MILTON, MASS. (WHDH) -
Malik and Mekhi Ulysse don’t spend their spare time like many other children their age: the two work odd jobs to raise funds for poor Haitian communities.
The two brothers, who attend Delphi Academy, a middle school in Milton, were born in Massachusetts after their parents emigrated from Haiti.
Each year their whole family visits Haiti, and what they found on these annual trips inspired the brothers’ fundraising efforts.
As Malik and Mehki got older, they noticed a big difference in the way some of their Haitian friends lived, and their life here.
“I would see people, like little kids playing soccer ball, soccer with cans and stuff, and I would see kids with no clothes,” Malik said.
Mekhi said, “I saw this poor lady who was trying to make a living, trying to sell things down there, and I felt really bad for her.”
Malik and Mehki felt compelled to help in some way.
“It just came to my mind, over the years I kept saying, I have to do something about it, I have to do something about it,” Malik said.
The brothers went to work selling lemonade in the summer, hot chocolate in the winter, shoveling driveways, mowing lawns and put on a big garage sale.
“There’s just so many clothes in the house,” Malik said, “We just don’t use at all. They’re just sitting there getting old.”
The boys collected and sold old toys, little remote cars and more to raise funds for those in Haiti.
Malik says the boys raised $1,000, which goes a long way in Haiti.
The two bought soccer balls, sandals and shoes, shirts, underwear, and other resources for Haitians who could otherwise not afford them.
“We just want to give Haiti all the things we can, because Haiti needs things as much as we do,” Mekhi said.
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