Feb. 6, 2010

Good news/bad news....

First the bad news. Roger and Albert got through their "to do" list of essentials to purchase on Friday afternoon, had cleared their purchases with the Haitian embassy to bring the goods into Haiti, and were all set to start packing everything into their new truck and a rental van, when they wre told that the bank in Santo Domingo had not quite finished the paperwork for the truck. No amount of encouragement, pleading, coercing, and "firm" talk could get the bank to move any quicker, and so Roger and Albert were not able to leave for Haiti this morning to deliver the goods to H2H. They have had to reschedule the trip for Monday after the bank re-opens. Needless to say, the board members were very frustrated and discouraged, and saw this as two lost days in a very tight schedule, and lost opportunity to spend time with our "family" at H2H.

Now the good news. With a little extra time on their hands and a need to commiserate, Roger and Albert were telling their story to a business man who was staying at the same guesthouse in the Dominican. This man happened to own a heavy-equipment construction company. He had been hired to do some construction work in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake happened. That job disappeared in an instant, but some of his equipment - a dump truck and a backhoe/loader was still in Port-au-Prince. When he heard about H2H, he called his mother, the matriarch of the company, and she said, "Give them what they need."!!! Roger and Albert are now working out the details of how to get this equipment and an operator into Grande Goave to begin knocking down cracked and un-repairable buildings and removing rubble. Is God great or what?!! In addition to this connection, the board members have now had the time to meet with various trucking companies and are close to securing a reliable source to receive and transport our containers once they arrive in Santo Domingo at the end of the month. Side note....Roger and Albert have delayed their return home by 3 days, so they will still be able to spend 5 days in Haiti and return to Canada on Feb. 13.

It has now been over 3 weeks since the earthquake. The Feb. 12 deadline for government matching funds is fast approaching, and H2H is in the final stages of writing a proposal to CIDA (Canadian Internation Development Agency) to receive matching funds. $100,000 of the funds we have raised so far has been designated for food not only for the children at H2H, but all of Grande Goave. The ten containers we are sending will be equitably distributed by H2H and partnering churches, to smaller villages not reached by larger charitable organizations. We anticipate that the need for food from places other than Port-au-Prince will continue for well over a year, and with CIDA's help, we would love to be a part of that work. We do desire, at the same time, to rebuild our compound and help our students and staff get back to a productive, meaningful life. Therefore, effective immediately, all donations received can be designated for either "food relief" or "rebuilding fund".

On that note, we wanted to express our sincere thanks to each and every one of you. It is always a bit of a risk to name people and organizations who have raised money or brought in food, because we know we are leaving out a hundred other people and businesses who have either given money, time, or goods, or made the effort to contact their network of friends and colleagues to tell them about H2H. We know you are doing this behind the scenes because we are receiving donations and emails from complete strangers all over the country - in fact all over the world. We have been blessed by a few gifts from large corporations and equally blessed by donations from single mothers, seniors on limited income, hardworking families, and children and teenagers - all giving what they can. It all matters. What you're dong matters; so thank you, thank you, thank you.