22112: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-South Floridians gather money, goods (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Fri, May. 28, 2004




HISPANIOLA | AID DRIVES


South Floridians gather money, goods

In the aftermath of deadly flooding in the Dominican Republic and Haiti,
South Floridians with ties to both countries are organizing efforts to send
assistance.

BY LUISA YANEZ

lyanez@herald.com


AND GAIL EPSTEIN NIEVES

Marie V. Fritz was listening to the radio in Miami Monday when she heard her
first cousin's name, Bebe Bernard, among the long list of Haitian flood
victims.

Downed phone lines and impassable roads make details impossible to come by,
deepening Fritz's grief. What of Bernard's children, Bernard's husband,
other mutual relatives?

''I'm depressed,'' Fritz, 50, of Fondverrettes in northwestern Haiti, said
Thursday. ``I feel powerless because I can't go help and I can't get in
touch to see how things are.''

Touched by the scene of death and destruction in their homelands, Dominicans
and Haitians in Miami-Dade and Broward counties on Thursday stepped up a
humanitarian effort to send food, water and medicine back home.

On Spanish and Haitian radio, the talk was of the devastation centered in
the Dominican town of Jimaní, which borders Haiti.

''Today is a national day of mourning,'' said Ana Maria Segura, vice consul
general for the Dominican Republic's consulate on Brickell Avenue. The
consulate is the nerve center for the collection drive and will oversee the
shipping of goods back home.

''I'm not Dominican, but I know human suffering,'' Idalia Faxas said as she
unloaded clothes and other goods at a donation center in Hialeah.

So far, the center has collected two truckloads of goods.

''It's the least I can do for my people,'' said Nelson Dominguez, who walked
up with a case of bottled water.

The center's executive director, J. Amada Vargas, said Spanish-radio mogul
Raul Alarcon has donated a plane to fly the goods to Hispaniola.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, there will be radio marathons to collect
money and food.

Local Haitians are also organizing a humanitarian effort. Gepsie Metellus,
director of the Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, said the Haitian
government put out a call for nonperishable foods, water, soap and bleach,
salt and sugar, bedding, flashlights, batteries, cooking grills, buckets and
utensils.

Alix Baptiste, secretary of state for Haitians living abroad, said from his
office in Port au Prince that he is traveling to Miami this weekend and will
bring updated information about humanitarian needs.

Catholic Charities in Miami is waiting on a ''needs assessment'' from
workers on the ground in both countries before specifying what kinds of
donations are needed, said Brian Stevens, a spokesman for the group.

Meanwhile, the church is putting out a call on radio and at all parishes in
the Archdiocese of Miami seeking monetary donations. ''If the agencies on
the ground tell us money is best, we'll send money and they can purchase
things there,'' Stevens said.

In Miami, Fritz scoffed at the notion that the Haitian government will do
anything and prays that outsiders will distribute aid. ''If history is to
repeat itself, I'm not very hopeful about what's going to happen,'' she
said.

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