Salvation Army Continues Life-Saving Support in Haiti
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (February 1, 2010) - While the situation in Haiti continues to be very serious, The Salvation Army Relief Team is providing massive amounts of food, water and other relief materials to the people in Haiti.
The team in Haiti received a shipment of 18 pallets of food, representing 213,840 meals along with 4 pallets (over 5,100 individual bottles) of water on Saturday.
A subsequent delivery of 35 pallets of food (415,800 meals) was in route with a scheduled Sunday arrival time in Port-au-Prince. These meals were accompanied by 8 pallets of water which provided over 1,300 gallon jugs of water for distribution.
Team members were coordinating with the US Army 82nd Airborne to arrange a food delivery of over 174,000 meals to a particularly hard hit neghborhood in Port-au-Prince which had not received any major food distributions before now.
Meetings were held and partnerships continued to be forged as The Salvation Army convened meetings in its role as Camp Managers for the approximately 20,000 displaced people now finding whatever shelter they can in the Delmas 2 neighborhood.
Massive community packaging events are being conducted (with more in the planning stage) in communities around the USA. This continues to be a critical link in the supply chain that has allowed The Salvation Army to deliver well over 1.3 million meals already and will ensure that these life-saving deliveries continue until local systems can be restored.
The Salvation Army has set up a Haiti Relief Rund and is accepting monetary donations. Donors may contribute $10 via their cell phone bill by text messaging the word "HAITI" to 52000, and confirming the donation with the word, "Yes," Donors may also give through www.salvationarmyusa.org, 1-800-SAL-ARMY and postal mail at The Salvation Army World Services Office, International Disaster Relief Fund, PO Box 630728, Baltimore, MD 21263-0728. Please note that the donation is for "Haiti Earthquake Relief." To date, more than $5.9 million has been donated to The Salvation Army's relief effort in Haiti.
In Haiti, The Salvation Army operates schools, clinics, a hospital, feeding programs, children's homes and church-related activities through some 60 Corps Community Centers across the country. One Salvation Army facility, or compound, includes a homes for more than 50 children; a school with a daily attendance of 1,500 children; a medical clinic caring for 150-200 people daily; and a church that on any typical Sunday welcomes nearly 1,000 people. The facility is less than 10 minutes from the National Palace and is in an area know as St. Martin that is home to predominantly poor living in the nation's capital.
According to reports from Salvation Army staff in Port-au-Prince, no one in the compound was injured during the earthquake, but the chidren's home, the clinic and church suffered major damage. Several smaller buildings, including residences, have collapsed completely. The second compound that houses Salvation Army administrative offices is being used as an emergency operations center; damage was slight to this compound, according to Salvation Army reports from Haiti. The Bethel Clinic, The Salvation Army's hospital in Fond-des-Negres (75 miles west of Port-au-Prince) reports some minor damage, but no injuries.
