Haiti still has a long road ahead in its recovery from the devastating earthquake last month. On Wednesday, more help from South Florida is heading to the island.
With the Haitian government still reeling from the assassination of its president this summer, aid coming in from loved ones in South Florida is more important than ever.
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WATCH HEREOn the hot ramp at Fort Lauderdale’s Executive Airport, the We Reach Foundation was hard at work, preparing to fly to Haiti.
“I spent eight days on the ground. They need our help bad," We Reach's Lex Pierre-Louis said.
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Pierre-Louis set up his foundation to provide aid to Haiti after first traveling there to take Christmas presents. Now what he’s taking is more important -- food, shoes and other essentials.
“Today we are taking the most essential items that we can carry on the plane—tarps, tents, some hygiene,’ Louis- Pierre said.
During our time in Haiti, we went to villages that had not received any assistance until a Coast Guard helicopter arrived. Residents came from all around to bring those seriously injured. Many in a village like the ones we went to have been sleeping under the nighttime sky since their homes are gone.
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A bigger challenge now — the assassination of the Haitian president in early July has the government unable to coordinate aid coming in as well as it has during natural disasters before.
“This is a little challenging to get our things through. That’s why we are flying today on the plane but my main thing is buying in the country. There’s plenty of stores—plenty of Costcos in Haiti, so we normally go and buy in Haiti and the items that we may not be able to find we take them with us," Pierre-Louis said.
Because the Haitian government isn’t running at full speed, Lex, and those like him, are more vital than ever before in helping Haiti. To help the We Reach Foundation contact them at https://www.thewereachfoundation.org/
