St. Marys is so far from the destruction caused by a massive earthquake in Haiti -- and yet, it is so close.
Hope for Haiti, which travelled to the impoverished Central American nation to do missionary work as recently as November, is now leading the local charge to raise money to help the country recover from last week’s massive earthquake.
“We drove down all those streets in Port Au Prince two months ago,” says Murray Mitchell, who has travelled to the country numerous times. “They were such a catastrophe and a mess then -- I can’t imagine what they’re like now.”
Upon hearing news of the quake last week, “The first thing I thought was ‘how can these people stand any more?’” he says. The country is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.
A meeting with Hope for Haiti members on Sunday lead to the creation of a relief fund, co-chaired by Sharon Staffen and Ron Aitken. The two visited Haiti for the first time on the November trip.
The following businesses have agreed to collect donations under the Hope for Haiti banner: Sam’s Home Hardware, Jackson’s Pharmacy, Coldwell Banker, M&M Variety, Ray Bennett, Curling Club, St. Marys Golf & Country Club, Hitching Post, Dowler Karn, Glo, Stone Willow Inn, Wildstone Bar and Grill, and the Journal Argus office.
The group is hoping that the localness of Hope for Haiti will spur donations. “We know there’s a lot of charities going, but people know us through Hope for Haiti,” says Mitchell. Donations can also be sent to Hope for Haiti, 69 Parkhaven Cres., St. Marys, N4X 1E7. The group is registered under charitable number 11910 9460 RR0001.
Donations will be accepted for about a month, and the  money will be used to buy emergency supplies such as food, medicine, water, medical supplies and other essentials. Importantly, adds the group, all donations will be matched by the Canadian government up to $50 million.
 The St. Marys group left $10,000 worth of medical supplies at the clinic they finished building in November, but the supply likely won’t last long, Staffen says.
The medical clinic now is being used to treat the injured, and a half-finished building is also being used for treatment, accommodating survivors from Port Au Prince -- a four-hour drive to the southwest at the best of times.  
Thirteen houses surrounding these two buildings were destroyed in the quake, Mitchell says, and two were killed.
“All the people we know have lost family -- and some, their whole family,” he adds.
St. Marc, the largest urban centre near the medical clinic, is the closest one to Port Au Prince that can accommodate the people -- and still, most residents of St. Marc have a family member who perished in the quake.
Dieudonne Batraville, Hope for Haiti’s co-ordinator in the country, was on the last flight in to Haiti before the quake (she was travelling with Yvonne Martin, the nurse from Elmira who died in the quake).  
Mitchell says that Batraville usually stops in Port Au Prince the night of her arrival to take care of business and banking, but she went straight to St. Marc instead.
“Someone was watching over her that night,” Staffen says.
But now, she is watching over others as she struggles with her own loss. In an e-mail from Friday, Jan. 15, she says:
Imagine, even our police officers and UN people are dead. It is sad. Now we are keeping on counting our dead, helping with hygiene kits at the hospital, and feeding the young kids and displaced injured people. We are receiving loads of injured in the hospital, and arranging funerals. It is sad and crazy here. I do not know what to do exactly as I do not have money and I am worried that supplies will be gone by the time I could buy things. St. Marc is not hit, but St. Marc is the closest city to Port Au Prince that can accommodate the people and each family has someone injured or dead. I lost one of my nieces,we have not found the body yet. I thank God I am still strong, alive, able to help the way I can... Today I am trying to provide the hospital with toilet paper, soap, disinfectant, detergent, chlorine, mattresses, water bottles and presence to support the workers. I am not able to give my truck as the shortage of fuel is started.
Mitchell says that money is the best way to help now.  People have phoned him to see if he’d like to form a group to go to Haiti to help.
“But people aren’t thinking,” he says.
“There’s too many there now (trying to help), and there’s no materials... I suppose it should be one or two years before the ordinary person should even think about going down.”
The Hope for Haiti dinner at Damen’s, scheduled for Jan. 26, was approaching sell-out status even before the quake hit. More tickets were printed, and they’ve since sold out, too. The group holds two other regular fundraisers, a curling bonspiel in February and a golf tournament in May.
Other ways to help Haiti
--The Rotary Club of St. Marys is accepting donations to purchase water purification boxes; the club is already sending two down, along with a shelter box, which contains a tent for 10 people, plus water purification and other supplies that can last for two months. The water boxes cost $135 each, and the shelter box, $1,000. To make a donation, call Doug Goudy at 519-284-8130.
--The St. Marys Lincolns will have a collection box in the front lobby of the Pyramid Centre at their Friday night game in St. Marys, which starts at 7:45 p.m.
--Rant Maggie Rant is playing a benefit concert tonight, Wednesday, Jan. 20, at the St. Marys Legion. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show begins at 8. Admission is by donation at the door.