7303: Fw: Intro and call for help (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "Kevin M. Cooke" <kcooke@fiam.net>


Dear List Members,

    Please allow me to introduce myself and my organization.  My name is
Kevin Cooke, and I am the Executive Director of a new start-up NGO called
Pure Water Haiti, Inc.  Our main office is in Amherst, MA, in my home, and
the mission of the organization is to help the people and government of
Haiti in providing potable water and sanitary infrastructure.  The
organization at this point is in application with the IRS for 501(c)3
status, and has been incorporated in Massachusetts.
    I have just returned from my first visit to Haiti, where I traveled
throughout the PauP/Delmas/
Petionville area investigating conditions there and visiting officials in
the government and with SNEP, one of the water agencies.  Without this trip,
I would have been stuck in the usual American idea of Haiti as a lost cause
full of corrupt officials and drug lords.  What I found instead was a
country of indomitable spirit, hope, and drive.  I am now certain that with
our help and focused efforts, Haiti will overcome the negative images that
the US government foists upon us and rise again to success.
    I would like to invite any of you Corbetteers with any experience in
engineering, hydrology, sanitation, law, and public affairs to contact me to
share contacts, information and energy.  Together we can be much more
effective than if we work as separate entities.  Coalition work can spell
success for all our missions.

Kevin M. Cooke
Executive Director
Pure Water Haiti, Inc.
145B Brittany Manor Drive
Amherst, MA  01002
(413) 253-5496
kcooke@fiam.net