Help for Haitian Sisters

My friend Amber and her husband Abdias have family in Port Au Price, Haiti. When the earthquake hit, I watched Amber’s Facebook posts in hopeful anticipation. I’d see new posts, no news, but a fearful plea for God to protect her family. I admit, I have burst into tears several times over the tragic news of Haiti and specifically Amber’s posts. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to wait to hear if my loved ones were safe or not. And I can tell you, Amber didn’t just “sit and wait.” She has been very busy, helping to spread the word about where to find information about family, she helped people get minutes on their phones, she’s helped countless people from afar.

Once she heard their family members were alive, there was a huge sigh of relief, but unfortunately, there is still much to be concerned with. Her family, five sisters – Anne, Ruth, Esther, Nahomie, and Rochellane – plus their five daughters, are currently living in a tent city with about 200 other people. They are surviving on the food provided by aid agencies, but it is a fragile situation. Amber tells me about heart wrenching phone calls from the the girls, begging to get them out of Haiti.

Amber and Abdias have decided to file for Emergency Visas, but it’s not easy and it will be expensive to get the girls safely to the Pacific Northwest. The Visas are $305 each and airfare, although it varies until it’s time to purchase tickets, seems to be about $400 each. For all ten to get here, we need to raise $7,000.

I told Amber I would write a blog post to help raise funds for the girls. I know this is a running blog, but runners are the most generous people I know. We’re always spending $30-$100 on running events that are raising funds for various causes. Some of the time we have no idea how much is going to the actual cause. This is a situation where every dollar donated will go directly to getting the girls to the US. This is not a big non-profit, this is a family in Longview, Washington and Haiti and they need help. Please donate what you can, a dollar or a hundred dollars, it’s all needed to get the full $7,000. Click the “Donate” button below and you can send money via PayPal or any of the major credit cards.

In order to make it to the US, the girls also need sponsors. This tells the government that the girls aren’t going to come to the US to be public charges. If you are interested in sponsoring one of the girls, visit the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) to download the forms and please contact Amber at wife_of_abdias (at) yahoo.com for more information.

Thank you all for your generosity! Please spread the word and I’ll post an update about the funds raised soon.

Tagged as: donate, donation, earthquake, generous runners, Haiti, haitian victims, raising funds