On Jan. 12, the ground shook in Haiti with the impact of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The Western Hemisphere’s poorest country was hit with a natural disaster that would focus the world’s attention for weeks.
For days, planes were thwarted in their attempts to land at Haiti’s one major airport near Port-au-Prince. Port-au-Prince, the beautiful capital city of Haiti, lay in ruins with many major government buildings collapsed and many of her inhabitants buried beneath tons of debris. The bodies of her people were piling up in the streets as collateral damage to Mother Nature’s ire.
The media was there instantly, covering each spectacle with camera lens and stand-up reporters. Images of mass graves and hungry people reached into our homes nightly. When trying to find an accurate death toll, only words like massive, grim and unimaginable could be found, though the estimates were looking at 200,000.
Rescue and aid workers spent hours in dire conditions to rescue those that they could and tend to the many that were injured. Many of these surgeries as seen on broadcast reports called to mind battlefields of the Civil War with rusted and out-of-date instruments. Each day, we saw images on the news and on the Internet that brought the often forgotten poverty of these people into our daily viewing.
These images had a strong impact on one biker in particular. Merry Izzo held a benefit for Haiti last Saturday at the Slate Bar. I asked her why she wanted to do this. She said, “This Haiti thing, it broke my heart when I saw it.” She wanted to go down to Haiti and pitch in. However, with her husband’s work schedule, that was impossible. But Merry didn’t let that get her down. She felt that if she couldn’t go down there, then she had to do something.
Merry said that she was “surprised by all of the resistance that I’ve gotten about this. People are telling me, and saying on Facebook that ‘We have our own people to help’ I just feel like people are dying down there, this was a natural disaster.” Her response to those negative comments is this: “We are surrounded by people that can help while these people have nothing.” She said, “I was handing out flyers (for the event), and a guy I knew crumpled up the paper and threw it at my feet. It was as if these people don’t deserve it. They are such a backward country. Look at the people they thought were dead. They survived. If I can help someone I will. So be it. I don’t want anything in return”
All the donations were put into cans on the bar. Merry told me, “The cans are from Red Cross, and they will count it. We don’t even touch it.” Why Red Cross? “Because we believe in the Red Cross organization — you know the money goes where it’s supposed to.”
Theresa Hughes seconded that idea. Theresa said that she “used to live in Beach Haven, and we got flooded out three times in two years. Red Cross helped us every time.” With the many organizations that are helping to send aid to Haiti, it’s hard to select one. For example, King’s College Student Government raised around $7,000 to help with the Holy Cross relief fund for the community in Haiti. John Travolta loaded his personal plane with supplies and headed right down to help deliver the food and medicine with his wife. Many churches took up special collections for Haiti. The least of our brothers are not forgotten.
Earl Crawford came out on this cold night, a night that was way too cold for riding motorcycles, because “he wanted to donate to Haiti.” He said, “I hope they can help, they need a lot of help over there. I got the message from Guy (Izzo), and I came right after work.” Zappa, no last name, from the Scrap Iron Motorcycle Club, said he came “to support their cause and to help the children of Haiti.” Tom came “because it was a good thing to do.”
I asked Guy what he thought about all this work that Merry was doing for people so far away from our Valley with a Heart. He replied, “I think she’s awesome. She did something she felt she needed to do to help out.” He was grateful to all the motorcycle clubs and individual enthusiasts that showed up to help out this cause on such short notice.
As the media hype fades, Haiti will receive less and less world attention. The people on the ground who are there to help the survivors will still need your help. Find a worthy organization, and give what you can.
The American Red Cross can be reached locally at 570.823.7161 and on the Web at american.redcross.org.
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