Mainers raise funds, work to help survivors | Bangor Daily News

Mainers raise funds, work to help survivors | Bangor Daily News

To help Haiti earthquake relief visit www.unicefusa.org.

Haiti suffers as U.S. delays rebuilding aid | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Haiti suffers as U.S. delays rebuilding aid | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram.

Mainers’ efforts are paying off for earthquake victims in Haiti | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Mainers’ efforts are paying off for earthquake victims in Haiti | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

For more information on the St. Alban’s Haiti project, visit http://www.stalbansmaine.org/ and click on “Mission and Outreach.”

Visit http://tinyurl.com/35t496a for more information on the Hanger Ivan R. Sabel Foundation’s Haiti efforts.

Visit www.konbitsante.org for more on the Portland-based nonprofit.

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Two Auburn families seek to adopt three brothers from Haiti | Lewiston Sun Journal

AUBURN — Spring and Rich Gouette have three kids, an 11-year-old boy and two young girls. Louise and Brian Johnson have three boys; the oldest is 6. Each family considered adoption last fall, yearning to add to their young broods, but the time didn’t feel right for either. The Gouettes had their house up for sale. Moving invited uncertainty. The Johnsons prayed about adoption, leaving the decision with God. They weren’t yet feeling called.

And then, an earthquake struck Haiti in January.

The sale of their house had fallen through and the Gouettes couldn’t see waiting any longer. They connected with a Haitian orphanage through friends and immediately fell in love with a 9-year-old boy named Augenson. He was the one.

Then came news that he wasn’t alone.

Augenson had brothers, 6-year-old Wisler and 2-year-old Wisly.

“We were just in agony: ‘How do we separate the brothers?’” Spring Gouette said. “I put the word out on Facebook, ‘Here’s the deal …’”

Click on the link for the rest of this story by Kathryn Skelton in the Lewiston Sun Journal.

Heart and soul in Haiti | Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram

The Rev. Marc Boisvert left Lewiston

12 years ago, and knows he will spend

his life – all of it – helping on this island

LES CAYES, Haiti – Saturday morning, as the Rev. Marc Boisvert rode in an SUV through the busy streets of downtown Les Cayes, a young man on a motorcycle pulled up alongside the open window.

“Respe, mon Pere!” the man shouted to Boisvert.

“Merci,” replied Boisvert before the motorcyclist turned sharply and zoomed down a side street.

What had the man said?

“He said, ‘Respect to you, Father,’” Boisvert said.

The compliment was well earned.

He was born and grew up in Lewiston. He went to a seminary high school in Bucksport.

He’s served as pastor at Roman Catholic churches in Castine and Stonington, a chaplain at Maine Maritime Academy and as a Navy chaplain at, of all places, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

But that’s all in his distant past. Twelve years, three months and six days ago – he knows because it happened on Jan. 1, 1998 – Boisvert left life as he knew it and came to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Click on the link for the rest of this story by Bill Nemitz.

Old sails from Maine recycled as tents for Haiti | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Old sails recycled as tents for Haiti | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram.

Sea Hunter arrives at 2nd Haitian port | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Sea Hunter arrives at 2nd Haitian port | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram.

Local missionaries heading to Haiti to help children

PERU, Maine – Marilee Colpitts and Jamie Dennett had planned a missionary trip to Haiti long before the devastating earthquake on that island nation in January.

Their trip now will include their original goals, as well as helping some of the many children who have fled the capital of Port-au-Prince for Terrier Rouge, a city in the northwestern section of the country.

“We want to bring money for food and other things for the people who are fleeing Port-au-Prince,” said Dennett, who is making her fourth trip to Haiti. “Here, in this country, people go to the state. There, they go to the pastors.”

She and Colpitts, who is making her second trip, are among 14 people, mostly from Maine, who are representing His Hands for Haiti, a nonprofit Christian group based in New Vineyard that finds sponsors for some of the thousands of children who do not have enough food or cannot go to school.

Click on the link to the rest of today’s story by Eileen M. Adams of the Lewiston Sun Journal.

Konbit Sante doctor sees Haitians’ generosity amid despair | Portland Press Herald

Konbit Sante doctor sees Haitians’ generosity amid despair | Portland Press Herald.

Benefit dinner tops off efforts at Colby College to help Haiti

Colby students hope to raise

$25,000 for the Stand for

Haiti Campaign of Partners in Health

WATERVILLE, Maine — For Jessica Frick and Yanica Faustin, it’s personal.

The Colby College seniors were among those in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, when last month’s devastating earthquake struck, leading to a death toll as high as 200,000 and leaving hundreds of thousands injured and in need of shelter, food and water.

Now that they are back for their final semester at Colby, Frick and Faustin are among a group of students – led by Colby’s Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement – who have organized a series of initiatives for the college and greater Waterville community aimed at raising money for Haiti relief. Their efforts will culminate with a benefit dinner later this month.

At that event, Frick and Faustin will speak about their experience of surviving the earthquake and witnessing the devastation while they were in Port-au-Prince, visiting members of Faustin’s Haitian family.

All told, the Colby students hope to raise $25,000, which would be donated to the Stand for Haiti Campaign of Partners in Health. About $7,000 has been raised so far.

“I want people to know,” Frick said. “They need food and water and shelter.”

Click on the link for the rest of today’s story by Scott Monroe of the Waterville Morning Sentinel. (Note: I used the link to the Morning Sentinel’s sister paper, the Portland Press Herald, because it included a photo, which the Morning Sentinel did not. – KM)

COLBY FUNDRAISER

WHAT: Colby for Haiti Benefit

WHEN: Friday, Feb. 26

Reception, auction: 5:30 p.m.

Dinner: 6:30 p.m.

FOR TICKETS: dfgarin@colby.edu

 

Doctor’s regret: ‘My work here is not done’ | Portland Press Herald

 Doctor’s regret: ‘My work here is not done’ | Portland Press Herald.

Calais surgeon offers services in Haiti

CALAIS, Maine — Dr. Robert Chagrasulis, a trauma surgeon in Calais, was in the first wave of international health clinicians to make their way to the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince after the devastating earthquake of Jan. 12.

In a recent telephone interview, Chagrasulis recalled the five days he spent with a clinical team treating dazed survivors of the quake at an open-air clinic on a soccer field in the ruined city.

“We set up under some trees,” he said. Survivors came in droves, seeking help for untreated fractures, festering infections, respiratory complaints, and aches and pains related to injuries they had suffered in the collapse of the city. Many people also had psychological symptoms — fear, grief, sleeplessness.

Click this link to the rest of today’s story by Meg Haskell of the Bangor Daily News.

Children welcomed home

PITTSFIELD — “I love that everybody loves them so much already.”

Amanda Logiodice said this Sunday afternoon as she and her husband, Jediah, marveled at the scene inside the local Elks Lodge: About 50 people came together with food, gifts and well wishes for the Logiodices’ two newest family members.

David, 1, and Christella, 5, came from the His Home for Children orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and are now the family’s adopted children. They join the Logiodices’ three biological children: Donavan, 8, Braeden, 5, and Bella, 4.

In the aftermath of the massive earthquake there, the Logiodices were able to secure an emergency evacuation of the two children to the U.S., flying down to Miami a little over a week ago and returning home here on Wednesday. They had started the adoption process more than a year ago.

Sunday’s public celebration was organized by members of the First Baptist Church, of which the Logiodices are members, and the Elks donated their space for the occasion. Church member Liana Walker, of Troy, said the event was meant to show support and to welcome to two Haitian children into the community.

Walker said it’s remarkable the adoption worked out as it did, given the chaotic aftermath of the earthquake. Church families had already rallied community support for the Logiodices, sending them supplies and assistance so they could make the trip to Miami.

“It’s awesome; it’s truly a miracle they could get the children out,” Walker said.

Click on the link to the rest of today’s story by Scott Monroe in the Kennebec Journal.

Lewiston pastors tour Haiti

They drove the streets of Port-au-Prince, past rows of collapsed buildings and rescue teams. On one pancaked structure that used to be four or five stories high, a man stood alone on the tall pile of rubble with a hack saw, cutting away at rebar.

Maybe someone was still inside. Maybe everything he owned was in there.

“It was a bit surreal,” said Phil Strout, a pastor at Pathway Vineyard Church in Lewiston. “You see the pain, and then you see the human spirit and willingness to help.”

Strout and fellow pastor Allen Austin traveled to the Dominican Republic on Jan. 17 to offer support to Vineyard churches and toured neighboring Haiti seven days after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck near the capital of Port-au-Prince. Austin got home last weekend; Strout returned Wednesday night, after a stop in Miami. One takeaway that they’ve reported back to national church leadership: The devastation is 10 times worse than it looks on TV.

Click this link to read the rest of this story by Kathryn Skelton of the Lewiston Sun Journal.

Shock lingers as Haiti recovers

“TV doesn’t do justice to how

widespread the damage is,”

Maine’s Coast Guard commander says

Before he left for Haiti, Capt. James McPherson of Kittery was given a little toy shark by his 5-year-old son, Connor.

McPherson, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England in Portland and South Portland, gave the shark to a 4-year-old boy near the American embassy in Port-au-Prince. The little boy, covered with dust from the ruined city, plays with the toy all day.

McPherson is amazed at how well the children of Port-au-Prince are rebounding from the earthquake that destroyed their city.

“They’re just completely resilient. But it makes you wonder – what’s his future, what’s going to happen from here?” said McPherson.

Click on this link for the rest of today’s story by Matt Wickenheiser of the Portland Press Herald.

Colby students raising money for Haiti

Colby students raising money for Haiti

‘Earth had turned to Jell-O’ during quake, Mainer recalls

Austin Webbert and a group of his college classmates were relaxing at a downtown restaurant in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

It was a Tuesday afternoon, the day a 7.0-magnitude earthquake turned most of the Carribbean capital into rubble, killing tens of thousands.

Webbert’s group was taking a break from the volunteer work they had undertaken in Cit Soleil, a slum on the outskirts of the Haitian capital.

“We had just left the building and gotten into our SUV when the earthquake happened,” Webbert said. “I was shocked to see the restaurant heave up and down off the ground before slumping over.”

The 22-year-old college student from Wayne was on his fourth trip to the nation of 9 million. He evacuated to the Dominican Republic late last week, then landed in Miami on Saturday.

Click here to read the rest of “‘Earth had turned to Jell-O’ during quake, Mainer recalls” by the Kennebec Journal’s Matthew Stone.