School Reopens as Salvation Army Takes Responsibility for 20,000 People in Haiti

SALVATION Army teams in Haiti continue to focus their attention on 12,000 people living on and around a large soccer field behind the main Salvation Army compound in the St Martin area of Port-au-Prince. The United Nations Shelter Cluster has designated The Salvation Army as the ‘lead agency’ for the soccer stadium and another plaza, both adjacent to the Army’s compound. This designation gives The Salvation Army official responsibility to care for more than 20,000 people made homeless by the earthquake.

 

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A Bake Sale in the Atrium

It turns out that the students at the College Internship Program’s Bloomington Center have been following the destruction and devastation caused by this month’s earthquake in Haiti. It was time to get involved, but what do you do to help with such a big problem?

Bake. And bake they did! The students filled the atrium of the Smallwood Apartment complex with cookies, bars and treats, hoping to raise $60. The students stayed there all day and finally brought in their cash box. With everything counted, the students raised $452.29 for the people of Haiti!

At The Salvation Army, we see this type of generosity frequently! We saw this at 9/11. We saw this in the gulf coast after Katrina. And we are seeing it now. Whether it’s a group of students doing what they can to help or the check that comes in that is meaningful in heart, the American people see the needs of others and respond in the resounding voice of compassion.

If you will, take a lesson from the bake sale in the atrium: when it comes to helping others, what matters is what’s in your heart. God supplies the rest.

Salvation Army Teams in Haiti Provide Food and Medical Aid

ALTHOUGH severely suffering from the effects of the 7.0 earthquake that devastated much of Haiti a week ago The Salvation Army in that country has been fully mobilized in reaching out to help others. The initial response has been aimed at helping people survive. This life-saving effort concentrates on getting food, water and shelter to as many people as possible and has involved more than 700 Salvation Army personnel from Haiti.

 The local Salvation Army emergency response is being supported by international Salvation Army teams which have assisted in setting up staging areas in Kingston, Jamaica, and south Florida, USA, and arranging logistics on the ground in Port-au-Prince. The supply lines established have already helped deliver skilled disaster relief workers, medical teams and supplies to those who have been affected.

 On the 19^th, security was arranged and Salvation Army teams began food distribution. A one-week supply of food was given to 6,000 families. This is just a drop in the bucket compared to the enormous population still awaiting food and water. One million prepared meals should arrive from the USA today.

 At International Headquarters in London and in various countries throughout the Caribbean, as well as in the USA and Canada, The Salvation Army is working with corporate partners and vendors to send bulk food, quantities of pre-packaged meals, bottled water, tents, lanterns and other supplies, along with several 15,000-gallon water purification units and multiple mobile hospitals.

 Once the emergency situation becomes stabilized, Salvation Army teams will be able to turn their attention to the long task of recovery and rebuilding. However, this will be some time in occurring as urgent life-saving needs require the full attention of all available Salvation Army emergency personnel.

Please donate to The Salvation Army so that the hungry may continue to be fed!

Progress, slow and steady

SALVATION Army teams in Haiti are finding ways around the logistical difficulties of providing urgent aid to people affected by the earthquake in and around Port-au-Prince. Storage facilities have been acquired and local Salvationists continue to provide whatever assistance they can.

Major Tom Louden was part of the team from the Salvation Army World Services Organization (SAWSO) that drove across Haiti to reach the capital on Friday 15 January. He reports that The Salvation Army has secured a building at the end of the runway in Port-au-Prince. The building is secure and provides 16 rooms for sleeping accommodation, with a media room and a place to cook food. He also says the team has use of two warehouses nearby that are available for supplies and equipment. Major Louden has now returned to the USA, where a command centre has been set up at The Salvation Army’s National Headquarters in Virginia, and a second team has flown into Port-au-Prince, including the Haiti-born Territorial Commander of the Caribbean Territory, Colonel Onal Castor. Also on board were experienced emergency worker Major George Polarek and Major Ron Busroe, an American Salvation Army officer who is the former divisional commander for Haiti. This second team accompanied a cargo plane loaded with vital supplies.

The SAWSO team members are working closely with local Salvationists to ensure aid gets to people who need it most. Staff from Salvation Army medical clinics are inundated with people who need urgent care and they continue to help as many people as possible. Interviewed by Larry King on CNN, Bob Poff – an American serving as The Salvation Army’s director of disaster services on Haiti – said that he, along with almost everyone in Port-au-Prince, is sleeping outside because the buildings are unsafe. Children from the Salvation Army home are sleeping in the middle of the divisional headquarters compound.

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