fbpx

Posts

The Rotary Club of Sanibel-Captiva is gearing up for its Annual Arts and Crafts Fair being held on the grounds of The Community House on Sanibel Island, Florida. The event, coming this weekend (February 13th and 14th) marks the 27th year the club has conducted a juried fair of crafts persons and artisans on the island.

Artist Ikki Matsumoto

The fair includes 104 vendors selected from a pool of applicants and includes a multitude of artistic disciplines such as painting, woodcarving, sculpture and photography. Returning this year is renowned Sanibel artist Ikki Matsumoto. Mr. Matsumoto and his wife, Polly, have again generously donated a design for the fair’s commemorative t-shirt.  The shirts, available for sale at the fair, are a popular fixture of island attire.

This year marks a new endeavor for Rotarians as the fair has been expanded to include silent auction and raffle items from local businesses in an effort to raise additional funds for Haiti relief.  Among the items donated are a piece of fine jewelry from Congress Jewelers and a one week stay in a Sanibel beach condominium from VIP Vacation Rentals.

The Club hopes to raise in excess of $50,000 which will be used to benefit local organizations providing food and educational services, Rotary sponsored international projects providing clean water and polio immunization, and to maintain the Club’s two endowed university scholarships awarded to local students.  In addition, the Club intends to increase its effort to assist Rotary affiliated relief efforts for those affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Club President, Lee Almas said “we’ve already sent $5,000 to ShelterBox USA which is providing temporary shelter to displaced Haitians. We hope to have additional funds available in the near future to provide wheelchairs to those who’ve suffered the loss of limbs through amputation and spinal injuries.”

The Wheelchair Foundation is a charitable organization which partners with Rotary International to manufacture and distribute durable wheelchairs for children and adults at a low cost.

The fair hours are 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Saturday the 13th and 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Sunday the 14th. Admission is a suggested donation of $4. The Rotary Club of Sanibel-Captiva’s trust foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and all donations are tax deductible. Donations for Haitian Relief may be sent to San-Cap Rotary Trust, PO Box 686, Sanibel, FL, 33957. For more information, visit http://www.sanibelrotary.org

A Hearts for Haiti Benefit Concert at California State University, Fresno on Saturday, Feb. 13, will include a presentation by relief workers Dr. Joaquin Arambula and Tim Miller, members of a Selma medical team who traveled to earthquake-devastated Haiti last month.

Proceeds from the 7 p.m. concert at the Satellite Student Union will go to the Fresno-Madera chapter of the American Red Cross. Admission is a $3 donation for Fresno State students with valid ID and a $5 donation for the general public.

The concert, presented by University Student Union Productions, will feature performances by JJ Brown and the Qs, 40 Watt Hype, and HR7. Tickets to Sea World, Magic Mountain and Fresno State athletics games; a Starbucks basket and movie passes will be raffled off to raise additional funds.

The Selma medical team that volunteered in Port-au-Prince was comprised of three nurses, one doctor and a former Army medic. They were able to deliver 50 wheelchairs through the Wheelchair Foundation, which is seeking donations to provide 2,000 wheelchairs to Haitians in need.

For more information about USU Productions events, call 559.278.2741.

SOURCE: Fresno State News

JEFF BEHRING, of Blackhawk, and a team of volunteers flew to Haiti on Jan. 27 on a humanitarian mission following the Caribbean nation’s devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.

“My father loaned his plane and flight crew to send doctors, nurses, wheelchairs and medical supplies donated by John Muir (Medical Center of Walnut Creek) and Medshare to Haiti,” Jeff’s brother, David Behring, the president of the Wheelchair Foundation, wrote in an e-mail to me.

The plane, owned by Kenneth Behring, a Blackhawk developer and philanthropist, is an MD-87 outfitted to seat 24, with plenty of cargo space.

I spoke with Jeff last week following his Jan. 30 return.

“There are tent cities set up everywhere — plastic tarps with stakes holding them up,” he said. “People are afraid to go back into their houses and buildings (Haiti has been subject to continuous aftershocks). There was a 7 p.m. curfew and you didn’t want to drive after that because people were sleeping in the middle of the road, I was told.”

Jeff said they set up camp in a big grassy area near the airport, where search-and-rescue teams were just leaving.

Three different makeshift medical areas were established around the island, including one right next to the epicenter, and lines of people soon formed for treatment.

“The doctors and nurses were treating wounds and infections. People had been patched up quickly right after the earthquake and then needed additional surgery. I did a lot of ‘gofer’ work — whatever I could to help the medical team,” Jeff said.

Charli Butterfield, the foundation’s assistant director of distribution, handled logistics for the flights and crew.

She stayed with the plane, which returned to the U.S. to pick up additional medical supplies and 16 more medical staff, then flew back to Haiti.

Included on the plane from the Bay Area were 30 wheelchairs for hospitals to use immediately, Jeff said.

Another 520 wheelchairs are on the way, and it’s hoped that funds can be raised to send thousands more wheelchairs.

To provide additional help, proceeds from the foundation’s eighth annual charity ball Feb. 27 at the Blackhawk Museum are designated to provide “Mobility for Haiti.” The gala evening will begin at 5:30 p.m. and include hors d’oeuvres, dinner, dancing, silent and live auctions and a live stage show.

Admission is $150 per person. For tickets, contact Jeff at 925-648-3829 or je*********@wi***********.org.

Physicians from John Muir included orthopedists Torsten Jacobsen and Abid Qureshi and Ramin Mehmande, an orthopedist and plastic surgeon, Jeff said.

Other Bay Area volunteers included Ben Drew, executive director of John Muir Medical Center, and Chuck Haupt, executive director of Medshare in San Leandro, who was one of the main organizers of the trip.

Dan Catullo, of DC3 Music Group LLC, led arrangements from Los Angeles, receiving support from David Archuleta, New Kids on the Block, Creed, Godsmack and other celebrities.

Scott Stapp, lead singer for Creed, went along on the flight to Haiti and joined Jeff and Glen Perry in providing “gofer” assistance as needed.

For information on the Wheelchair Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to deliver a wheelchair to anyone worldwide who needs one, visit www.wheelchairfoundation.org or call 925-736-1571. Each $75 donation helps deliver a wheelchair.

SOURCE: Contra Costa Times

Peter and Sara Craig have finally started working in Haiti after finding transportation there aboard a private jet.

The couple, along with their sons, Noah, 4, and Abram, almost 2, are moving to Haiti from Hillsboro, Ore., to begin work with Clean Water for Haiti, a humanitarian aid organization that works to provide clean, drinkable water for Haitian families. They arrived there Jan. 30.

The Craigs were winging their way across the United States en route to Haiti when the killer earthquake struck Port-au-Prince on Jan 12. They were turned back at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and waited two frustrating weeks at Sara’s parents’ Longview home before finding a ride with The Wheelchair Foundation. The nonprofit organization, based in Danville, Calif., has delivered 600 wheelchairs to Haiti and plans to send more using the founder’s private jet.

The Craigs, who were the subject of a Jan. 19 story in The Daily News, have settled into their home about 40 miles north of Port-au-Prince. The area was not affected by the earthquake.

“Aid groups have been giving out camping tents, and people have pitched them in every open space in the city,” he wrote on Jan. 31 in the family’s blog, ourordinaryjourney.blogspot.com. “Look at the median the next time you are merging onto the freeway and imagine seeing hundreds of people camping there waiting for who knows what. From what we were exposed to, it wasn’t so much the intensity of the situation that was overwhelming. It was the number of people who have been affected.”

Craig ended the Jan. 31 entry saying how thankful he and Sara are for a safe house, electricity, clean water and ample food and how blessed they feel when most of the population is struggling.

“As we begin this new chapter in our lives, we are overwhelmed by how many things we have to be thankful for,” he wrote, “and this is only the beginning.”

SOURCE : tdn.com