Catholic Relief Services Update on Haiti Situation

We wanted to update you on the situation in Haiti and how Catholic Relief Services is responding. Almost immediately following the earthquake, CRS began delivering lifesaving supplies, including food and water, to desperate survivors. The supplies were already in place in CRS’ Port-au-Prince warehouse.

“We are fortunate to have had water in our warehouse,” says Karel Zelenka, country representative for CRS Haiti. “We also trucked in family food kits from Les Cayes.”

CRS has a staff of 313 on the ground, with more personnel arriving daily. CRS Haiti’s headquarters building was damaged but did not collapse. Until its structural integrity is assured, aid workers are working and sleeping outside in tents or cars.

Additional food will arrive soon. “Fifteen hundred metric tons of wheat and oil will arrive in port shortly,” says Schuyler Thorup, Regional Director for CRS Latin America. “We will distribute it immediately.”

In the neighboring Dominican Republic, CRS is preparing food packages to feed 50,000 people. The packages are five-gallon buckets loaded with ready-to-eat foods that don’t need to be cooked. CRS is also readying water storage containers, water purification tablets, hygiene kits, cookware and plastic sheeting in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

But we can’t do this without your help. We are asking you to please support our efforts to feed and shelter the earthquake victims in Haiti. Your help is urgently needed. Please donate now.

“Our staff on the ground say that the needs are beyond belief. Your generosity will help us go even further to reach people who are suffering.”

If you have already given, we thank you so much for your generosity and ask that you consider deepening your support for the people of Haiti with a second gift.

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