Phenomenal — that’s the best way to describe the amount donated by the community to the Hope for Haiti earthquake relief effort, say organizers.
As of Feb. 12 (the deadline for the federal government to match donations) $77,340  was donated by people in the St. Marys area — and as far away as the prairie provinces. The total amount that will be sent to Hope for Haiti’s co-ordinator in the ravaged country is $154,680.
The funds will be used to continue the group’s efforts in the area of St. Marc, which did not bear the brunt of the Jan. 12 quake, but has since become home to refugees from the Port au Prince area, including approximately 56,000 relatives and friends who have returned home from Port au Prince.
“The money raised has really shown the character and dedication of the community,” says campaign co-chair Ron Aitken. “Phenomenal is a good word (for the community’s response)... it’s two to three times the amount we expected.”
Sharon Staffen, Aitken’s co-chair, adds that Murray Mitchell, the group’s figurehead, had people giving him money on the street, including “a little child who came up to Murray with 67 cents at a hockey game.”
While there were some larger donations, Aitken says that it’s smaller donations such as this which are touching, especially when they came from seniors on fixed incomes. He adds that many businesses in the area matched staff donations, and area schools held fundraisers as well.
Every single penny donated will now be sent to Dieudonne Batraville, Hope for Haiti’s  co-ordinator in the St. Marc area, via RayJon Share Care of Sarnia, the parent group of Hope for Haiti. Batraville has   used existing donations to fund efforts immediately after the quake; food, water and emergency medical and shelter needs.
Now, the need is shifting to provide for 32 orphans who have been brought to the area to prevent them from becoming what’s known as the “Restavek” (child slavery) market, or homeless, or otherwise. While they have been staying at the nurses’ residents that Hope for Haiti group completed during its Nov. 2009 trip, it is hoped that they will be fostered by families in the area and given schooling — with secure jobs given to family members to help sustain their new additions.
“Dieudonne is not an advocate of traditional orphanages,” says Aitken. “We’re extremely lucky to have someone down there who understands the culture.”
As for long-term usage of the donations, Aitken says that the country will likely be “considering how they can use the money to build infrastructure for long-term improvement.”
He adds that the local group’s future is also up for debate. “We have no plans to go to Haiti right now; the kind of support they need is highly specialized,” such as engineers and architects.
The group will have a meeting later this week to determine its next steps, both in the short- and long-term, but, as Aitken says, “even in Haiti, it’s all speculative right now.”
Aitken and Staffen say that even though the earthquake is fading from the media spotlight, their work will continue, as it has for the past 15 years.
“We’ll keep doing what we do,” Staffen says, including its annual bonspiel this weekend and annual golf tournament in May.
And, thanks to the generosity of the community, the all-volunteer group now has approximately 400 thank-you cards and tax receipts to complete.