Haitian Relief Efforts Continue, SLU Faculty Member Contemplates Nation's Future
January 26, 2010
The Haitian Education Project, a non-profit housed at Saint Leo
University’s main campus, has been propelled into disaster-relief
fundraising for Haiti. HEP has added an online donation mechanism
from its website, www.haitianeducationproject.net,
for the convenience of donors wanting to give cash. HEP has
also been concerned about the poor water supply for earthquake
survivors. In response, students from Saint Leo residence halls,
led by student chaplains and residence hall advisors, along with
families from Saint Anthony Interparochial School in San Antonio,
collected 52 cases of bottled water.
The cases of water and other goods (such as bedding), collected by
HEP were shipped to Haiti on Friday, thanks to the generosity of a
Florida sponsor who allowed several non-profits to pool their
donated goods into one shipment. The HEP supplies went first to the
Dominican Republic, and then to Haiti by truck, directly to a local
program caring for 200 families. HEP also gave the program, called
Gredeve, cash to purchase food and water.
As it continues with fundraising, HEP will be stressing the need
for cash donations. HEP wants to purchase “shelter boxes,”
emergency kits that include tents and other tools and supplies.
These boxes are assembled and distributed by ShelterBox, a
specialized disaster-relief group that has set up three working
sites in Haiti. The photo above from the ShelterBox website (www.shelterbox.org) shows one
of its tents being used at a hospital in Haiti last week. HEP has
chosen to put 75 percent of its donations toward ShelterBox. The
remaining 25 percent will be sent to HEP’s other new partner in
Haiti, the Gredeve program, for food, water, and hygiene
supplies.
Meanwhile, Phyllis Zagano, visiting professor of theology and
religion, has devoted one of her regular columns for Religion News
Service to Haiti’s poor and painful past. She wonders about its
future leadership: “Someone has to take charge,” Zagano writes.
“Someone has to save Haiti.” Read the complete column.
Photo credit: Mark Pearson,
Courtesy of ShelterBox
