Thursday, January 21, 2010

Help Haitian orphans

There is a girl (Leah) in my ward (congregation) whose mom founded a non-profit in 2002 to help orphanages in Haiti. This mom also adopted 8 Haitian street boys after she and her family spent 2 1/2 years doing service in Haiti. That's a LONG time. When I heard that Leah's family spent so much time there, I was amazed. I barely survived 17 months in the Philippines.

Immediately after the earthquake, Leah's mom joined a medical team headed to Haiti so she could find out if the orphanages she works with were still standing and how the kids were. She is there now.

Some of you have gotten an email from me about this. I just want to put it out there again.
Here is the web address: (www.ffcin.org)

Here are their needs:
1. Money for food, shelter, supplies
2. Donated frequent flier miles for volunteer's travel
3. A volunteer travel agent
4. Volunteers
5. Increase awareness

Here are some questions answered by Leah:

Q. The news advises against donating to small organizations, why is this foundation worth supporting?
A. We partner with orphanages that are not usually registered anywhere and larger organizations are not aware of them. We are established in Haiti and have relationships and experience which help us get the money and supplies directly to the people.

Q. Where will the donations go?
A. 100% of the donations go to the orphans. The money is not used for travel or overhead. Right now those who are in Haiti have almost immediate access to the money that is being donated and they are using it to buy food, supplies, water, gasoline and shelter for the kids. In the future the money will also be used to help rebuild. Volunteers who go to Haiti pay their own way and donations do not pay for them.

Because I know the people who run this organization and know 100% of my money will go to helping the orphans, I am donating to this organization. I encourage everyone do to the same!
Our housing situation seems so ridiculously cushy when you think of people in Haiti. Don't all problems seem trivial now?

4 comments:

Steve and Nancy said...

Thanks for this information, Tara. The link on your email did not work for me for some reason, but it did work on your blog. The needs in Haiti are overwhelming. We will help! Nancy

Larsen said...

Wow. That is incredible to hear about the adoption of 8 kids...

I agree, our problems seem so trivial in comparision!

Thanks for sharing, we will check out the site!

mandy* said...

Thanks for putting this on your blog! I didn't go to the meeting on Tuesday night and now I wish I had.

Dancewear By Heather said...

It is amazing to me how many orphans in Haiti are being given a quicker opportunity for new home because of this tragedy. It is nice to see that some good that can come from such horror. We are seeing on the news here, many many families who have been in the process- and waiting for years to adopt their children in Haiti, and have finally been able to have them come now. Thanks for sharing the info.