Posts Tagged ‘Haiti’

Since responding to the massive earthquake that jarred Haiti six months ago, The Salvation Army continues to work side by side the recovering communities. We have transitioned from focusing on the provision of immediate needs, including temporary shelter, food, water and medical aid, to providing for long-term needs that will help survivors get back to a level of normalcy in their lives.

And today, in an exciting step for many displaced Haitians, we’ve completed construction of 600 long-term intermediary housing shelters in Jacmel to help relocate those displaced by the earthquake back to their home communities!

Our Transitional Shelter Program has been a great way to empower Haitians during this reconstruction process. In a nation where more than 2/3 of the labor force is unemployed, more than 400 Haitians have been hired as carpenters and construction crew-members to assist in reconstruction efforts and be actively involved with reestablishing their communities.

The shelters house on average five people and last several years. With Haiti in the midst of hurricane season, the shelter’s design will also enable them to withstand strong winds as well as drain water away from the structure, helping to reduce the spread of water-borne illnesses.

Now that hundreds of shelters have been built in Jacmel, The Salvation Army will work with Haitian government officials to plan the development of another 1,000-1,500 homes in the northern coastal community of Petit-Goâve, which was severely damaged by a strong earthquake aftershock in January.

We are excited by the steps being taken by Haitians and the The Salvation Army to help the country heal and emerge from this disaster stronger than before! As The Salvation Army’s Lt. Col. Dan Starrett stated, “These homes are the first steps of many in that direction.”

To read the full press release regarding the transitional shelters and an update on our work in Haiti over the past six months, click here.

If you’d like to support our ongoing work in the country, you can give via www.salvationarmyusa.org, 1-800-SAL-ARMY and text messaging “HAITI” to 52000 with confirming “Yes.”

Numana Founder and CEO Rick McNary stands with Arkansas Razorbacks during a record-breaking Haiti meal packing event in Fayetteville, AR. (Photo courtesy of Numana, Inc.)

Hunger relief organization Numana, Inc. has packaged 20  MILLION MEALS for Haiti Disaster Relief, according to the organization’s official press announcement released Saturday. The latest milestone was reached this weekend as volunteers from across the Midwest banded together at Numana community events held in Fayetteville, AR,  Milwaukee, WI and Pratt, KS.

In their statement the relief organization said, “Numana would like to thank first of all the thousands of people who have shown up to give of their money, energy and time to help make this happen. Rick McNary, Founder and CEO said, “We knew that if we provided people with the opportunity, they would respond overwhelmingly, and they have.” The Salvation Army deserves a special thanks as they have helped facilitate nearly half of all the meals packaged.”

Fayetteville’s ‘Razorback Relief’ packaged a record 1.4 million meals in 24 hours, breaking the previous record held by Kansas City of 1.2 million. Milwaukee produced an impressive 573,000 meals, and Pratt turned out 276,00!

An enthusiastic volunteer at the Pratt, KS event. (Photo: Numana)

Thank you to everyone for your helping hands that together have made an incredible difference in the lives of Haiti’s starving population. For more information about Numana and how to be involved in upcoming events, visit their website at www.numanainc.com. You can also follow them on Twitter for the latest information and statistics @NumanaInc.

And sure to visit The Salvation Army online at www.salvationarmyusa.org for news of our ongoing service, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

(Photo and Caption: John A. Lacko, Kalamazoo Gazette) Jack Violante, of Portage, MI, loads meal packages in a box as Maxwell Lloyd, 4, of Kalamazoo, hands them to him during the Salvation Army's "Wanna Make a Million?" meal packing event.

News of Haiti’s ongoing recovery has slipped from the headlines, but the country’s need has not disappeared. Despite this drop in media attention, The Salvation Army and volunteers continue to devote countless man hours to serving earthquake survivors.

Just this past weekend hundreds of individuals from Kalamazoo, MI and the surrounding area gathered at an old Sam’s Club warehouse where they packaged 620,784 meals for Haiti over a period of two days. The event was hosted by hunger relief organization Numana, Inc. and The Salvation Army. A photo run by the Kalamazoo Gazette showed a grown man and a four year-old boy working together in the assembly-line style packing process. Though the picture may at first appear unremarkable, the sharp contrast of this seemingly mismatched pair captures the unique sense of unity and passion to help that bonds an otherwise diverse group of volunteers. Kalamazoo proved to have a great turn out of helping hands!

You would expect with it being more than five months following the earthquake, public interest would fade. But Numana hosts widely-attended meal packing events like the one in Kalamazoo every week across the country in order that The Salvation Army will have a continuous supply of food to distribute to Haitian survivors. Actually, three separate events will be taking place this weekend in Kansas, Wisconsin, and Arkansas, with Arkansas attempting to set a record of packing 2 million meals during a first-ever 24 consecutive hour event! It actually seems like the public’s desire to help is gaining steam.

Numana founder Rick McNary told the Kalamazoo Gazette that in the five months since the earthquake more than 18 million meals have been packaged for Haiti through Numana’s partnership with The Salvation Army and volunteers across the country!

The Salvation Army is incredibly thankful for the help of Numana and all the compassionate volunteers who continue to diligently give their time, efforts, and resources for those in need in Haiti, even after the overwhelming need no longer makes news headlines!

For more information about The Salvation Army in Kalamazoo, visit their website at www.tsakalamazoo.org or find them on Facebook.

You can also learn more about Numana, Inc. through their website www.numanainc.com.

The Salvation Army Philadelphia spreads the word outside City Hall about the Million Meals for Haiti Project. (Photo: The Salvation Army Philadelphia)

We’ve been posting a lot recently about our partnering with hunger relief organization Numana, Inc. to host community meal packing events around the country for Haiti earthquake survivors. Yes, even four months after the disaster, much help is still needed and will continue to be needed for a long time.

Today, May 21, and tomorrow, May 22, volunteers will gather in Philadelphia at Drexel University to help The Salvation Army prepare 1 million meals. We we will ship and distribute the food to the 20,000 displaced Haitians that we are caring for in Port-au-Prince. We’re looking for 5,000 volunteers to make this possible, so if you want to get involved, register online at www.SalvationArmyPhiladelphia.org. We need your help!!

And we think it’s pretty cool that the Philadelphia Eagles are partnering with us for this event! This afternoon Eagles guard and Haiti native Max Jean-Gilles, Eagles linebacker Akeem Jordan and Eagles employees will be volunteering in our effort to provide nutritious meals to earthquake survivors.

Come out and lend a hand for a few hours while making a big difference in the lives of those in need. Here are some helpful links for more information including the event’s address and important FAQ:

• The Salvation Army Philadelphia’s Website -www.SalvationArmyPhiladelphia.org/millionmeals
• Facebook  – SalvationArmyPhiladelphia
• Twitter – @SalArmyPhilly

Our volunteers are making a difference in the lives of others and they're having a great time doing it! (Photo: The Salvation Army Western Territory)

As The Salvation Army continues our relief work in Haiti following January’s earthquake,  we need 2,000 volunteers to help us prepare more meals for earthquake survivors.

The Salvation Army and Numana Inc. will be hosting another Million Meals Packing event next weekend in Seattle, Washington on Saturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30 at the Washington State Convention Center.

You and your friends are invited to the packing party, where you will prepare bags of vitamin-fortified rice, beans and vegetables. One bag is enough to feed a family of six! The work required is simple, but it’s a great time and your efforts will go a long way in benefiting the lives of others in need.

*If you’re in the Seattle area and ready to volunteer a few hours of your time, visit The Salvation Army Northwest Division’s registration page at http://www.salvationarmynw.org/haiti for more information.*

For fun photos of past events, check out The Salvation Army Western Territory’s Flickr page here.

The  Salvation Army and Numana, Inc.’s next community meal packing event for Haiti relief will take place in the Chicago, IL area (Melrose Park) this coming weekend on Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23rd.

If you can spare just a few hours to help earthquake survivors, register online and come lend a hand! Volunteers across the country have already packed more than 10 million meals for Haiti, and we hope to prepare 1 million more this weekend with your help!

We are partnering with Navistar and will be holding the event at their 10400 W. North Avenue, Melrose Park, IL location.

For more information or to register for the event, visit The Salvation Army Chicago’s website at http://www.salarmychicago.org/volunteer/ or call 773-205-3636.

View the below video from Chicago’s WGN News for information about another Salvation Army and Numana Meals for Haiti event that took place recently in Elgin, IL.

What do you get when you combine more than 2,600 Syracuse volunteers, Numana, and The Salvation Army? Apparently, 867,858 meals for Haiti!

In another one of our Numana community meal packing events for earthquake survivors, citizens of the greater Syracuse, NY area really wowed us by showing up in unexpected numbers and helping us far exceed our expected goal for the event! Individuals of all ages and backgrounds turned out, including a couple and their two 5 year old boys who they just recently adopted from Haiti.

Read the story about Saturday’s event HERE at The Salvation Army Eastern Territory’s website.

Numana’s website lists upcoming meal event locations and dates at www.numanainc.com.

Photo: Salvation Army Western Territory

If you’ve been following The Salvation Army’s relief efforts in Haiti you know that we’ve partnered with Numana, a hunger relief organization, and tens of thousands of volunteers from around the country to pack and ship nutritious and simple meals for earthquake survivors.

Well, we have  some exciting news:

We’ve packed ten million – 10,000,000 – meals for Haiti since January’s earthquake!

This weekend we reached the milestone as San Francisco, CA saw more than 1 million meals prepared in one day, volunteers in Champaign-Urbana, IL also packaged 1 million meals, and New London, CT put together 269,016 meals ready to be shipped.

That’s amazing, and we couldn’t do it without the help of our volunteers! If you would like to volunteer at upcoming events or learn more information about Numana, visit their website at www.numanainc.com.

This news report gives great background to our Million Meals for Haiti relief effort and a quick inside look into how Salvation Army staff and volunteers contributed at San Francisco’s event. Find more videos here.

More than 2,000 volunteers turned out to help The Salvation Army and Numana Inc. pack 1 million meals for Haiti last Saturday, completing the extraordinary feat within 15 hours! Our previous events have always been spaced out over 2 days, so thanks to everyone who worked so hard to help us meet this goal.

Salvation Army staff can't hide their joy after volunteers packed one million meals in less than 24 hours. Photo: SA Western Territory

With the help of UPS and FedEx, these million meals are in the process of being transported to Haiti where we will distribute them to the tens of thousands of Haitians who are being cared for by our teams.

Read the full article at The Salvation Army Western Territory’s Expect Change blog and see recently posted photos at The Salvation Army San Francisco’s  Flickr page.

Learn more about how The Salvation Army San Francisco serves those in need by visiting their website at www.tsagoldenstate.org and stay updated through their Facebook page.

More meal packing events will be taking place around the United States, including one in Philadelphia on May 21 and 22, so stay updated through our blog, Facebook, and Twitter page to see when you can volunteer for the next one in your neighborhood.

The Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia is in need of an army of volunteers – more than 5,000 – to help package 1 million meals for survivors of the Haiti earthquake. That’s a lot of people, but we’re confident Philly will show us why they earned the nickname “City of Brotherly Love!”

We’re partnering with Drexel University and Numana, Inc., an international hunger relief organization, to provide nutritious meals targeted to help the immune system of malnourished people. Your efforts are needed to help assemble and package these meals before we send them to Haiti!

Their dinner was made possible by volunteer efforts. Photo: Yves Montoban

What Do You Need to Do Next?

Mark off  Friday, May 21 and Saturday, May 22 on your calendar and plan to be at Drexel University’s State Armory in Philadelphia, PA.

Get friends and SIGN UP for a 2 hour volunteer shift at www.saphilly.org.

Raise awareness by SHARING our Philadelphia Million Meals Facebook Event Page.

Check out The Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia’s website for more information.