Haiti Relief: Feeding The Hungry

On the one-week anniversary of the devastating 7.0 earthquake near Haiti, miraculous stories are coming out of Port-au-Prince of survivors pulled out of the rubble. These stories will become few and far between as the days go on, as the chances of trapped people surviving start to dwindle. However, in the coming weeks and months, a new type of rescue mission will emerge. The mission to keep the rescued alive.

Food and water are scarce, and many in Port-au-Prince have become violent and begun looting in a desperate search for sustenance. The task to feed the hundreds of thousands of survivors living in the streets will become one of the toughest challenges of the recovery effort.

ABC News profiled a group called the What If? Foundation, which is managing to distribute much needed food to Haitians, many of them children. The organization has operated out of a local church in Port-au-Prince for several years, and was one of the first groups able to provide free meals for survivors.

With Haiti as impoverished as it already was pre-quake, What If? distributed 1,500 free meals each day. With new supplies coming in from the Dominican Republic, they hope to improve that number during this desperate time. Even before the earthquake, 24 percent of Haitian children were considered malnourished and diarrhea (caused by drinking dirty water) was the second leading cause of death. To What If? founder Margaret Trost, the earthquake has only exacerbated what's been a long-term humanitarian crisis.

What If? is accepting donations for earthquake relief. If you want to be more creative, they encourage you to host a dinner or ask for support materials from their office.

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Comments

[p90xxx]

12:13 PM on 01/21/2010

One thing is for sure- it's going to take a lot of time and resources to recover from this catastrophe. This is why it is so important that we gather as much aid as possible for Haiti while this is still fresh in peoples' minds. Not only do we need to tackle this task of "rebuilding," but when I consider that the state that they lived in previous to this tragedy, I would like to think that we could take it one step further. Sadly, I'm not making money right now and I'm finding it hard to help these people who are in such great need. One thing that found that I could do, and I hope you will do the same, is to follow this link and vote on a facebook competition for a non-profit called Invisible Children. http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/598099

It takes very little effort and can make a huge difference. If they win, they are donating $100,000 to relief in Haiti. They are a reputable organisation and will be sure that the aid gets to the people who need it the most.

[notb observer]

03:50 AM on 01/21/2010

Let's hope the UN starts setting up permanent water treatment facilities, perhaps a major desalination plant so that something as simple to deal with as diarrhea isn't considered life threatening. It would also be nice if "community kitchens" powered by renewable energy were set up in the villages so that people could have access to a place to cook their meals without having to resort to wiping out all forms of vegetation for fuel.

[Harmony1812]

08:01 PM on 01/20/2010

Why am I not hearing people asking for donations of blood????
Is it because they are not able to do many surgeries? If rescue efforts were more efficient it would seem they would be begging for blood.
In any case, it is always good to donate.

[gericare77]

01:54 PM on 01/20/2010

What about the ELDERLY??? http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1432467.html