Hurricane Matthew Final Report

All of the money donated to and through Outreach to Haiti for Hurricane Matthew relief has been distributed, and is helping a lot of Haitians!

First, Hurricane Matthew relief efforts, overall, are far from over.  Secondly, 100% of the money donated to Outreach to Haiti for Hurricane Matthew went to Haiti for those relief efforts.

As you no doubt know, the hurricane destroyed crops and livestock, in addition to all the damage to boats and buildings.  The area hit hardest was the main food growing area in Haiti, so not only were local crops destroyed, but the large food growing areas were devastated, leaving a severe food shortage, and causing escalating prices.

Organizations twinned through Outreach with parishes, schools, or orphanages in Haiti sent down about $90,000 to their twins.  100% of this was sent to those twins.  We deducted no fees.

 In addition to that, we received $65,000 in hurricane relief donations from non-twin donors.  This was two large donations from organizations, The Sisters of Loretto and an anonymous donor, and a very significant number of other donations from individuals or other organizations.

Fortunately, Outreach facilities were not damaged.  We used $5,000 of the donated money immediately for water purification devices, rehydration salts, clothes, and money for roof replacements for employees and their families in the hurricane zone.  This allowed the employees to return to work, helping others, very quickly, without worrying about the safety of their families.

Knowing that there were other organizations addressing these same issues, and recognizing that the food shortages that were caused had longer term solutions, we used the remaining $60,000 in a variety of ways.

First, when this type of catastrophe occurs, people tend to migrate into the city, and the people already in the city are put under even more stress because of the increased food insecurity.  We are using $20,000 of the amount to boost the services of our clinic.  This includes the doctor consults, lab work, vaccinations, and two specific nutrition programs.  We were already seeing a worsening of the condition of the people entering the nutrition programs due to the drought.  The hurricane made that situation much worse.  There will be both more people needing the program, and the worse condition will make them take longer to recover, staying in the program longer.

The final $40,000 was spread amongst five parishes twinned through Outreach, that were most devastated by the hurricane.

$10,000 went to one parish where most of the people make their living by fishing.  The money went to replace the 70 boats that were destroyed in the hurricane.  This money is far short of what is needed to replace all the boats, but, through the pastor, we worked with the two fisherman associations in the town to develop a plan to help everyone regain their livelihood over time.   Money is being spread out to a number of the fishermen to help them replace their boats.  The amount given does not pay for the whole boat, but is enough to allow them to get a boat.  They then pay back into a fund from their earnings, and that fund gives money to others to get them restarted.  This spreads the money around, will ultimately help all the fishermen, and facilitates Haitians helping Haitians.

The other $30,000 will be spread amongst the other 4 parishes affected.  $5,000 each to two and $10,000 each to the other two.  This money is being spent one-third on roof/home repair (the predominant issue in those areas with housing is having had the tin roofs ripped off of the houses), one-third for seed stock to allow them to replant, and also to replace livestock, and one-third to subsidize food purchases, to help offset the escalating food prices.

Your donation has helped to make a real difference in the lives of our employees, but much more, in the lives of people coming to our clinic and in the parishes twinned through Outreach.  We hope this gives you an idea of  the significant difference you have made in the lives of many Haitians, at this very difficult time.

We, and the people we serve, are extremely grateful for your compassion and generosity,