A Cry for Help for Haiti - 2

Second Update from Shannon Cox, Co-Founder of Haitian Roots as of January 15, 2010:

Dear Friends,

We have finally received some news about specific individuals in Haiti . Isson and Marie France have been in touch with family members and we now know that all of their family in Haiti is safe. All three of our coordinators (Huguette Joseph, Yves Carm Cenat, and Harry Mardy) are safe, as are their immediate family members. We have only been able to account for about 10 of the children in our Haitian Roots program so far. Because our children are spread through out the greater Port au Prince area, it will probably be some time before we know about all of them.

Although Harry Mardy is safe, his home (which also serves as a small orphanage) was destroyed. Luckily all of the orphans were evacuated and are safe. To our deep sorrow, Harry told us that he has lost his mother and his sister, Kenia. Kenia was a beautiful person and very kind. She was very excited about Haitian Roots and had come to help with gatherings of the children several times. She will be greatly missed. Please keep Harry in your prayers.

Kenia -


In addition to these deep personal losses, he must worry about and care for the orphans under his charge, the children in Haitian Roots, as well as a large church congregation of people who all rely on him to help them meet their needs (he is an LDS bishop).

Regarding help for Haiti : Isson is planning to get to Haiti as soon as possible. Marie France is currently in Florida . They will purchase food and medical supplies from an organization there and will have them shipped to Haiti . Luckily Isson has the connections necessary to be able to do these things. He will pick them up in Haiti and get them distributed. If you would like to contribute to this effort, please send us a donation of any amount (mail it to us or send one via paypal: www.haitianroots.com/donate.php ) and make a note that it is to be used for emergency relief. EVERY PENNY will be used to ease the suffering in Haiti . Looking for other easy and effective way to donate? You can text YELE to 501501. This will make an automatic $5 donation to Yele Haiti . You can text HAITI to 90999 for an automatic $10 donation to The Red Cross.

A note about travel: many of you have expressed an interest in going to Haiti to help. We understand your desire and echo it! However, at this point, medical experts with experience and training in disasters and international health are most needed. Because of logisitical and safety issues, we will not be able to plan to take anybody on any volunteer trips until Isson has been to the country, assessed the situation himself, and is confident that others of us can come to Haiti and truly be of help, rather than a safety concern and liability to our coordinators in the country who are already extremely overwhelmed.

Thanks again to all of you for your love, prayers, and continued support. We will continued to keep you updated as we receive news about the children and others involved with Haitian Roots.

Sincerely,

The Haitian Roots Team