Conor in Port-au-Prince, HELP reaching out to students

Dear Friends,

I just spoke with Conor, who arrived safely in Port-au-Prince this morning and has been able to arrange for medical care for our four staff members who were injured in the earthquake. Edelyne, Franz, Goretti and Dumas are currently being tended to at St. Damien's Hospital, and though we still don't know the full extent of their injuries, we are grateful that they are receiving care.

Our biggest priority at this point is determining the whereabouts and safety of the 50 students currently unaccounted for. Conor and Garry will be coordinating the students into calling teams and search parties to help locate the rest of their classmates. Again, so far none have been reported dead. We are hoping for the best and will keep you updated.

Many of you have been reaching out and asking what you can do for HELP and for Haiti in general. At this point, the best thing you can do is raise money. We are of course collecting funds to rebuild the lives of our students, staff and their families. The first response teams who we also recommend are:

Red CrossCarePartners In HealthMercyCorps

We would advise you to travel to Haiti ONLY if you are a trained medical professional.

Last, we'd like to thank you for the outpouring of support and well-wishes we have received over the past few days. Our hearts go out to those of you out to those of you who have lost loved ones in this tragedy. There are no words.

Kim DiltsDirector of Operations