UPDATE: Haiti Earthquake Relief-HELP DONATE HERE
January 24, 2010

by Margaret Trost		print version
		print version (graphics)

1-24-2010

Thank you for all you are doing to help the What If? Foundation respond to the cries for help from the St. Clare's neighborhood. As news of the earthquake in Haiti begins to fade from our newspapers, the situation remains critical. Every bottle of water and can of food can be the difference between life and death. Your donations are saving lives.

I spoke with Lavarice this afternoon and he told me that over 10,000 people came to the St. Clare's rectory in search of food and water yesterday. The crowd was so large they were not able to make a dent in providing the aid needed. Lavarice continues to put out calls to the UN and other nonprofits asking them to come to the area with tents, water, and food. Some additional aid has trickled in, but not at the pace that's needed. Thankfully, two more trucks full of food and water, paid for with your donations, arrived late last night from the Dominican Republic. Today, the distribution of aid was a little easier. 

Since two days have passed without aftershocks, Lavarice said that the food program team is planning to cook rice and beans tomorrow for up to three thousand people. In addition to these hot meals, they will continue to distribute canned food and water. A goal for this week is to bring aid to families with young children and the elderly who have difficulty waiting in the long lines.

The Zakat Foundation arranged to have four doctors from Turkey come to the St. Clare's rectory to set up a medical clinic. They saw patients all day. On Tuesday, another medical team from Philadelphia and New York will arrive to help out for a week.

At the end of my conversation today with Lavarice he said, "without the What If? Foundation's support and the donations coming in, we wouldn't be able to help the people who are suffering."  And I said that without his leadership and the extraordinary team at St. Clare's, we wouldn't be able to help right now either. This is the beauty of our long-term partnership, the power of community-based programs, and the result of being able to get aid directly to the people who need it.   

At this point, each truck of food and water we send costs approximately $5000, and we are arranging six trucks a week to help keep people alive. This is an enormous increase in our expenses. To help us continue supplying this level of relief, please continue to spread the word about our work with your family and friends. Please consider doing a fundraiser. As you know, I am a firm believer in the power of small steps - a lot of people doing a little and having this add up. This is the essence of "piti piti na rive," my favorite Haitian saying - little by little we will arrive.

With gratitude for all of you,
Margaret

Margaret Trost
Founder and Executive Director

1-20-2010

Click here to donate for EMERGENCY HAITI EARTHQUAKE RELIEF


Dear Friends,

We received the first pictures of the relief effort at St. Clare's today.  I'm excited for you to see what your donations have made possible.  Click here to view them in our website gallery.  We'll add more pictures as soon as we get them.

Lavarice, our program liaison, told me today that the crowds are growing as word spreads that there is food and water at the rectory. With limited relief from the Port-au-Prince airport getting out to the people, some are starting to walk miles to St. Clare's. "It's very, very tough.  Distribution is extremely challenging because there are so many people in need.  We are doing our best to serve as many as possible." 

As soon as the aftershocks stop (there were several today), the cooks plan to start cooking rice and beans in the kitchen. Until then, they are helping dozens of other volunteers pass out the canned food and water we're having trucked in through the Dominican Republic.  

For those of you who plan to watch the Hope for Haiti Now telethon on Friday night, we received word today from Linda Panetta, a photographer who has taken many photos of the food program at St. Clare's, that some of her photos of the children at the food program will be featured during the broadcast.  Click here to see these photos.

Lavarice received the great news that his brother, niece and nephew survived the earthquake.  Their home is destroyed and they have minor injuries, but they are alive and we are all so relieved and grateful.

Stay tuned to our blog for further updates on our relief efforts.  I'll continue to send e-updates but am planning to shift from daily to every two or three days. 

Thank you again for all of your support over the last ten days.  Your emails of support and encouragement have touched my heart and have given me strength.  And your generosity and compassion has made an enormous difference for so many people in Port-au-Prince.  

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

1-18-2010

Dear Friends,

This morning I was stunned to learn that there was another earthquake in Port-au-Prince.  It registered 6.1 on the richter scale.  "The shaking was so hard," Lavarice, our program liaison said when we spoke by phone for a couple minutes this afternoon. "Everyone is traumatized by the last week and terrified to go into any building." The cooks at St. Clare's, who were on their way to the rectory to prepare today's meal when this morning's earthquake struck, did not feel safe to enter the building. With gas stoves cemented into the ground, there's no way to move them outdoors and no way to guarantee safety right now with all the aftershocks.  (There have been over 40 aftershocks in the last week.)

Without being able to cook rice in the kitchens, the food program staff instead focused on distributing the water and canned food(beans, sardines, corn) that has been trucked in from the Dominican Republic.  Lavarice told me that hundreds of people were served. Lavarice continues to coordinate deliveries and is also working on setting up satellite food distribution locations in other neighborhoods.  It's hard to believe that no relief from the Port-au-Prince airport has arrived in the area to supplement what we've been able to do.     

Today, I've been thinking about the members of the St. Clare's community and what they've been through the last week. It's impossible to imagine the depth of the suffering.  I'm sure many members of the community have lost family and friends who live in other parts of Port-au-Prince. Our own Lavarice, who has worked night and day to bring relief to the area, knows that his family's home collapsed last Tuesday and he fears that his brother, niece and nephew have died.

Please remember Lavarice and everyone in Haiti in your thoughts and prayers. We'll continue to do all we can to get relief to St. Clare's.

Thank you for your generosity and compassion,

Margaret

How to Donate

Donations of every size have a powerful impact.

Click here to donate for EMERGENCY HAITI EARTHQUAKE RELIEF

The What If? Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization. 

Author Proceeds Support the What If? Foundation 

If your friends are looking for an inspiring book about Haiti, let them know about 

 "On That Day, Everybody Ate: One Woman's Story of Hope and Possibility in Haiti" written by What If Foundation Director, Margaret Trost. 

Foreword by Dr. Paul Farmer

Click here for more information.

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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.

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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

All photos courtesy of The What If? Foundation website & Margaret Trost. Thank you Margaret!