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Earthquake Relief Efforts – Update 1/31
The Chances for Children community collectively accomplished two key objectives in the first two ½ weeks after the earthquake hit.
- January 28th
8,000 pounds of food, formula, water, medicine and supplies were purchased and delivered to the orphanage in Haiti. - January 22nd
18 children were brought from Haiti to the U.S. on a charter plane, where they were met by their adoptive families.
Both of these accomplishments should make each of us extremely proud – while many organizations are struggling to get their supplies into Haiti – we were successful! Additionally, many families (adopting from other orphanages) were called in the middle of the night and informed that their adoptive children would be arriving on a military plane in a few hours. C4C was able to have all of our children travel together, avoid immigration problems and provide a welcoming setting for these new families.
These accomplishments were achieved through a community that donated funds, volunteered time, provided services, organized drives and together, we made it happen. Chances for Children is proud of what we have accomplished TOGETHER!
Supplies Update
The Relief Team (Kim Hawkins, Kathi Juntunen, Alecia Settle, Marvin List , Ann McGregor and her students, and Beth and Jim Peifer) arrived in Florida on Sunday and began purchasing supplies under the organizational genius of our leader, April Connors. The supplies were then packed and loaded into a charter cargo plane bound for Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
We spent many days working out the logistics of getting the supplies to the orphanage and evaluated helicopters, warehousing, trucks, small panes, etc. In the end to avoid damaged or stolen cargo – we opted to have the supplies trucked into the small village of Lamerdelle (which is about a 6 hour drive from Santo Domingo). For those of you have traveled to Lamerdelle, it’s not exactly a metropolis and finding your way there is tricky – even with Google Earth coordinates. We were nervous about the supplies actually arriving intact. But we hit pay dirt, when one of our team members offered to go with the trucks to make sure the cargo was delivered. Alecia Settle became our hero!!
When she arrived on the cargo plane into Santo Domingo the first thing Alecia noticed was utter chaos - boxes from other aid organizations littered the tarmac. The airport was overwhelmed with cargo and had no ability to store or track all the boxes. Alecia, along with the pilots and trucking company located every last pallet and box and made sure they got on the transport vehicles. It took almost 4 hours to complete this part of the job. As night fell, they headed out and drove all night to reach the border town of Jimani where you must clear Haiti customs. The plan had been to arrive before customs opened at 5:00 in the morning. Alecia and her Dominican trucking team arrived at 3:00 am to find at least 50 trucks already in the que. It took them 3 hours to clear customs. With no GPS system, no map and limited English, the truck drivers managed to locate the crèche (with Alecia’s guidance) and not only did they arrive first thing in the morning they also received a police escort for the last 20 minutes of their drive. The whole village must have cheered when they heard the police sirens in front of the crèche and saw the truck loaded with food. We are happy to report that under Alecia’s watch every last item made it to the orphanage. The children at the orphanage now have food, medicine and supplies and our team in Haiti can re-open the school and provide lunch for the children. In addition to all of you who helped accomplish this miraculous achievement, we are also grateful to both IBC and General Air Services for their exceptional service.
Adoption Update
The situation in Haiti remains unchanged, and in fact, may be a little worse then when we last communicated. It appears that organizations like UNICEF, Save the Children and World Vision are pressuring the Haitian and U.S. governments to halt adoptions. At the same time, orphanages are being asked to take in 100’s of children. Crèche Enfant Jesus has been asked to admit anywhere from 100 – 300 children!!!
Chances for Children wants to work hard to see that those children who fit the “abandoned/orphaned” classification receive expedited processing to help find them loving and nurturing new homes. A press statement from Chances for Children went out on Friday – effectively going head to head with organizations like UNICEF who view adoption as a last resort. The press release is posted on our website and can be found at http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chances-for-children-founder-craig-juntunen-urges-international-adoption-as-part-of-the-solution-in-aftermath-of-haiti-earthquake-82966697.html
For all of you who have contacted us about adoption – we ask that you begin the process by following the steps listed on our website. When adoptions reopen in Haiti, we would love to have a pipeline of new families ready to go!
Relief to Renewal
Now that our immediate relief efforts have been accomplished we are moving to our renewal and long term objectives. The report from USAID shows that an estimated 112,250 people have died from the earthquake and another 194,000 have suffered significant injures. Additionally, 609,000 people have no where to live and are classified as “displaced”. There is an immediate need to begin helping the Haitian people get an infrastructure and permanence back into their lives.
The Haiti Renewal Fund (http://www.haitirenewal.org/) is a partnership with other Non-Profits to provide rebuilding efforts village by village. The Renewal Fund takes a holistic approach to rebuilding Haiti – by helping to provide education (schools), health (medical clinics), water (clean drinking water) to small communities.
Additionally, we will be working to send container of supplies, food, clothing, etc to Haiti once the ports re-open. We know many of you have been collecting supplies and we ask you to continue to hold on to them. Once we know that the ports are working and customs is able to process containers we will be organizing and sending a shipping container.
What else you can do
The media attention is slowly slipping away from Haiti, yet the despair and devastation continue. If you are looking for ways to get involved we have some suggestions:
- Write or contact your congress people and ask them to vote in favor of the Families for Orphans Act (S-1458) sponsored by Senator Mary Landrieu. Let them know how important international adoption is to help the children of Haiti. http://www.jcics.org/families%20for%20orphans.htm
- Continue to stay involved in the long term efforts in Haiti.
- Help us launch our Kids helping Kids campaign – a program aimed at schools and youth groups. This outreach will be launched in early February and is a great way to connect kids to the value of reaching out to others. We will have all the information on our website within a week.
- If you are interested in adopting – get started on your paperwork and requirements.
- Become part of the solution to rebuild Haiti by donating funds and resources.
Again, we can never adequately express our gratitude for all you have done. What started out as something small has turned into a groundswell. Now is the time to make lasting changes in adoptions in Haiti and in rebuilding a damaged country. Thank you to each and every one of you for your participation in this effort!