14249: Ray: 14236: Pierre Jean:Re: 14234: Sanok: Re: 14227: Visas (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Matt Ray <mraymus@yahoo.com>

I suppose that those who are complaining are those who are doing volunteer work in Haiti and doing fund raising to go in the first place.   Most of the people in my organization give up their time and vacation to go to Haiti to help Haiti's handicapped.    Most of them have never been to Haiti and don't really know what to expect.    A trip like this costs around $1500, which would either come out of their pocket or out of funds they raise.    If they were going there for a vacation or a pleasure trip, it would be a different story.     Those of us leading teams like this, and trying to help set expectations for first timers, just want to clarify the rule so we can prepare them for this extra expense.     $100 isn't a lot of money, but it's a lot more than we've spent going to Haiti for the past 6 years.   We send 10-12 teams a year, and that number is only increasing.    $100 charge once a year isn't a lot to expect, but if we have those returning 3 or 4 times a year, it starts to add up.     Also, if you take that $100, multiply it by the 20 people on each trip and then multiply it again by the 12 trips a year we take and it comes to $24,000 in added expense for our trips each year.

It's not an obstacle we can't overcome, we just need clarification for expectations.   If we know for sure it's going to be there, then we can prepare for it.

Matt

Matt Ray
Healing Hands for Haiti Foundation, Inc.
http://www.healinghandsforhaiti.org
mraymus@yahoo.com
661.588.4400 - phone
413.740.0772 - efax