marie LaForme, a high school teacher at Colville Lake School, which has about 50 students enrolled, said the school raised about $500 with three charity events, thanks in part to some particularly committed students.

"There was a group of students that helped out and understood the cause and that wanted to contribute," she said.

In Fort Good Hope, amid the humour of paying staff to wear their least favourite hockey team jerseys, students learned how a natural disaster the magnitude of the earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12 can affect people in different parts of the world. It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of people were killed or injured in Haiti.

"It actually brought more awareness to what was going on. It brought in a lot of good discussions and then as we continued to throw out the donation and fundraising ideas, they all jumped on board," said teacher Travis MacQuarrie. "They were eager to do so."