Asay Media Network supports Joplin Helps Haiti

By Don Wilkinson
Asay Media Network

JOPLIN, Mo. — It has been more than a month since the devastating earthquake struck in the Haitian capitol of Port-au-Prince. As the dust from that human tragedy settles and relief workers reach into more isolated areas, the magnitude of this destructive abyss is deepening. 
The story is a saga of survival with weeks of improbable rescues, tearful reunions and astonishing displays of resilience.
Caught in the crosshairs of that devastation were nearly 300 employees from the Haitian Christian Mission, according to Len Clevenger, co-founder of the Haitian Christian Mission. This group, including an American mission team from Kentucky, were eyewitnesses to the destruction and some of the first resources responding to the pleas for help.
“The magnitude of this disaster made it confusing and disorganized for us at first because our people were spread out,” Clevenger said. Past experiences  especially with the rash of hurricanes in 2008, have kept the group in a kind of a relief mode for some time, but not to this extent. 
Many mission employees are native Haitians and they were looking for friends and relatives after the quake but “we managed to finally get them together, organized and immersed in the relief effort.”
As reported in the media, many countries responded to appeals for humanitarian aid, pledging funds and dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and support personnel.
However, damaged communication systems, air, land, and sea transport facilities, hospitals, and electrical networks hampered rescue and aid efforts not to mention the confusion over who was in charge, air traffic congestion, and problems with prioritization of flights further complicated early relief work. As rescues tailed off, supplies, medical care and sanitation became priorities.
Clevenger said as stabilizing aid pours in other kinds of resource needs have surfaced.
“We are still running in survival mode but what we need now are people with talents to help rebuild.”
He stressed the urgent need for engineers, architects, light and heavy construction trades, agronomists, people that can build prosthetics, and those who can minister to the psychological and spiritual needs of the survivors.
In addition, there will be a tremendous demand for replacement equipment and supplies for schools and business destroyed by the quake. Once the debris is removed, Clevenger indicated that the rebuilding can begin and it can be done right. “It’s like beginning with a clean slate again. No man should build upon another man’s foundation, but there are none left there.”
Historically, government turns to private industry in time of crisis to get itself out of a jam because they have the resources, organization, and innovative talent to get the job done. “Look at what happened after Katrina. It wasn't the government doing the rebuilding, it was the private companies and non-government organizations.”
Keeping the resources flowing into the stricken area is critical and Clevenger suggested that this is the point where U.S. and foreign businesses can step up to help.
Drawing upon his formal business and theological education, and 40 plus years of experience in the insurance industry and his work with the Mission, Clevenger is taking his message directly to the communities that he served for so many years.
During a recent return to Joplin from Haiti, Clevenger called upon long time business friend Roger Asay, president and owner of Asay Media Inc., which publishes the Locator Magazine.
Asay and Clevenger met nearly 30 years ago while he was managing the insurance accounts for Asay’s employer at the time. Clevenger explained his passion in the Haiti mission and Asay offered to help his cause.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for private businesses to set aside their competitive barriers and participate in the humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti,” Asay said. “Through our network of publications, we have the ability to deliver Len’s message to an even larger business audience that can provide resources or other kinds of assistance to the people of this devastated country.”
Some time ago, Clevenger, who has close personal ties to Joplin, developed the Joplin Helps Haiti (www.joplinhelpshaiti.com), which drew more attention to the plight of this most impoverished Caribbean nation. The organization has gathered support from area businesses and churches in the past, but more so since the January 12 quake.
St. John’s Regional Medical Center of Joplin is one business that has taken up the challenge of helping the stricken masses in Haiti.
In a two-page letter addressed to the Mercy Vice Presidents of Mission, Sergio Rizo, executive assistant to the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, where he described the disaster as one of “epic proportions” reaffirmed the hospital’s mission to of service and offered a plan of support action.
“It is Mercy’s mission and tradition to see a great need and respond greatly ... to improve the health and quality of the communities served with conscious concern for the poor,” Rizo wrote. “With some careful organization and coordination, I’m confident Mercy can take what little excess we have and make an impact of epic proportion.
The Joplin physician community has responded to the need. Several physicians have gone to Haiti to serve clinically, and Mercy surgeon, Dr. Alan Buchele, will lead a group of seven clinicians from February 24 through March 6. Asay is hopeful that other Joplin businesses and individuals within the community will step up to plate with offers of financial, technical, or human resource assistance.
Clevenger said in closing that there is a two-sided benefit for businesses of any size or in any location. First, they have an opportunity to join the family of nations and companies around the globe coming together to support another by supplying skilled people, resources, or financial contributions.       
 “Potential customers see the good that businesses are putting forth in this recovery effort, and may be more inclined to do business with them.”

Aftermath
•    Tremor struck at 5 p.m., Jan. 12, 2010
•    Registered magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale
•    52 aftershocks of 4.0 or greater recorded by January 24
•    Estimated 230,000 dead, 300,000 homeless, 100s missing
•    More than 1 million people w/o food, water, shelter, security
•    250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial structures damaged or destroyed


For more information on how your business can help with the relief/rebuilding efforts in Haiti, please visit the Haitian Christian Mission Web site at www.gvcm.org or the Joplin Helps Haiti site at www.joplinhelpshaiti.com. Persons desiring to make financial contributions can do so on these Web sites using Secure PayPal, or may make their donations at any Hometown Bank.
Headquartered in Indianapolis, the Haitian Christian Mission is a faith-based, not-for-profit organization founded in Joplin, Mo. in 1974 by Len Clevenger and Eitenne Prophete, a Haitian living and attending school in Joplin who is now the current director for the organization. Other offices are located in West Palm Beach, Fla., The organization has grown from a small group of people meeting on Prophete's front porch in Haiti to 52 churches all over the island and nearly 50 schools with 13,000 students enrolled. They provide nearly 7,600 meals every day and run a hospital with two full time and one part time doctor, several nurses that, up until the time of the quake, saw an average of 18,000 people per year.