Volunteering For Haiti

For the last two days, I have been volunteering at Missionary Flights International, an “airline for missions” in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas. This operation has been operating Douglas DC-3‘s for many years. As a result of the recent earthquakes in Haiti, things have really stepped up around their facility.

MFI is located on the field at St. Lucie County International Airport (KFPR) on Florida’s Treasure Coast. Since the disaster, donations have been pouring into the place. As I watch the goings-0n, I will see a pickup truck towing a trailer filled with boxes of donations show up. Then someone will arrive in a compact car with a small box of canned goods. Later a 52-foot semi tractor trailer will arrive and drop off 12 pallets of food and supplies. All of it is going to Haiti.

Before it leaves, it all has to be opened, sorted, repackaged, weighed, logged, palletized, and wrapped before it can be loaded onto a cargo plane destined for Haiti. All of it. It’s a lot of work, and it comes in spurts. We never know when the next load is going to arrive. But it will arrive. Well, at least for now.

See, this catastrophic event will remain in the main stream media just until something bigger comes along. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying the mainstream media is at fault, but many of us – MOST of us – will forget about Haiti when the next big news story takes over all of the networks. And without the constant reminders, we will tell ourselves – or worse, simply forget – that life is back to normal for the people of Haiti.

First, that’s simply not true, and second, “normal” isn’t good enough. If it were, then Missionary Flights International would not be in existance in the first place. The need in Haiti just to recover from this event is going to take at least many months, and more likely, many years.

So what can you do?

First, lets define “you”: the person reading this, or hearing this, or seeing this, or having this read to them, that is YOU. And YOU can help. ‘Nuff said.

So now that we know who you is, what can you do to help?

You can give. You can either give things, money, or time.

If you give things, here’s what is needed: Food, medical supplies, water. There will eventually be a need for other things, like clothes, bedding, towels, and the like, but right now the Haitian people need to eat, drink, and be treated for injuries.

If you give money, do it carefully, but generously. By carefully I mean please be diligent about researching the organization to which you are giving money. It sickens me that there are the kind of people that would use this situation for personal gain, but it happens. And please give generously. A few days ago, MFI rented a Lockheed C-130 Hercules to fly something on the order of 50,000 pounds of food and supplies to Haiti. That little trip cost about $65,000 and was paid for with donated money. It’s obvious that we need more of the green stuff rolling in.

If you give your time, then volunteer here on U.S. soil. Yes, there is a need in Haiti for people, but please do not forget that without support here, then the response teams in Haiti will not have the tools, food, or supplies they need to do their jobs.

We also have a need for some more specific things. I am currently looking for 6 laptop computers loaded with Microsoft Office. The logistical needs to make sure all of this “stuff” gets to where it needs to go, and gets there safely, are great. So we need things like computers, phones, copiers, printers, fax machines, etcetera to support this massive mission. Oh, and I need a couple of printers.

Bottom line: I’m calling you out. Please help in any way you can. Donate food and supplies. Volunteer. Help with logistical needs. If you have something that can be used, please contact someone in your area, and if you can’t, contact me.

If you can read this blog post on a computer screen, then you are far richer than most of the people living in Haiti. Please consider giving something back.

Tagged as: Haiti, Volunteer