FOOD/SHELTER - we have been distributing food, and our kids, employees, patients and family members are getting daily plates of rice, beans, chicken and fish. We have one meal a day that is continuously served from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. so that everyone can have a chace to eat while only having to fire up the cookers, etc once a day. This past week, we have cooked over 6,000 plates of food for the people at Double Harvest and our guests.

As our teams moved into our five surrounding villages, it becomes a more difficult task as we need to make sure food is given in a humane way and not the degrading way of just throwing the food overboard a truck and letting the Haitians fight over it. The team at Double Harvest have done a census in the villages, forming committees of community leaders. We have a list of people in those villages and will be distributing food in each community to assure those most in need receive food. We also developed a wristband system to assure all families are fed. Unlike what you might see on the media, the people were very well organized, and in less than 20 minutes we gave out food for about 950 people . The food distribution should last them about 1 week so we don’t get in the mode of people expecting a handout every day. The packages they receive include rice, beans. live fish, and oil. When the team moves to the next village (there are 5 we are serving), they use different color wristbands to assure an honest distribution between villages. The plan is to teach them how to do the distribution at the beginning and then turning it over to the local village committee. The smile and the hugs from those people tell how happy and appreciative.

REBUILDING - In addition to the feeding program we have had in place, we have been also doing a tree planting programs for a couple of years. To each family receiving a meal we also provided one tree for them to plant in their neighborhood. The picture of those young man was taken in front of a tree that we gave them to plant 2 years ago. The idea is to have these young men and women understand that we want to help them also but also that they need to take some active part in their future. As Double Harvest’s main focus is agriculture are making sure that we do not lose focus despite the situation. Reforestation and proper farming continues to be one of the main focuses for this country to assure their survival and rebuilding.
SCHOOL – School continues to be in session on a daily basis now. If you are in the sponsor a child program (or would like to be at $30 a month), we should be back to regular updates soon, but there is such a great need, we are still working on getting all of the information together. Visit Doubleharvest.org and tab on the left for more information.
MIKE WALLACE DOUBLE HARVEST CAR – Mike Wallace, driver of the #01 Nationwide Car, was kind enough to donate space on the car and to design a personally funded Double Harvest racesuit for the race at Daytona last week. He was able to get exposure and interviews nationally on Fox News, ESPN, ESPN2, SpeedChannel, and Sirius Satellite Radio. Attached are some pictures of the car and of Mike. Mike will again be wearing the race suit this weekend in California at the race. We had immediate hits on our Double Harvest Facebook page all weekend and we had a spike in donations to Double Harvest on Friday/Saturday/Sunday due to the this exposure.
FUNDRAISING – our original goal was $150,000 raised and after the earthquake hit, we thought we had a realistic shot of $500,000, bit we raised the goal to $1,000,000 just to provide a stretch target. With fundraising still going on (and still a need), and due to all of the great exposure and work done by many groups across the country, we are up to $1,300,000 in donations in-house with more pledged and more coming in. An unbelievable effort by all and everyone at Double Harvest is amazed at everyone’s generosity. From groups of employees (see attached pictures at Metrolina of a fundraiser), to groups of doctors (Kansas Group), to groups of kids (tons of examples), to individuals, to the Haitian employees of Double Harvest (they raised $400 themselves), everyone continues to make this a wonderful example of giving. This money allows us to expand our rebuilding efforts, provide more resources for our medical teams, and assure Double Harvest “grows” to support the ever-expanding need.
ONGOING UPDATES – tons of folks have created their own picture forums (See attached word document from one of our volunteer doctors who just returned with over 200 pictures in a shutterfly type link) and blogs (see an update from JL Williams at http://www.jlwilliams.org/home/full_entry/haiti_valentine/ ), and as each group returns from their volunteer service, their recaps and stories will be shared. We just had another group return on Monday and I hope to have new pictures and information from them later this week to post to Facebook and to the online at doubleharvest.org.

CHURCH/GROUP PRESENTATIONS - we have developed a .ppt presentation if someone needs one to tell the story of Double Harvest, the earthquake, the relief effort, and now the rebuilding plan. We will get this on doubleharvest.org to download as a .pdf, or we can email it to you if you need it. We will constantly update this presentation so it is relevant to the need.
FACEBOOK - 3,000 Strong and counting. This is one of the most active Facebook pages on both hits and number of members of any Haiti relief page out there. Continue to check this for updates and information from folks who have visited Double Harvest and others with updates.
VOLUNTEER GROUPS – we are starting to gather the longer-term volunteer needs for electricians, plumbers, maintenance, etc and we will publish that need (groups of 10-12 people at a time are most manageable) in the next letter or two. If you want to go, please contact vernon@doubleharvest.org or joe@prinsusa.com or gary@prinsusa.com. They are coordinating volunteer groups and assessing the needs from a technical/managerial level after the May 1st timeframe.

GIVING LOCATIONS – Money is still the #1 need, but if you are collecting, we have sites as follows to drop off goods:

SCHOOL – School was back in session for the first time today since the quake. See the attached pictures of some of the gatherings of students.

MEDICAL – Our team on the ground estimates in-hospital patients requiring surgery and/or casting is over 500 now since the earthquake. This does not count the hundreds of others that are seen daily with other illnesses not requiring immediate surgery. There have also been at least 4 births.

We just had 28 doctors from Miami arrive as a new rotation (included a much-needed OBGYN) and we are now more focused on recovery and rehabilitation. This is vital as the typical injuries are broken bones, and this requires specific rehabilitation to assure proper healing. Our doctors have transitioned the temporary triage unit into more of a rehabilitation center and thanks to the donation of a Dominican organization we got 4 nice size tents, we were able to open a 4th post op room.

FOOD - the bigger problem recently is food, but our team is working a new plan. We have been distributing food, and our kids, employees, patients and family members are still getting their daily plates of rice, beans, chicken and fish. This past week, we have cooked over 6,000 plates of food for the people at Double harvest and our guests. As we move into our five surrounding villages, it becomes a more difficult task as we need to make sure food is given in a humane way and not the degrading way of just throwing the food overboard a truck and letting the Haitians fight over it. Around Double Harvest, we have been doing a census in villages, forming committees of community leaders. We have a list of people in those villages and will be distributing food in each community to assure those most in need receive food.

FUNDRAISING – we continue to hear great stories of random fundraisers. A group of kids in New Jersey have sold hot chocolate on the streets on weekends and have raise over $1,400. We had a group of employees at Metrolina run daily raffles of local goods to raise money. In total, Double Harvest continues to exceed every goal we have set for fundraising which is allowing us to continue to meet the needs.

ONLINE- We are adding new thing to the website over the next weeks. We will add a .ppt file you can download to help you tell the Double Harvest store to others. We will also announce additional drop-off options for goods.

VOLUNTEER GROUPS – we are starting to gather the longer-term volunteer needs for electricians, plumbers, maintenance, etc and we will publish that need (groups of 10-12 people at a time are most manageable) in the next letter or two. If you want to go, we will develop a process for you to volunteer.

GIVING LOCATIONS – Money is still the #1 need, but if you are collecting, we have sites as follows to drop off goods:

via cousin Abe van Wingerden:

2/4/2010 Double Harvest Update

Friends of Double Harvest,
After spending the last 2 days listening the Dr. Art McCulloch and Nick VanWingerden talk about their experiences in Haiti, I am even more overwhelmed at the work that is being done at Double Harvest.

AT THE MISSION – thanks to J.L. Williams for getting a new generator delivered and procured (free from the U.S. Military) for Double Harvest. What awesome news and now we can better run much of the surgical and other needed equipment on site. This also allows the old generator to now serve as a backup as we are not sure when regular power will be restored. We also had a birth at Double Harvest a few days ago. See the pictures attached and the unique heating system they used for the newborn at the hospital.

MORE ON THE NEWS – Dr. Art McCulloch was featured on WBTV news in Charlotte two nights ago as the lead story. Some of the facts of the history of Double Harvest are a bit off, but it was good to see the media allow Art to tell the real story about Double Harvest and the real story of the Haitian people. Click on the link for this story.

HOW YOU CAN HELP – money is still the best option by far. As mentioned before, it costs $6,000 in shipping alone to get a container to Double Harvest. Additionally, it can take up to 3 months for a container to get into the country. We can buy locally on some of the items needed for everyday. For example:

Typical Costs of Items in Haiti
=====================
$0.50 for a lb of rice
$1.00 for a lb of beans
$0.10 for a starter Tilapia Fish (takes 3 months to grow to full size)

One Meal of Fish/Rice/Beans/etc for a person is $0.50

ELECTRICITY
$5.00 Gallon of Gas
*Takes 200 Gallons a Day to run the facility

SCHOOLING
$30 a Month to give a child one meal a day, books, and cover tuition at the school at Double Harvest

BOARD MEETING – As noted in the last update, the Double Harvest board will be meeting this week and weekend to begin the process of working a “re-building “ plan including additional plans for how you can help and for those whom want to visit Double Harvest on-site on a non-medical volunteer work basis for a weekend, week, etc. Much work in planning to be done, but the long-term need is great and our team is up to the challenge.

More to come on the promised drop locations and other great news going on at Double Harvest. We have more rotations of doctors coming in, and we have some of the original team (Uncle Arie, my parents,) and my brother and sister-in-law on their way back to Haiti this weekend for another “tour of duty”. Thanks to everyone for their continued support, concern, and prayers for Double Harvest.

And, thanks to the almost 2,700 member strong Facebook nation that is part of Double Harvest (Check it out at Facebook and key word Double Harvest) and at DoubleHarvest.org. Lastly, thanks to the continued contributions that are still coming in everyday.

via Frantz (administrator at DH)

via cousin Abe van Wingerden

Friends of Double Harvest,

The tough daily work continues for the team at Double Harvest in Haiti.  We are now on our third rotation of doctors already and our volunteer doctors are helping to train the on-staff folks at Double Harvest, but the need is greater today than it was 15 days ago as more and more Haitians in need find out about Double Harvest.

SCHOOL – Great news.  The school will re-open on Monday well ahead of schedule (it was thought that it would be closed the rest of the year).    One of the main reasons is that we NEED to feed the kids and this is an orderly way to do it.  Also, the curriculum will be a little different as there will be some counselors and we will have some interaction activities with them so the children begin to deal with reality.  The situations they are living in are still very stressful as the houses are still very fragile and many families are scared to sleep in their homes due to aftershocks and just general fear.

ON-SITE – One of the frustrations the doctors and other on-site staff has been the old generator that has been used to run power at the site. When we finally got enough fuel to run the generator, we found it was not prepared for the immense needs on site.    We now have a new generator being installed which will greatly increase our ability to generate enough power to do all of the surgeries and run the other needs of Double Harvest.

NEW WORK -  Prosthetics and wheelchairs will be a big need now and we are working with an organization that is helping us meet that need.

BOARD MEETING - the Double Harvest board will be meeting this week to begin the process of working a “re-building “ plan including additional plans for how you can help and for those whom want to visit Double Harvest on-site on a non-medical volunteer work basis for a weekend, week, etc.  Much work in planning to be done, but the long-term need is great and our team is up to the challenge.

MEDIA – We continue to receive great coverage including on-air mentions at local radio stations, more coverage on various local business and websites who are collecting money, and local business running raffles and other contest to make money for Double Harvest.   The outpouring of supports continues even after the base media coverage has slowed. We also had a film crew from Joe Gibbs Racing at Double Harvest last Thursday and Friday and we should have some good video to share soon.

HOW YOU CAN HELP – money is still the best option by far.  As mentioned before, it costs $6,000 in shipping alone to get a container to Double Harvest.  Additionally, it can take up to 3 months for a container to get into the country.

We can buy supplies and the mission’s needs much cheaper locally for now.    For those who are/will collect goods for shipment later, there are some big Dos and Don’ts.  For those familiar with Haiti, you know that the seasonal light rains begins in less than 10 days, with heavy rains beginning in earnest in May.

Needs (Complied list from the folks on-site)
=================================
SHELTER -  Tarps

SHELTER -  Enclosed Camping Tents – 2, 4, 6 or 8 man
SHELTER -  Sleeping Cots and Lightweight Sleeping Bags / Ground Pad (not air mattress)

SHELTER -  Sheets for Single Beds
FOOD - Cooking Oil, Bags of dry rice Bags of dry beans (no canned goods)
FOOD – Ziploc Bags (all sizes for storage) and Hard Plastic dishes for orphanages (no soft plastic)
MEDICAL -  Ace bandages, Sterile Pads, antibiotics, Neosporin, Tylenol and Ibuprofen

SCHOOL – Notebook Paper, Construction Paper, Pencils, Crayons, Toothbrush/Toothpaste sets

CLOTHING – New Clothing and Shoes If Possible, but all tags need to be removed, and no hangers please.

SIZING – Nothing larger than Large for Adults.    The need for XL and XXL is not great.

SHOES – Tennis Shoes, Crocks, Flip Flops, no shoes with heels.

SHORTS – The mesh gym shorts are very popular for kids, but no shorts for Adults please.

To drop off items at Metrolina Greenhouses (other sites will be mentioned soon), please pack everything in medium size boxes and mark what is in it, and bring to the old race shop.  Contact Todd or Vickie (tjohnson@metrolinagreenhouses.com or Vickie@metrolinagreenhouses.com) with specific questions on this.    Remember, money is still the biggest need, but if you cannot do money, these are the items above where the biggest need is right now.

More to come and I promise on the next email at the end of the week that we will have defined drop points in major US cities like Nashville, Charlotte, Cleveland, Chicago, Washington DC to help assure the needs of Double Harvest are met.

Lastly, we now have over 2,500 members on Facebook now on the Double Harvest page and we are still adding over 50-100 people a day. Please check there for additional videos and links.     Also check new pictures on Doubleharvest.org.

Thanks to everyone for their continued thoughts, prayers, and support.

via cousin Abe van Wingerden

Friends of Double Harvest,

Our new rotation of fresh Board members is now in-house at Double Harvest and our new rotation of doctors is in as well.   The new teams are giving us a renewed stark reminder of the death, disease, and destruction as they are exposed to it for the first time, but they are also giving us a fresh perspective and new energy.

MEDICAL CARE - We are taking more and more patients on a daily basis and we have now turned the gym at the school into a hospital ward. We had a wave of new orphan children come in today (so many of them that we could not get an accurate count), and the doctors and their teams did an amazing job.  We did lose one of the patients today and for that everyone was very sad, but the numbers that were helped yesterday and today was amazing.

SUPPLIES – We are starting to get some the urgent medical supplies we need.   The new rotation of doctors brought medical supplies with them, and we are starting to get the medical supplies from relief organizations and supplies donated by those coming into Haiti.  Attached is a picture of a box of supplies that flew on the Joe Gibbs Racing Team plane and was delivered to Double Harvest. Another group is headed to Double Harvest on Thursday with an x-ray machine, sterilizers, and some donated oxygen generators.

WEBSITE – Doubleharvest.org has been updated with streaming picture of both the destruction and the relief work going on in Haiti at Double Harvest.  Some of the pictures are difficult to view, but they are the reality of what is being dealt with.    The website is going to be continually updated with new pictures as we our first wave of our team comes back to the USA with new pictures that could not be emailed.

FACEBOOK -  1,600 fans of Double Harvest on Facebook and Going strong.  Thanks to everyone for forwarding this information out and getting the  word out on Double Harvest.  We are seeing it reflected in the comments and we see it in the creativity in which people of using to raise funds for the efforts at Double Harvest.    We also are getting numerous requests to use Double Harvest as a staging areas for other relief groups due to our running water, established facilities, access to medical relief, and our facebook “spreading of the word” that is getting out.  1,600 fans already on Facebook.

PRAYER SERVICE – Each morning, the team at Double Harvest is running a prayer service to mourn the dead, pray for the injured, and pray for peace during the relief/rebuilding efforts.   Even in the midst of the devastation, the prayer services are a positive moment in an otherwise hard and difficult day for our teams.

HOW CAN YOU HELP -  We continue to see all types of creative ways to raise funds.    Some doctors in Kansas who have been to Haiti are doing on online auction at www.purplewave.com for Double Harvest.  They have some great framed pictures taken at Double Harvest.  Also, we had a church raise $21,000 just yesterday for Double Harvest.  $200.12 worth of it was from 2 little girls who set up a “nail painting”  station at the church’s Saturday basketball league and gave manicures and asked for donations.    See attached picture.  You can give via Doubleharvest.org.    Also, if you have doctors/medical staff volunteers that you know of, please contact Diane Cable at cablefamily@aol.com to get scheduled.

Sometime this week, I hope to have a list of items we can donate and donations centers around the country (i.e. family greenhouse locations in major markets), but for now, monetary donations are still by far the best way to help.  Even the smallest donations are going 100% to the mission and work we are doing in Haiti.  Check out the website (doubleharvest.org) and facebook (key word Double Harvest) for the latest pictures.

I was able to personally talk to my parents (who are at Double Harvest Haiti) this afternoon.  They had traveled into PAP, and had gone to see what was left of the Hotel Montana.  They said it was overwhelming to see the devastation and the crews still searching.  My parents were able to use money donated from a family here in our town to buy rice and beans for a village that had no food.  Thank you for your continued prayers for them.  They had planned to return Wedn. but may stay on until Friday.

Today went well. Maryke and Willem (my parents) arrived with some

goodies for us. The docs were able to do surgery to a lady who refused

for three days.  A little boy who was feared to die due to head injury and leg and arm

breaks is getting much better to the point that one of the doctors cried

for joy! Discharging patients went better as we had to hire taxis to take

them home that many times doesn’t exist hoping that family or friends will

care for them. The future is wound care and follow up which lasts for

months as amputees can have on going issues. The teams are transitioning

to another team tomorrow so they know about each patient care needs.

I am going home tomorrow so this is my last update. Tonite we had our last

meeting with this group of wonderful generous kind hard working strangers

that with Gods help were able to make a difference to several hundred

people. What an experience.

Nick VanWingerden
Mid-American Growers

via cousin Abe van Wingerden

As we begin the first wave of transition of both board members and medical teams at the site (Fresh people arrive on Saturday and Sunday), the positive momentum of Double Harvest and their work continues to spread:

MEDICAL TEAM – through just monumental dedication and investment of time, our medical teams has been able to keep up with the 100s of patients on a daily basis and we have not had to turn anyone away.  On the other hand, they are having to make difficult choices.  Many amputations are needed which puts a ton of pressure on doctors to make those decisions.  Keep them in your prayers.  The team is also having to improvise on tools until the next medical team arrives with more supplies.  For example, the team needed an orthopedic drill, but since they did not have one, the team had to take the cordless drills from Double Harvest and drill into bones.  We could not find any fixators either, so Uncle Joe and Uncle Nick made some from the machine shop.

The medical clinic is so full, the team had to open 3 classrooms for more medical rooms.  The entire cafeteria today was full of people that needed help or care in some way  The front part of the clinic is now being used as pre op and “triage” area.  The team put word on the radio that they have a hospital so they know tomorrow will be busy again.  Infection is the biggest issue on folks coming in….they have had open wounds that needed care for 10 days now……..today alone, the team had to amputate 2 feet and a leg because of situations like that.   A fresh medical team arrives on Sunday night to continue to provide care.

THE LITTLE THINGS HELP – back a few months ago, Vickie van Wingerden collected little cars and dolls for the children at the school…………and they are coming in handy now for those kids waiting for medical care……Frantz reports the toys keep their mind busy for some time, and it even puts a smile on their faces sometimes.

THE NEED WILL INCREASE – The Haitain government is moving homeless people out of the main city of Port-a-Prince and into surrounding communities. One of those communities is right by Double Harvest, so we feel the opportunity to serve even more people will come.

SPREADING THE WORD - Nearly 1,000 people signed up for our Facebook Page in just 2 days.  Keep inviting people.   Today alone, we raised $100,000 in donations – THANK YOU for spreading the word…keep it up.   Donations are both big and small.  For example, our night manager at Metrolina put together a “Throw a Water Balloon at the Boss” event and raised nearly $500 during their lunch break for Double Harvest.   Alana Darby, an 11 yr. old girl, sold hot chocolate last Saturday morning in her neighborhood to raise money for Double Harvest.  The need is great, but the spirit of this group is greater.  Thank you very much.

GOOGLE EARTH - See latest images of Double Harvest on Google Earth.  They were snapped just a few weeks ago, so the much of the new construction that is serving people today is visible.  The Coordinates are 18 Degrees 32.38.87 North and 72 Degrees 11.36.09 West.  That will be on the bottom of your screen on Google Earth (look at the numbers) and it will put you right in the 100,000 Tilapia fish pool. The school is to your north.

FUEL – We are anxiously awaiting word on whether a fuel truck arrived today.   We know it is on the road, but it has not arrived yet.   This is once again causing a dire situation if we don’t get fuel today, so keep praying for safety of the driver.

VOLUNTEERS - If you know of a medical person wanting to volunteer in February, Diane Cable is our person on the ground coordinating volunteers of doctors, medical, etc.   Her number is 1 785 565 1484.   Have your folks call or email her.(cablefamily@hotmail.com)    If you know a doctor, the need to contact Diane to arrange WHEN to go.

THE NEWS – More articles, more News.

CHICAGO Paper -an article on one of our board members who is in Haiti right now.

NASCAR HELPING OUT - Mike Wallace has announced that he will carry the message for Haiti humanitarian relief by promoting www.DoubleHarvest.org on his #01 racecar at Daytona. Donations to this Haitian mission will go to direct and on-going relief.

Since Daytona is still weeks away, donations are needed right now so, for more information on this relief effort contact: www.DoubleHarvest.org

the Haitian government is placing 400,000 homeless near Double Harvest.

“PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  —  Within days, the government will move 400,000 people made homeless by Haiti’s epic earthquake from their squalid improvised camps throughout the shattered capital to new resettlement areas on the outskirts, a top Haitian official said Thursday.

Authorities are worried about sanitation and disease outbreaks in makeshift settlements like the one on the city’s central Champs de Mars plaza, said Fritz Longchamp, chief of staff to President Rene Preval.

“The Champ de Mars is no place for 1,000 or 10,000 people,” Longchamp told The Associated Press. “They are going to be going to places where they will have at least some adequate facilities.”

He said buses would start moving the displaced people within a week to 10 days, once new camps are ready. Brazilian U.N. peacekeepers were already leveling land in the suburb of Croix des Bouquets for a new tent city, the Geneva-based intergovernmental International Organization for Migration reported Thursday.” via newsreport

This will be a huge opportunity to share the Gospel.

IT IS AMAZING TO SEE GOD’S HAND AT WORK!

*one other prayer request.  My parents are currently in flight to the Dominican Republic, from there they will drive to Haiti.  They were able to bring needed supplies for my Uncles that are currently there, and much needed medicine for the clinic.  Please remember them in your prayers!  Thank YOU!*

*update- my parents have landed in the D.R. and will drive to Double Harvest tomorrow.*