It took only 85 minutes and the passing around of plastic cups one morning last week at Patch American High School in Stuttgart, Germany, to collect more than $450 for relief efforts in Haiti.

"We called it a ‘compassion blitz,’ " said ninth-grade World Regions teacher Gini Dugan, who organized the fundraiser. "It was a tremendous outpouring. I think everyone wanted to do something."

With a $200 cash donation from the school’s Junior ROTC, Dugan was able to send a $660 money order Friday to Direct Relief International, a nonprofit medical relief organization in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Several other student organizations have pledged more than $1,000. As of Tuesday, pledges and donations totaled $2,210.94, Dugan said.

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