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Local Volunteers Mobilize To Send Storm Aid To Haiti

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By VALERIE KALFRIN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 21, 2008

TAMPA - Guilène Theodore stacked tubes of antibiotic ointment and rolls of gauze inside a cardboard box. "I'm doing medical supplies. If you find any, give them to me," the Tampa lawyer told other volunteers.

Elsewhere in the small, hot warehouse off Johns Road in northwestern Hillsborough County, University of South Florida student Gessica Genois clustered bags of rice, dried beans and lentils into separate boxes.

Both Haiti-born - and with relatives still in Haiti - the women said Saturday they felt compelled to help people in that country whose lives have been devastated by the recent hurricanes. They joined about 30 volunteers in sorting, bagging and wrapping clothing, food, batteries, bug spray, flashlights, toothbrushes and other necessities for shipment to Haiti.

"It feels good to know that there are people out there who want to help our country," said Genois, 22, who immigrated to Miami from Haiti when she was 10. Genois was one of about a dozen USF students who came to help Saturday from Club Creole, the Haitian organization on campus.

Theodore, 51, is president of the Haitian Association Foundation of Tampa Bay Inc., which collaborated in the aid drive with other local Caribbean groups. She said this effort is one of several phases of hurricane relief for Haiti.

"Once the big push is over, there's still going to be a need to reconstruct," she said.

Haitian Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis has said in news reports that the flooding, mudslides and damage since mid-August from Tropical Storm Fay and hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike have killed more than 550 people and left an estimated 1 million homeless.

"The first time I saw the photos, my heart just broke into pieces," USF student Ginelle Saint Jean, 20, said of the news reports. "It's only right I come to help."

The charity Help Brings Hope For Haiti Inc. helped set up about eight drop-off sites for the drive. The donations must be separated and cataloged to fit inside a shipping container either 20 feet or 40 feet long, said Frank Prusak, 62, warehouse coordinator for the charity.

By Saturday afternoon, Prusak said volunteers had packed: 150 boxes of diapers, toiletries, dry food and canned goods; 250 pairs of shoes; 30 gallons of water; 24 cases of water and Gatorade; 15 bags of rice weighing 25 pounds each; and 310 bags of clothing and linens weighing about 30 pounds each.

Once the donations arrive at the Port of Miami, the charity Food for the Poor will work to ship them to Haiti by the month's end because of the emergency situation, Prusak said.

Help Brings Hope For Haiti works with Food for the Poor and a Catholic diocese in Haiti to collect and ship medical supplies, clothing and assorted items like bicycles and school desks to that country about four or five times a year, said Barbara Byars, 60, a co-founder.

Byars, who attends Christ the King Catholic Church in South Tampa, said some parishioners questioned her about the drive, saying hurricane survivors in Galveston, Texas, also are in need.

"It's true - everyone needs help," Byars said. But in Texas, "you can be sure their roads are going to be rebuilt. The infrastructure in Haiti just isn't there."

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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