Charleston offers support, planeloads of supplies

Martine Doleans came to Charleston from Haiti five years ago, after starting two schools, trying to do what she could to improve conditions in her country.

But economic pressure and security threats proved too much, so Doleans decided to settle down in the Lowcountry, even if she refused to abandon her commitment to Haiti.

Last summer, she started Charleston Haiti Connection, which is meant to offer the area's small Haitian community of perhaps 20 people a reference point, resource and mechanism for providing support to loved ones abroad, Doleans said.

"That's my heart there," she said, "that's my mission."

Doleans, 36, who works part time at Unity Church in North Charleston, lost two cousins in the earthquake, and probably others close to her, she said. Many of her relatives live in Port-au-Prince. On Friday, she made phone contact with a sister who survived but has no food. Thousands are beginning to evacuate the capital.

She hopes to assemble a group of volunteers for a trip in February or March, once the dust settles and the long-term needs are better defined.

By the weekend, survivors of the 7.0-magnitude quake were leaving Port-au-Prince on any transport they could find, according to news reports. Humanitarian aid, especially food and water, has been delivered to Haiti in recent days, but the need far outweighs supply. Many are seeking refuge in the countryside, though villages there also were heavily damaged by the quake. Others are trying to get out of the country.

Charleston Air Force Base is fast becoming a distribution center for humanitarian aid going to Haiti, according to Staff Sgt. Daniel Bowles in the public relations office.

So far, 24 missions have been organized out of Charleston, including two airdrops, Bowles said. Initially, the response involved logistical goals -- setting up communications, flight-control procedures and ground coordination. Now, hundreds of pallets of food and water are being flown in, he said. The first shipment left at 6:30 a.m. Monday: 40,000 bottles of water and 30,000 meals ready to eat, 116,000 pounds total.

Master Sgt. Sean Houlihan, who flew a mission to Haiti on Monday, said supply deliveries now are well orchestrated, with military precision. "Normally, there are three civilian flights a day (at the Port-au-Prince airport)," Houlihan said. "Currently, there are more than 170 a day" -- including drop-offs by other countries. "In my 20 years in the Air Force, I've never heard that amount of aircraft noise."

Helicopters spend only a few minutes on the tarmac before flying into the capital or another part of the country loaded with relief supplies, he said. Evacuees who are U.S. citizens are flown to Sanford, Fla. On Monday, 56 were removed from Haiti. It's estimated there were about 45,000 Americans in Haiti when the quake struck, the White House said. Most departing flights from Port-au-Prince include evacuees, Houlihan said.

Water Missions International, a Charleston-based relief agency that specializes in water-filtration systems, now has 12 systems on the ground in Haiti, 10 in transit and five more that were to be shipped Tuesday night, according to founder and Chief Executive Officer George Greene III. The goal is to ship about 100, Greene said. Volunteer technicians can assemble five a day, he said.

Greene said shipping bottled water is much less efficient than shipping purification systems. A shipment of 40,000 bottles is roughly equivalent to 6,200 gallons. A purification system can generate 600 gallons of clean water each hour and can run on solar power alone for 10 hours a day or on solar power and diesel fuel for 20 hours a day. In other words, one purification unit running for 10 hours can generate at least 6,000 gallons of water -- without the plastic bottle waste. A hundred units would generate at least 600,000 gallons each day.

Shipping the units to Haiti, though, has been difficult, Greene said. Some are going on Navy vessels, from Norfolk, Va., to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and then to Haiti, he said. Others are shipping to the Dominican Republic, then being carried by land across the border.

Annie Wiseman-Floyd and her family returned to the United States from Haiti on Saturday for a hiatus. The orphanage school she helps to run in the northeastern part of the country has been closed indefinitely, she said.

Wiseman-Floyd, her husband Michael and three teenage children moved to Dominican Republic in August 2007. In May 2008, they visited the orphanage, Hope for Haiti Children's Center, informally Danita's Children. Last August, Wiseman-Floyd, who is from Charleston, and her husband joined the staff, and the family relocated.

In the first days after the quake, many teachers and other local residents of Ouanaminthe wanted to travel to the capital to find loved ones, Wiseman-Floyd said. A busload of people from the area careened off the road on its way to Port-au-Prince, killing everyone, she said.

As of the weekend, few supplies had reached the smaller cities and rural areas, where damage is extensive in places. "There are more people not receiving aid than people who are receiving aid," she said.

Among Haiti's greatest chronic problems are malnutrition and children with no parents to claim them, she said. "The emergency started long before the earthquake," she said. Now dozens more children surely will arrive at the center. "There are not enough resources to build facilities for all those newly orphaned."

LOCAL AID

Many local organizations, stores and church groups are pitching in to raise money for Haiti relief:

• Whole Foods is collecting donations for Haitian earthquake victims at its 289 stores nationwide. Shoppers can make donations at the checkout during January. Money will aid organizations including Americares, Food for the Poor, American Red Cross, Partners in Health, Doctors Without Borders and Action Against Hunger.

• Harris Teeter donated $25,000 to the American Red Cross Relief Fund and is selling $1 and $5 Haiti Earthquake Relief Cards at the register. The price of the cards is added to the total purchase and money is sent directly to the Red Cross.

• Publix is collecting money for the Haiti Relief and Development Fund. In its first four days, the food chain accrued more than $2.3 million, sent to the American Red Cross for relief efforts. Customers can donate any amount by adding it to their grocery totals when checking out. The program will continue for a few weeks, based on customer response. Separately, Publix Super Markets Charities donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross for its Haiti relief efforts.

• Food Lion Banners and Bottom Dollar Food are donating $50,000 to Haiti Earthquake Relief. The donation will help fund Red Cross relief efforts.

• Roper St. Francis Healthcare is making a corporate donation of $15,000 to Water Missions International, which is working to provide clean drinking water to earthquake victims.

• McDonald's Corp. announced it will donate $500,000, to be matched by donations from Arcos Dorados, which operates nearly 1,700 McDonald's restaurants in Latin America, for a total of at least $1 million.

• The Catholic Diocese of Charleston called for a special collection over the weekend, and the diocese continues to collect donations for Haitian aid.

• The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, which is based in Charleston, also is raising money from parishioners to aid in the relief effort. The Episcopal Church includes a diocese in Haiti, which is receiving funds from other parts of the church organization.

• The Charleston Air Force Base 437th Air Wing and the 315th Air Wing are asking the community to donate non-perishable snack foods, such as peanut butter crackers, granola bars, mixed nuts or candy bars, to be distributed to those airlifted in or out of Haiti. The snack food helps sustain people in transit until they reach their destinations. Donations can be dropped off at the Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce, The Residence Inn at Ripley Point or the Holiday Inn Express on Northwoods Boulevard.

• Footlight Players will donate 25 percent of its ticket proceeds from the Jan. 28 performance of 'The Miracle Worker' to Water Missions International. The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults, $22 for seniors, $15 for students and $10 for children 10 and under. Call 722-4487.

• A yoga benefit for Haiti earthquake relief will be held from 6 to 8 tonight at the Avery Research Center, 125 Bull St. The suggested donation is $10 and proceeds will go to Partners in Health, an organization that has been working on the ground in Haiti for more than 20 years. The class will be taught by Matthew Foley, a Yoga Alliance-certified instructor. Music will be provided by DJ Anwar Staggers. No prior yoga experience is necessary in order to participate. For more information, contact Foley at 803-361-3842 or foleym@cofc.edu.

— Adam Parker

Reach Adam Parker at aparker@postandcourier.com or 937-5902.