Local helping hands
Please note—this article originally appeared in the February 7, 2010 edition of The Journal Gazette. Original Web site linkPeople of all ages do their part to aid Haitian quake's survivors
Devon Haynie
Since a catastrophic 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 18, killing as many as 200,000 people, many in Fort Wayne have felt compelled to act.
Some immediately booked plane flights to aid Haitians in person. Others started fundraisers and aid collections. Many either texted financial donations to groups such as the Red Cross or went online to give.
For many, the earthquake was the first time they learned about the small Caribbean nation known as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
For others, the disaster brought sudden attention to a beleaguered country they had long been trying to help.
What follows is a list of local people who, in one way or another, are trying to improve life for those in Haiti.
Sam Burchett, fourth-grader, Oak View Elementary
The halls in Oak View Elementary School are a little more crowded these days, but not because of extra students.
A pile of brand new backpacks sits in the hallway near the main entrance all packed with supplies and destined for Haiti.
The backpacks are the brainchild of 10-year-old Sam Burchett, who was moved to do something for the island nation after watching disturbing images of the earthquake's aftermath.
"It started when we were watching TV," the fourth-grader said. "I was seeing kids with scars on their heads and crushed buildings. It made me sad. — I thought we needed to do something for Haiti."
Sam, who first learned about the poverty in Haiti after his father took a mission trip there, originally wanted to donate books to keep the Haitian people entertained. But when his mother suggested donating backpacks for Haitian children instead, Sam thought it was a great idea.
"If they own something they don't have to carry it on their arms. They can carry it on their backs," he said.
Sam is collecting new backpacks full of hand towels, washcloths, toothbrushes and toothpaste in Ziploc bags and also school supplies. He's already got about 20 backpacks, not including a boxful of bags donated by Vera Bradley. He'll collect the backpacks until Feb. 19. In early March, the Burchetts will mail the backpacks to Living Hope Mission in Haiti.
Dr. Stanley Rich, cardiologist with Lutheran Medical Group
Haiti was on Rich's mind even before the latest disaster.
The cardiologist had gone to Haiti a few times with The Chapel and was on a solo medical mission to check on his patients when the earthquake hit, shaking the walls of his hotel 30 minutes north of Port-au-Prince.
"I was in the hotel manager's office trying to send an e-mail and things started coming off the wall," said Rich, 61. "I had never experienced anything like it before. — It seemed to me it lasted 30 seconds. I really didn't think too much of it."
A little later, Rich said, he walked out of the hotel and saw what looked like a cloud of dust hovering down the coast over Port-au-Prince.
He spent the next two days trying to help the wounded who came to his clinic, run by The Mission of Hope: Haiti, in Titanye, north of Port-au-Prince.
"It was inundated with people," Rich said. "The only people at the mission were a chiropractor, a paramedic and a few nurses. We had all sorts of injuries. Several people died in the clinic. — People were outside and inside. It was just hard to describe.
"We didn't have any place to send them."
Rich extended his trip by several days and eventually went with a medical team into Port-au-Prince after more medical staff and supplies arrived at the mission.
"This just magnified the chronic problems that Haiti had," said Rich, who hopes to go back to Haiti for another medical mission in a few months.
Chrissy Benjamin, junior at IPFW
The 22-year-old college student made the decision to help Haiti during a meeting with other officers on the equestrian team at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.
The group was discussing starting community-service work and thought that responding to the disaster in Haiti would be a good place to start.
"We were all very saddened by what we saw on TV," she said.
Benjamin, a junior, came up with the idea to have students buy "hearts for Haiti." If students donated any amount of money to the Red Cross, they would have a heart with their name on it taped up along some of the university's walls.
"I thought 'Hearts for Haiti' was a catchy name, and it worked because it was around Valentine's Day," Benjamin said. "Everyone was really excited about it."
The equestrian club is working with about 15 other student organizations as well as the bursar's office, admissions office and other university departments to raise money.
From about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, Benjamin and others are at a table in Kettler Hall, where students can buy the hearts. They're also selling T-shirts that encourage students to help the island nation.
So far, Benjamin said, students have donated from 17 cents to $20.
Tom Hinton, president of Barnabas Task, non-profit organization
Hinton got as far as the Dominican Republic after the earthquake, but a knee problem kept the missionary from entering Haiti.
"It was real tough for me," said Hinton, who had led relief teams in Albania, Myanmar and other countries. But he'll have the chance to deliver aid this spring when he leads a relief team on behalf of Associated Churches of Fort Wayne and Allen County.
Hinton has served as international project coordinator for health care ministry for Assemblies of God, and Global Connect Coordinator of Foursquare Church.
He said he's seen indescribable scenes of misery throughout his travels, yet finds the images from Haiti particularly disturbing.
"They were in dire straits before this; now they have nothing," he said. "In the history of this hemisphere, it's the worst disaster that's ever taken place. To not respond would be to turn a blind eye to your neighbor."
When Hinton leads the Associated Churches trip this spring, he hopes to take the team of doctors and others to the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
"My goal is to find a place where no one else has gone," he said. "That's one of the principles of first response."'
Douglas Rutt, professor, Concordia Lutheran Seminary
Rutt spent two days in Haiti in late January surveying the devastation caused by the earthquake.
He traveled to the country as a representative from the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, which sent him to assess the needs of pastors at its sister church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Haiti.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church has had several pastors trained at the Concordia seminary.
"You really couldn't be prepared for what it was going to look like," Rutt said. "We drove for eight hours that first day and you'd see buildings just toppled to the ground. There were places where you could tell there were people still buried in the rubble."
The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod has been sending food and other aid to Haiti by land and by sea, Rutt said.
Locally, the seminary is raising money to pay for airfare that allowed one of its Haitian students and several of his family members to travel back home in the wake of the disaster.
"There's going to be a lot of need that's going to go on for a long, long time," Rutt said. "I'm really afraid for when it starts raining. It could get really difficult."
