Taking supplies with me.

The purpose of life is not to behappy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make somedifference that you have lived at all."Leo Rosten

In a few weeks, I will be leaving the air conditioned sanctuary that is my home for Leogane, Haiti. I will arrive in Haiti on June 23rd, 2010- where I will work in the sweltering heat Monday thru Saturday, clearing rubble and whatever else is required of me until my departure on July 15th, 2010. I will spend my nights in a tent or a bunk on an air mattress- listening to the harmony of nearly a hundred volunteerssnoring.

Although my PTO request says vacation time, this trip is no vacation. With bucket showers and electricity only by generator a few hours a night- the living conditions are a little rough. Maybe only one star out of five (I have a lot of jokes).

I would like to bring with me supplies neededby our base camp and some items desired by the volunteers, and I need your help. I have provided the link to the wish list(updated frequent) in case you would like to help me bring these items to the project:

http://tinyurl.com/277hgv8

Should you wish to donate supplies, please keepin mind that I am only allowed 2 carry on bags weighing no more than 50#s each-also we are not allowed to bring items to give to the children, as if you give to one you have to give to all and the children of Leogane need schools built more than they need stickers or little toys. I do also know that Base camp has the desire for good mountain bikes. There is two on site and are used frequently. I don't know how to ride a bike but I could figure out how to get one on the plane with me.

If you wish to donatedirectly to HODR please visit:

http://hodr.org/donate/

Thanks so much, Mary G

20 days until I leave for Haiti. I need to get packing.

Well first I need to get shopping then packing!!!

Haiti

When the catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on Jan 12th, I along with the rest of the world watched the news coverage in horror.

Like most everyone, I gave money. I do not know how many times I text 'Yele' to 501501- to pledge a 5 dollar donation. Late January, I began contacting NGOs to see what more I could do to help- at that time only medical professionals were being deployed to Haiti.

In mid February I received an email from Hands on Disaster Response (HODR) stating that they had availability for their project in Haiti on my desired dates.

I got my 30 days PTO approved. 30 DAYS!!! Awesome! I work for a fantastic agency who are very supportive in the personal and profession endeavors of it's employees.

For now I will use this blog to help me raise funds for my flight and the supplies I will bring to Haiti with me. I am allowed two 50 pound carry on bags. One bag will be for my personal belongings and the other bag will be for 'wish list' items for the project (sledge hammer handles, earmuff/hearing protection) which is updates weekly. (RT flights are roughly 700 bucks)

When in Haiti, I will journal my experience with HODR in this blog and hopefully post lots of pictures and a video or two.

Thanks so much for your support and your friendship.

Here is a little video of HODR in Action.

NOTE: A full account of expenditure will be published on my return and any surplus funds raised will be donated to HODR