‘We want to get the community to band together’
Just days after a magnitude-7.3 earthquake shattered the city of
Port-Au-Prince, Haiti a group of locals started thinking about ways
they could help out.
”
From my experience there I knew if it ever got hit with an
earthquake, it would be an astronomical catastrophe,
”
said Don Skow, a pastor at Hollister Christian Fellowship who
runs the New Life to Children program in Haiti.
”
When it hit, I knew what to expect.
”
‘We want to get the community to band together’
Just days after a magnitude-7.3 earthquake shattered the city of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti a group of locals started thinking about ways they could help out. “From my experience there I knew if it ever got hit with an earthquake, it would be an astronomical catastrophe,” said Don Skow, a pastor at Hollister Christian Fellowship who runs the New Life to Children program in Haiti. “When it hit, I knew what to expect.”
Initial reports put the number of dead at 100,000, though it was later determined to be between 40,000 and 50,000. A week after the earthquake, aid organizations and support from other governments were facing obstacles to providing relief. An estimated 3 million were affected, and in some areas 70 percent of the homes were damaged, according to the American Red Cross.
“Due to the challenging conditions in Haiti of damaged or destroyed transportation and power systems, it is taking longer than we or other relief agencies want, but we are working as hard and fast as we can to get staff and supplies in there,” American Red Cross reported in a blog.
Skow first got involved in volunteering in Haiti, which is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, when his son Dane Skow traveled there. Dane and Nathan Pierce, another Hollister native, spent a month in Haiti in 2007, prompting Skow to plan yearly volunteer opportunities there. Skow said Pierce had plans to go to Haiti this week as part of a medical team entering through the Dominican Republic.
“It was through a connection with a pastor from Haiti who called and sent letters about rescuing destitute children who were in need of help,” he said.
On his first trip, he said he encountered 55 kids living under a tarp, with no food for three or four days at a time and little health care.
“We have a conviction that you have to love someone to have an effect on them so the [volunteers] who go have a passion,” he said. “We don’t go over there to build things or do things. We go there to build relationships.”
Still, Skow said in the aftermath of the recent tragedy, one of the main things the church is focused on is fundraising to send money for immediate relief.
One way locals can help is through attending a benefit performance to be hosted at Mars Hill Coffee House today from 3 p.m. to closing.
“That’s what we are here for,” said Raquel Arballo, a college student who works at Mars Hill Coffee House and is on the performing arts team there. “There was no question that we were going to do something.”
The nonprofit coffeehouse on the corner of Sixth and San Benito streets is a coordinated effort by several local churches including Hollister Christian Fellowship and Rolling Hills Church.
“I said that we needed to do something and [Hollister Christian Fellowship Pastor] Don [Skow] said Mars Hill would take donations,” Arballo said. “I said this is bigger than that.”
Soon, the performing arts team for Mars Hill was deep in planning a benefit. As of Tuesday, they were still working out a final schedule for musicians, theater troupes and more.
Henry “Hanalei” Lopez, who is also on the performing arts team, said when he first learned the news of the tragedy that hit the island country Tuesday, he said he knew he had to get involved.
“My initial personal reaction is that Haiti has actually been in poverty for years,” he said. “It took a tragedy like this for everyone to be made aware of it.”
With just a week to plan, Lopez acknowledged that pulling together a benefit was a little stressful. But he said their faith is helping them along.
“The thing is, going back to being faith-based, we have faith we will push through,” Lopez said. “The way things come out, it’s God’s will.”
Arballo and Lopez said within half an hour of their initial planning meeting on Saturday, they had three musicians lined up to perform. They planned to talk with a theater group from San Benito High School, as well as some local businesses that might be able to get involved.
“We want to get the community to band together,” he said.
Skow stressed that his church will continue to help in Haiti beyond the initial fundraising efforts for the earthquake relief.
“Six weeks out our goal is to work on emergency housing,” he said. “We are in the planning stages … I would say that 80 to 90 percent of Port-Au-Prince will be unusable.”
The thing that keeps Skow and his volunteers going to the poverty-stricken island are the people.
“They are wonderful people,” he said. “So gracious and when they have nothing, they will share it with the kids.”
Ways to help:
– To donate or volunteer with the Hollister Christian Fellowship’s New Life to Children, visit www.hcfonline.com or call 637-1056. Skow said 100 percent of the donations will go to food, water and shelter in Haiti.
– Efforts by the American Red Cross continue. Residents interested in donating can text “HAITI” to the American Red Cross at 90999 for a $10 donation, or visit http://sccredcross.wordpress.com/ for the latest updates. The Red Cross
– UNICEF’s relief work – 100 percent of donations will be used to help, www.unicefusa.org.
– Those interested in helping with the Mars Hill benefit, or attending, can find more information on the benefit online at Mars Hills’ Facebook page, or by calling 634-1543.
– Some local stores, including Raley’s Nob Hill have set up donation boxes for the relief efforts in Haiti.
