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The effect of this terrible natural disaster is
overwhelming and has taken a grave toil on Haiti. The news media
has given in great details the disaster so I will not repeat the
details.
Mission Harvest America, Inc. has responded to
such needs for the past 13 years. Almost immediately after the
Earthquake we began efforts to assist. Within 12 hours we began
collection of food, medical supplies, camping supplies, portable
generators and more. The first shipment should be ready for
shipment within a week.
For the past two days offers to help have come
from all over the city of Jacksonville and other areas as well.
Places in Maryland, Georgia, Central Florida, Western Florida, Ohio,
and New Jersey are setting up collection sites to send materials for
inclusion with ours.
We are packing the food into 4x4 boxes. Each
box is filled with a balance of food for a family of 4 to eat for 4
days. Presorting provides for better accountability of how the
foods are distributed and meet the needs of more people. In the
first two days we packed enough boxes to feed 1280 meals. Our goal
is to prepare provide enough food to feed 400,000 meals. In
addition to the family food boxes we are preparing bulk food barrels
for orphanages, churches and others who have soup kitchens to feed
the masses.
More than 60 volunteers have helped in the past
two days. More are contacting us every hour to volunteer. This is
great as the depth of the destruction and loss of life in Haiti due
to the earthquake is the worse disaster for this hemisphere.
Our most pressing needs are more food for the
family boxes and funds for the shipping and handling and for the
ground operations in Haiti to distribute the food parcels, pallet
jacks and more semi-trailers for drop sites.
Water is an urgent need. Shipping bottled water
takes up space and weight allowance which could be better filled
with food. Instead of shipping bottles of water we are
manufacturing water purification systems that will be issued to
families so they can make pure water from any local fresh water
source. Each unit makes four gallons in just over one hour’s time.
We need sponsors at $45.00 per unit which will include a spare
filter set and delivery to Haiti. We have a crew ready to start
work now once we have funds to purchase the components. A national
water purification company stated today they will be donating two
large commercial size purification systems for use in Haiti.
Disaster assistance teams will be formed soon.
Teams will be needed to help distribute the donated materials and to
help in the relief efforts. If you are interested just email your
contact information, a brief description of your talents and your
time available. Volunteers would be responsible for their own
expense. We will group book teams to keep the individual costs
lower.
Dry food, canned food, bags of rice or beans,
powered milk; first aid items are all needed. All items must have
at least three months self life. Boxes or package type foods are
not desired due to damage in handling.
Due to the damages at Port au Prince we will
ship relief supplies to St. Marc until we know the port at Port au
Prince is accessible and distribution can occur. St. Marc is only
60 miles from Port au Prince. We may have to ship via ports in the
Dominica Republic. The cost for shipping will be much higher.
Thank you for your support and standing with us
in this most urgent time for assistance to the people of Haiti.
Dewey E. Painter, Sr. |
