Haitians Helping One Another to Survive
February 9, 2010

by Margaret Trost		print version
		print version (graphics)

Dear Friends,

Food and water continues to flow out of the St. Clare's rectory in Port-au-Prince thanks to your donations. Today, as I type this email, the cooking team is scooping hot rice, beans and vegetables onto plates that will be served to thousands of children and adults. In addition, Lavarice Gaudin, our earthquake relief coordinator, is sharing bags of rice and cooking oil with other communities in an effort to help set up satellite food programs.  Our goal is to expand the reach of your generous contributions to help as many people as possible.

Johanna Berrigan, a friend of the foundation and Physician Assistant, just returned from spending a week in the St. Clare's neighborhood treating the wounded.  She worked with doctors and Nurse Practitioners from the U.S. and members of the St. Clare's community who were trained as health agents over the last couple of years.  Here are some of her reflections: 

"When I drove through the streets of Port-au-Prince, I couldn't speak.  The devastation is beyond anything you could imagine.  But I gained strength by watching how gracefully and with such dignity the Haitians are coping.  They are taking care of each other, praying, singing, doing what they can to help one another survive.

"Everyone knows aid is available and that there's been a huge outpouring of help from around the world, but the relief effort at the Port-au-Prince airport is uncoordinated, disorganized, and sporadic.  Most people have no idea where their next meal is coming from.  Many are starving.  But those who can walk to the St. Clare's rectory are receiving a meal day after day and that's making all the difference.

"Many people that we worked with at St. Clare's are still in shock from the earthquake.  They still feel the ground moving.  But even with their stress and the sorrow they feel, they worked with us day and night to help as many people as possible.  As earthquake survivors they feel a calling to use their lives in service to  others." 

Thank you for being on this journey with us.  We've just begun.  I will continue to update you weekly with news of our work in Haiti and the impact your donations are having in the St. Clare's neighborhood and beyond.  I know that every child, every parent, every grandparent in Port-au-Prince that you have fed through your donations joins me in saying "meci apil" - thank you so much - for your compassion, for taking action, for spreading the word with your family and friends, and for being part of this "great sharing" as Fr. Gerry Jean-Juste used to call it.

To contribute to our Earthquake Relief Fund click here.

With love and hope, 
Margaret

2/3/2010 wednesday

Dear Friends,

It's been three weeks since the catastrophic earthquake of Jan. 12th struck Port-au-Prince.   Thanks to all of you, thousands of earthquake survivors are receiving desperately needed food and water.  

Today, another truck full of rice, beans, canned food, and bottled water, paid for with your donations, arrived at the St. Clare's rectory.  I spoke with Lavarice Gaudin, our program coordinator, this afternoon as the food program was in full swing serving hot meals to about 4,000 people.  Lavarice said the lines are getting longer every day.  He's deeply concerned that things will get much worse before they get better as malnourishment and disease set in and the rainy season approaches.  Everybody is still living outside. 

He asked me to pass on again his gratitude to all of you for your compassion and for sharing your resources so generously at this critical time.

"It is much worse than the images on television.  There are so many people who need help and so few people who have anything.  The airport and main hospital have lots of troops, supplies, and well-organized places, but the rest of the city is empty of aid.  If there are well functioning areas, they are not apparent. What you see is Haitian people trying to make it on their own, but there's not enough to go around."

Bill visited the St. Clare's rectory a number of times.  "There's no doubt the food program is saving lives.  It's an oasis of people who work together, understand each other... it's an island of hope.  There are not enough islands over there.  Children a few miles away who can't walk to the food program look severely malnourished, listless.  Don't underestimate how important that meal is.  It meant a lot before, but now, it's needed more than ever."

Thank you, our donors, for keeping the meals flowing through your gifts and through your participation in our Tell A Friend campaign.  Every gift, every recommendation, ever fundraiser, every prayer makes a difference. 

Piti piti na rive!  Little by little we will arrive!

To see new pictures of your donor dollars in action, click here.

To contribute to our Earthquake Relief Fund click here.

Friday Update 1/29/10

Dear Friends,

It's been a very intense week at the St. Clare's rectory where thousands of people are receiving relief thanks to your donations.  The food program team served over 3,000 meals of rice and beans every day this week.  Thousands more received canned food and water.  The trucks continue to arrive and provide desperately needed nourishment and hope to the people.  Your donations are making this possible.

As I look to the weeks and months ahead, and the need to grow the size of the What If? Foundation so we can continue to respond to the critical needs in the St. Clare's neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, I want to invite you to join our Tell-A-Friend campaign. 

Please use our new Tell-A-Friend forward button (on the left column) to forward these emails onto your family and friends.  Spreading the word in this personal way will make a huge difference.  Your recommendation of the What If? Foundation is the most powerful way we can expand our donor base and thus our ability to work with the community of St. Clare's to provide relief and then rebuilding in the weeks, months, and years to come. 

[Note: You need to sign up at Margaret's What If? Foundation website for her newsletter to do this]

I continue to be in touch daily with Lavarice Gaudin, our program coordinator, and tireless leader of relief efforts.  He told me yesterday that he is working to find tents for the thousands of families living outside in the neighborhood.  In tears he described conversations he's had with people who are walking for miles to the rectory in search of food and water.  They've lost their homes, their parents, their children, and still have received no aid from all the planes flying into the Port-au-Prince airport.  Coming to the St. Clare's rectory for a meal is their only hope right now of getting the food and water they need to stay alive.  To learn more about the current situation in Port-au-Prince, click here to read a report sent to me today from Bill Quigley, a friend of the What If? Foundation.  

Thank you for all of your support and encouragement over the last 2 � weeks.  It's extraordinary what we've been able to accomplish together.  And thank you for joining me in our Tell-A-Friend campaign.  This simple, but important volunteer effort will make a huge difference over time.  If each of us tells 10 people about What If, and then those people tell 10 people, and then those people tell 10 people...   Piti piti na rive!  Little by little we will arrive!

To see new pictures of your donor dollars in action, click here. 

With love and hope, 

Margaret Trost

2/3/2010

Dear Friends,

It's been a very intense week at the St. Clare's rectory where thousands of people are receiving relief thanks to your donations.  The food program team served over 3,000 meals of rice and beans every day this week.  Thousands more received canned food and water.  The trucks continue to arrive and provide desperately needed nourishment and hope to the people.  Your donations are making this possible.

Please use our new Tell-A-Friend forward button (on the left column) to forward these emails onto your family and friends.  Spreading the word in this personal way will make a huge difference.  Your recommendation of the What If? Foundation is the most powerful way we can expand our donor base and thus our ability to work with the community of St. Clare's to provide relief and then rebuilding in the weeks, months, and years to come. 

I continue to be in touch daily with Lavarice Gaudin, our program coordinator, and tireless leader of relief efforts.  He told me yesterday that he is working to find tents for the thousands of families living outside in the neighborhood.  In tears he described conversations he's had with people who are walking for miles to the rectory in search of food and water.  They've lost their homes, their parents, their children, and still have received no aid from all the planes flying into the Port-au-Prince airport.  Coming to the St. Clare's rectory for a meal is their only hope right now of getting the food and water they need to stay alive.  To learn more about the current situation in Port-au-Prince, click here to read a report sent to me today from Bill Quigley, a friend of the What If? Foundation.  

Thank you for all of your support and encouragement over the last 2 � weeks.  It's extraordinary what we've been able to accomplish together.  And thank you for joining me in our Tell-A-Friend campaign.  This simple, but important volunteer effort will make a huge difference over time.  If each of us tells 10 people about What If, and then those people tell 10 people, and then those people tell 10 people...   Piti piti na rive!  Little by little we will arrive!

To see new pictures of your donor dollars in action, click here.

To contribute to our Earthquake Relief Fund click here.


To read about the good work the What If? Foundation has done over the years for the people of Haiti, please check our What If? Foundation Archive at Satya Center.

The What If? Foundation

Providing Hope and Opportunity to Impoverished Children in Haiti

You can read more about Margaret's work with Fr. Jean-Juste in the What If? Foundation Archive at Satya Center.

To donate to the What If? Foundation, make checks out to the What If? Foundation and mail them to: 1563 Solano Ave., #192, Berkeley, CA  94707. Or go to the website to make a donation there.

Quick Links to What If? Foundation website

FOOD PROGRAM

EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIPS

WHAT IF? BLOG

Photos & Newsletters of the Food Program & Relief Efforts courtesy of Margaret Trost & the What If? Foundation.

Click here to donate for EMERGENCY HAITI EARTHQUAKE RELIEF

News Photos of Haiti Earthquake 2010 from AP, UNDP, Agencia Brasil

With love and hope, 

Margaret Trost

Check out Margaret's Book, "On That Day, Everybody Ate: One Woman's Story of Hope & Possibility in Haiti" with a forward by Paul Farmer.