1/29/10 EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY

FINALLY Emma (Shieldline) will be released to her mother and be flying home! They will be arriving late tomorrow night but I will have some photos up as soon as possible!!

2 more fly out on embassy flights from Haiti tomorrow as well; slowly but surely they are getting home.

It has been announced that they will be signing visas again so, after her brief “vacation” in Indiana,Barbara will be returning to work early Monday morning–she has some visas waiting for her and a whole lot of work to do to get more ready to put in.

Lastly, I hope to have some photos ready for the site tomorrow as well–and maybe a few from the “Haiti Reunion Weekend” in Indiana.

Ruuska Village update 1/28/10

Barbara, as you know, will be in Indiana for a few days before returning to Haiti early Monday morning(via ground travel from the Dominican) to get back to the paperwork and visas. Many thanks to Joe Hurston and Kyle Shropshire for holding down the fort back at the village while Barbara escorts children out as quickly as visa approvals and flight availability allows. They have kept the village in order, the medical clinic up and running, and the water purifiers ,that Joe brought in himself, up and running–and in their spare time they scour the city to make sure there is fuel for the generator and fresh food(etc) for the children still camping out in the village.

A very big thank you to a Troy and Pat who have donated 100 flight hours each to rescue children–endured the long hours of clearances that accompany each flight with a smile–and, yes, have even donated not only their time but also their own money for supplies as well!! They are amazing. With their help Barbara Has managed to get 22 children out of Haiti to their happy parents. Today Charly was finally released to his parents after being “detained” in Miami for “paperwork verification”. We still have 2 others in state custody–pray that they are release SOON as well.

Another very special thanks to the varsity football team and coach Duffy of Archbishop Stepinac HS–In addition to the toy drive that sent over 200 toys to the village and orphanage children at Christmas, I just received a van full of childrens’ clothes and shoes from them as well. Rest assured they will all be put to good use.

Engineers are already in the village assessing the damages and deciding which buildings are stable and which will need to be repaired or torn down and replaced. Barbara has no intention of giving up–she is already receiving donations and supplies to rebuild and it will be business as usual despite the present mess–she is pressing on!

I can’t thank everyone enough for all the help–people are doing all they can to offer prayers, donations and financial support–children are getting involved with their schools and donating their own baby sitting money to help Barbara restore the village and orphanage, treat wounds, and pass out meals–The love and support is more amazing than I can possibly express!

Joe Hurston has finally taken a bit of time off, leaving Kyle (and Company) to look after the village while he tries to get some well deserved (and desperately needed) rest–this will be his first break since the afternoon of the 13th–he was in one day after the quake and has worked tirelessly since then, providing relief to anyone who needs it-and holding the village together at the same time–it is not possible to even list the various jobs that he has been doing, and even less possible to express our thanks for it.

1/25/10 EARTHQUAKE UPDATE

Barbara makes another round trip–bringing out 7 more as scheduled(lets hope for a smoother trip through immigration)She is still working on getting out her 2 detainees and hopefully that will be resolved soon as well.

Aftershocks continue but no reports of new damage so far.

Barbara will be taking a few days off to attend the annual “Haiti Reunion Weekend” in Indiana but will be right back to work as usual as soon as its over–lets hope she is able to get some rest while she is out–she really needs it at this point.

Cherie and I have been continuing the efforts of coordination donations and setting up pick up/drop off points for donated items that need to be carried in—lets hope the commercial flights start opening up soon.  Cherie is also coordinating flights and shipping arrangements for the larger donations including everything from food and medical items to re-building supplies and equipment including a new generator for the orphanage. she is working practically around the clock and we can’t thank her enough for all she does for Reach out to Haiti as well as Airmobile Ministries

1/24/10 EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY

Sorry about missing update information last night but at 11 pm, which is when the phone usually stops ringing long enough for me to get to the computer, we ran into a bit of “trouble” getting two of the children through immigration–so at 1:30 in the morning I am making flight arrangements for a mom to fly out at 5:30 am (the same day technically) and after a bunch of frantic fancy footwork ( and bringing her first child for an overnighter with me )she was off to Miami to try to get her child released—things have not gone terribly well and they are still unsure when she will actually be able to take her home. Pray that it is soon.

On a brighter note Barbara will be flying back into Haiti @ 5am to bring out some more children and check to see how many NEW visas have gotten signed.  As of now we have 7 seats available on an outgoing flight and children ready to fill them–lets pray that they have an easier time getting through to their parents.

We also have a special thanks going out to Teen Missions who will be donating forklifts, laborers, and warehouse space to move and store donated lumber, rebar, and cement  which will be shipped in to begin village and orphange rebuilding projects.  We can’t thank you enough–these supplies will be at a premium, if you are LUCKY enough to even find them available at all.

Lastly, there was an announcement made on Fox news that donations made to Haiti relief charities before March 1st would be able to be taken off on 2009 taxes which most will be filing soon. I have not yet confirmed that after speaking to 3 different reputable tax preparers but they are looking into it and I will try to get confirmation on that as soon as possible. In any event, just in case, we will be sending out tax receipts for your donations as soon as possible and you can check with your tax preparer as well.

Please pray for Barbara as she continues in her work–she is doing everything humanly possible to get these children out as quickly as she can–she has the help and support of many dedicated and loving (not to mention slightly crazy and extremely overworked) people and all are working in any way they can to help make this happen. They all deserve our support and thanks (not to mention a decent night’s sleep) for all that they endure!  Hopefully tomorrow will be a brighter day for all concerned.God has carried us thus far so we can be confident that he will see us all through to the end.God Bless each and every person and there families that are reading this right now.

1/22/10 EARTHQUAKE UPDATE

HOORAY! 11 new visas for today including the first of our Humanitarian Parole candidates.  We were wondering if that program was actually going to work and are VERY happy to see that it does. Barbara will be taking out 8 children tomorrow who had already received their visas and , though she will be taking a break to bring out children the consulate has indicated that they should have 8 more visas by monday!

The new arrivals to our volunteers include 3 EMT/paramedics from Jacksonville, and Lacy Hewitt’s Dad who came to help out as well.  Yes Lacy is still there, some people just don’t know when to quit!(thankfully) Our 3 EMT’s went right to work and when they are not taking care of injuries they keep themselves “amused” by moving all of the items in the clothing depot out so that the food depot can be emptied into that building.  The food depot is still standing so far, but was the worst damaged and one more good aftershock will probably be all that it takes to reduce it to rubble.

We continue to receive donations toward the village and orphanage and we can’t thank you enough–it will be some time before things settle down and the process of rebuilding promises to be a long one.  Please keep all of Haiti in your prayers, the destruction of the earthquake is matched only by the pain and suffering that is left behind. Barbara is still determined (exhausted, but determined) and she has the help of many equally determined volunteers–keep them all in your prayers.

1/21/10 EARTHQUAKE UPDATE

The Consulate was up and running today–Barbara spent another grueling day wading through the sea of paperwork that needs to be done but her efforts did not go un-rewarded!  She received 5 new visas and when she returns tomorrow another 6 should be cleared as well!!  She will be escorting more children out courtesy of Hendrick Motor Sports on Saturday!

There were 2 new tremors today more damage to the walls and several of the houses , but no one was injured and the medical clinic is still up and running.

We are welcoming 2 new volunteers, Don and Christine Ames, who have agreed to come in to oversee the Blue Heaven Orphanage for a month.  They will be assisting with cleanup and getting the children settled back in as soon as it is determined to be safe—as of now the children are still staying at the village and everyone is sleeping outdoors due to continuing aftershocks, but they are safe and fed with water and medical care just steps away so all is well.

We send our special thanks to Gina Pecoraro out of Buffalo NY who has been coordinating area donations (already totaling  over 900 lbs.)while she awaits the approval on her son.  Thanks also to A.J Baines who has arranged to deliver these items so they can be packed and carried into Haiti.

I can’t possibly express our appreciation to all that have come forward to support the relief efforts—it is amazing what we can accomplish together.

1/20/10 EARTHQUAKE UPDATE

As you have probably already heard another major earthquake hit about 15 miles north of PAP thankfully there was no additional damage or injury reported at the village or orphanage.

The consulate was closed down today so no new visas today but Barbara will be back in first thing tomorrow morning to see if they have finished any of those that have already been submitted.

TREMENDOUS THANKS GO OUT TO HENDRICK MOTOR SPORTS OUT OF PORT ST. LUCY, FLORIDA they have generously donated the use of their private plane, fuel and pilots to transport relief supplies into, and children out of, Haiti as often as they are able for the next two weeks!!  The pilots have been super-patient and are working tirelessly to get out as many as they can; we cannot possibly thank them enough–especially when commercial flights are still limited (at best) and cancelling right and left!

CBS News report on Ruuska

1/19/10 EARTHQUAKE UPDATE

A VERY long day at the airport but all 6 children were brought to Florida to meet their families at the airport!!!

The work continued while Barbara was away–a new batch of files was brought to the embassy and tomorrow we should have some word on how many will be approved and when.  Pray for swift approvals and available flights!!

12 more gallons of gasoline were purchased today–so the generator, computer, and communication  holds out for another day.

Here’s a welcome surprize–Barbara was able to find 50 bags of cement mix—LET THE VILLAGE REPAIRS BEGIN!! (YEAH)

Our Volunteer list grows a bit longer as well as 3 critical care EMT/Paramedics  out of Jacksonville prepare to arrive on Thursday—bringing with them donated medical supplies; they will be our new staff doctors at the clinic for awhile–welcome to the crew!!

1/18/10 EARTHQUAKE UPDATE

Barbara and her crew spent a large part of today preparing more dossiers to bring in to petition for visas.  She has been making progress in this area and will be flying 6 children out to Florida in the morning–these children have adoptive families in various locations waiting to arrange tickets to bring them home. Pray that her success continues tomorrow, this would be an update topic that I would love to keep repeating!

Scouring the city produced only a half bag of rice(25 lbs.) and a small amount of gasoline, but every bit helps.

There were rumors of a quake in Cap Hatien but nothing that has been able to be verified–but with the aftershocks still going on in the area I guess it is just pretty hard to tell.

Barbara is also starting the efforts to move the children back into the orphanage located near the village—it was not as badly looted as expected but there will still be a great deal to replace and repair–and the clean up efforts seem endless at this point.

We want to thank everyone for their continued efforts both as volunteers in the village and as “collection coordinators” here in the states.  Everyone wants to help in any way that they can and we do appreciate the prayers and dedication both to immediate relief efforts and rebuilding the village.

1/17/10 EARTHQUAKE UPDATE

The usual “hunting” expeditions continued today in search of available food items and gasoline.  The children were blessed with some fresh bananas and watermelon along with potatoes that were being sold in the city.  Barbara continues working on the embassy front for humanitarian visas and is,again, making some measurable progress. The crew was also able to find some available gasoline to ensure generator power for another day.

Kyle Shropshire arrived today bringing in 500lbs. of food ; with 45 children and 30 adults(residents and volunteer staff) give or take the stragglers that have been coming in to camp out because they have lost their homes this will come in VERY handy.  Barbara’s village is well known in the area due to the fact that the village has its own well with clean water that is always available for anyone with a bucket to carry it in.  Now they come to fetch water and a meal as well–food is still very scarce and, of course, more expensive–Barbara turns no one away hungry.

Many thanks to Anette Barnes and the team at Envision Architects for their generous and swift response, I have already received a large donation of essential items and will be carrying them in myself on the 26th (and following).

Last, but certainly not least, we have made several reservations on American Airlines for myself and other volunteers to continue the task of carrying in the donated items as they arrive.  Thanks so much to everyone, these goods are in desperate need–the more we get the more we can give–food and medical supplies are top priority and every little bit helps.