This week the news has been all about Haiti, and there has been very little good news. This morning I opened up the New York Times to read about the violence emerging in Haiti as people become desperate for food and water and aid.

As Jamie has emailed us, we have the only Haitian branch outside of Haiti within our Stake boundaries. They branch leaders are trying to carry out the mission of ministering as they grapple with their own sorrow and distress. Our Weston Humanitarian Group was formed exactly to respond to "disasters" both immediate and distant. While we will have opportunities across the next few months to configure to serve and then reconfigure as the right "action" gets clearer, I am sure that we must find ways to serve the families in our stake who are desperately affected by this terrible crisis. Jamie and Judy Dushku are setting up channels for us to minister and care for sisters and families in our Stake so watch for news from them.

Other things on the table:

• Help families get TSP status: Haitian nationals in the US can apply for TPS (Temporary Protected Status) that will provide them legal work status for 18 months. Many people cannot fill out these forms without help. We might be able to set up times when we help with these forms.
• Organizing a blood drive: the Red Cross is not currently calling for blood, but might and we will help.
• Helping families get phones/cable/internet access to get word from their families in Haiti

Please remember that in times of disaster, scams flourish. You can check out the reputation and validity of an organization asking you for a donation by going to Charity Navigator: http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=70 or Charity Watch: http://charitywatch.org/

A couple of news items (and please feel free to update these):

News from the Church about current aid flowing to Haiti--http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705358568/LDS-Church-sending-aid-to-Haitian-survivors.html

From the Red Cross on why cash donations are best:

FAQ:

In response to international disasters, the American Red Cross often experiences an outpouring of generosity from the American people. As long as disasters continue to happen, we know that people will want to find ways to help. In addition to tremendous financial support, we typically receive myriad offers of product from individuals and community groups. ...

Though unsolicited offers of goods and services from individuals and community groups are well intentioned, they have hidden costs and pose a number of complications for relief efforts. ...

Why does the Red Cross discourage donations of collected goods and individual items for disaster relief?

· The cost of processing and transporting these types of donations often outweighs the cost of the donated items themselves. Donations of collected goods require time, money and personnel to accept, clean, sort and distribute them.

· The influx of unsolicited donations distracts relief workers on site from critical emergency response activities – feeding and sheltering the affected population.

· In addition, because we cannot anticipate what these spontaneous donations of collected of items will include, we cannot ensure that the donated products will be appropriate for the relief effort or that there will be enough of a particular item to distribute them equitably.

· Shipping donated goods is costly and particularly difficult in the aftermath of a disaster. Routes into disaster sites are often damaged or impassable and can be clogged easily with shipments of non-priority items.

· The Red Cross makes every attempt to procure items locally, which minimizes transportation and storage expenses. By procuring goods locally, the American Red Cross can also ensure the items distributed to disaster victims are appropriate for the culture and diet.

Update from Partners in Health:

ince Tuesday evening, PIH staff has been working around the clock to bring relief to the people of Haiti who are suffering immensely in the aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake. You have seen the images on the news, read the updates on the web, and responded in a profoundly generous way to our calls for help - we are indebted to you for your quick mobilization and generous contributions.

Our team, because of our deep roots in Haiti, was able to be among the first to respond with emergency medical services. Since the first days, our staff has stepped up to take on the challenge of serving the most vulnerable in Port-au-Prince and of providing comprehensive care ranging from basic primary care to complicated surgical services at our sites in the Central Plateau and Artibonite Valley. Co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer wrote yesterday, "We find that years of investment in building a strong local partner organization mean that we are again in the position of responding effectively to a natural disaster. We are very proud of our team."

All of this work-our years of investment and our ability to respond is made possible because of people like you who do not become paralyzed in the face of suffering but rather stand up and help serve.

Yesterday, Dr. Farmer arrived in Port-au-Prince to check in with our team and to meet with Government and UN officials. Since his visit, we have already seen the tide begin to change - this morning, the PIH/Zanmi Lasante team was designated by the World Health Organization to serve as the coordinators of the public hospital, Hopital de l' Universite d'Etat d'Haiti (HUEH), where thousands are suffering in need of medicines and surgeries. In this new role, we will be supporting the administration and staff and recruiting other NGOs to help restore services, particularly triage, nursing, and surgical, at the city's central hospital. Our priority is to increase stock of medicines and supplies, ensure steadily functioning operating rooms, and guarantee sufficient medical staff is available, particularly for nursing care to help with post-op recovery, iv management, and other care that has had to be self managed over the past three days.

With supply chains in place and flights arriving more consistently in Port-au-Prince since the air traffic control has been reinstated, today has already been a turning point in our ability to respond to the enormity of the devastation and really get the field hospitals and public hospitals up and running. We have two planes of surgeons and surgical supplies arriving within hours, we have fuel on its way to Haiti through the DR, and we are reallocating supplies from our ten sites to where they are needed most on a regular basis.

It is clear to us all that relief for Haiti must rely on our collective immediate response and our sustained long-term commitment to building back better. Our approach to health care delivery in resource-poor settings-partnering with the public sector, employing locally, and investing for the long-term-is a key part of the solution for Haiti now and in the future. We hope that you will continue to stand with Haiti now and in the months and years to come.