Haiti collections still sought

PRINCETON — Local contributions continue for the victims and survivors of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.

Lori Compton, director of the Bureau County Chapter of the American Red Cross, said local donations for the Haiti relief effort are deposited locally, reported and made available to the National Red Cross. It’s good to see the generosity of people, especially in crisis times, Compton said.

On Wednesday, Leslie Anthony, director of communications for the American Red Cross of the Quad Cities, of which Bureau County is a part, said the needs in Haiti continue to be immense, but the humanitarian aid pipeline is opening wider even though logistical problems still exist.

The Red Cross teams continue to assess ways to meet immediate needs and also how to provide long-term recovery assistance, such as continued provision of household supplies and addressing emergency shelter, Anthony said. As of Feb. 8, four Red Cross warehouses (two in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and two in Port-au-Prince, Haiti) are open and operating at full capacity, she said.

“The Red Cross is producing more than one million liters of water per day, enough for 300,000 people,” Anthony said. “Red Cross distributions of food and relief items have reached nearly 170,000 people. More than 76 flights carrying Red Cross aid from around the world have arrived in the Dominican Republic or Haiti.”

Looking at the situation in Haiti, Anthony said shelter and sanitation remain urgent needs. The Red Cross is working to provide a range of immediate shelter assistance, as well as working on a strategy to meet ongoing and long-term housing reconstruction needs.

In other Bureau County collections for Haiti, the First United Methodist Church of Princeton is continuing its collections of health kits and funds for the Haiti relief effort. The church has taken weekly shipments of collected items to the United Methodist Committee of Relief warehouse at Chatham for Shipment to Haiti.

The Open Prairie United Church of Christ is another area church which has been working to help supply funds and needs in Haiti.

On Thursday, the Rev. Martha Brunell, interim pastor for Open Prairie, said the Haiti earthquake happened Jan. 12 and she preached that following Sunday on Haiti and what the congregation could do to help. The congregation has started a special collection for Haiti, with donations placed in a collection box made by the children of the church. To date, the small congregation has raised more than $1,000 for its Haiti fund, Brunell said. Also, the church congregation has assembled an estimated 40 hygiene and baby kits which will be sent to Church World Service for Haiti.