Haiti Stories


LANXESS Corporation

In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, specialty chemicals company LANXESS Corporation has allowed employee Jeff Ritter to devote his time and expertise to heading up coordination efforts with Deep Springs International (DSI), a Grove City, PA-based non-profit organization that helps Haitians obtain safe drinking water. Jeff is leading this effort because his son, Michael, was working for DSI in Haiti when the earthquake hit.

Jeff, who works in the procurement department at LANXESS, is serving full-time as the primary liaison/communicator with suppliers and DSI to help coordinate clean water efforts in the disaster response. LANXESS donated approximately $200,000 to help fund DSI's project that will provide 20,000 household water purification systems for the relief effort. LANXESS also assisted DSI in procuring more than four million chemical water treatment tablets needed to provide Haitian families with safe water. LANXESS funded the procurement of the tablets and other supplies that will produce 20 million gallons of safe water for the relief effort.

"After the earthquake hit and I knew Michael was okay, I approached my boss about devoting some time to assisting my son's emergency response effort," said Jeff Ritter. "LANXESS was already looking to help earthquake relief efforts, so my relationship with DSI made for the perfect fit, and the company could not be more supportive."

DSI's clean water program provides a sustainable solution to the water crisis in Haiti by providing simple water treatment systems so that even the poorest families can treat their own water.


BNY Mellon

BNY Mellon's employee and corporate commitment to humanitarian relief in Haiti is approaching $1 million. The company has pledged up to $400,000 to match employee donations. In addition, BNY Mellon has contributed $100,000 to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and $25,000 to the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Deshapelles for medicines and medical supplies. Founded in 1956 by Dr. Larimer Mellon and Gwen Grant Mellon, the hospital's staff of 16 doctors and 50 nurses has been a frenzy of activity since the earthquake struck. Every room, including the library and cafeteria, has been put into service.

Through BNY Mellon's signature Community Partnership Program, the company's world-wide workforce of 42,200 employees is also engaged in the Haiti relief efforts in two distinctive ways: through personal, direct contributions to nonprofit humanitarian organizations and through team volunteering and team fundraising projects. Employees are eligible for an individual company match of up to $500 apiece for personal contributions to several global humanitarian relief organizations.


Pure Water For All

The group of associates that surrounds Rotary's Pure Water for All project (Dick Wukich of Slippery Rock University and Lisa Ballantine of Filter Pure) have started a colloidal silver embedded ceramic water filter manufacturing plant in the Dominican Republic. This filter removes more than 99% of the bacteria from even the most polluted water and reduces disease dramatically.

Dick and Jeff Schwarz of the Braddock Carnegie Library Ceramics Studio plus others are presently in the Dominican Republic to complete Lisa's water filter plant and increase its production to immediately provide filters into Haiti.

Dick reports the progress in his e-mail of January 26:

"Dear friends, We have been working in the Filter Pure shop for the last couple days. The workers are very efficient and they can put out a lot of filters. Currently our production facility is running full bore and we are shipping 250 filters by cargo plane. We can produce two loads per week and are moving to increase production as I type this.

This afternoon we helped load a semi with filters and a couple thousand water filters for Haiti. The trip takes 9 hours for 120 miles they have a couple drivers and 2 armed guards.

This production facility is capable over a thousand a week. The potter who runs the factory and I worked on a new filter design today. He will assemble another press machine this week and allow us to increase production even more."

See www.purewaterforall.orgM for more information.


Bayer Corporation

Bayer employees have a long tradition of helping others when disaster strikes, and with the catastrophe in Haiti there is a strong desire for Bayer employees to aid those in need. Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Bayer invited its employees worldwide to make charitable donations which will be matched by the Bayer Cares Foundation up to a level of EUR 100,000. The contributions and matching funds will be used for projects that offer a sustainable contribution to reconstruction in the disaster areas. Additionally, Bayer is supporting emergency relief activities through donations in the form of medicines worth around EUR 90,000. Bayer is making these medications available to the Red Cross in the Dominican Republic so that the medicine can be distributed quickly to neighboring country Haiti.

For more information, visit www.BayerUS.com.


Global Links

Global Links. Sharing Surplus. Saving Lives.

In response to the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January, Pittsburgh-based Global Links is procuring financial donations as well as medical materials and equipment to support ongoing disaster relief efforts.

Through its collaboration with Hopital Albert Schweitzer, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), and Medical Education Cooperation With Cuba (MEDICC), Global Links is in contact with doctors in Haiti working in some of the most quake affected areas and rural communities, who are able to identify and quantify needs for specific medical materials. This ensures that only what is essential and useful is delivered.

A not-for-profit organization, Global Links collaborates with U.S. institutions to recover surplus medical materials before those items are consigned to landfills. Global Links also coordinates community collections of gently used crutches, wheelchairs and other homecare items, providing an environmentally responsible alternative to curbside trash collection or unnecessary storage.

Recovered items are cleaned, refurbished and distributed to hospitals abroad that serve some of the world's poorest communities. In Haiti, the demand for even basic medical materials has always been tremendous; since the earthquake, the need is and will be even greater.

Global Links has an established history of effective international aid. Since its founding in 1989, Global Links has redirected more than $160 million in critical medical aid to developing nations, including Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica and Nicaragua.

People in other countries are dying for what we throw away. Global Links is working to change that.


Filter Pure Water Systems

Just when you took a glass of water for granted... a word from the streets in Haiti

Dear Friends,

The water system in Port-au-Prince is non-existent and without water filtration, tens of thousands more will die from waterborne diseases. As the Director of Filter Pure Water Filter Systems in the Dominican Republic, I hope all Americans understand how fortunate you are to have easy access to safe, clean drinking water. Growing up in America, clean water is something I always took for granted. Our organization is committed to providing safe clean water to the people of Haiti whose lives have been devastated. I am calling on the women of American for help! Consider this fact; the average women in the U.S. will spend $30 at minimum on a haircut. $30 will provide a Haitian family with a water filter that will provide them with safe clean water for 5 years!! I am calling on all American women to consider donating $30, the cost of a haircut to provide a lifesaving water filter to a family affected by the tragic earthquake. I am calling on all American women to help me to bring attention to this message ad help me to raise awareness. As a demonstration of my love, commitment and devotion to this project, I will be shaving my head Saturday on the street in Port-au-Prince.

Please consider making a donation and asking others to do the same. When my head is shaved, I will be wearing my special bandana hoping to draw attention to the cause. You can also purchase a bandana for $3 of promote this effort of bringing safe clean water to the families and children of Haiti.

Thank you so much for your help. Please visit our website to watch my head shaving ceremony.

Much love from Port-au-Prince.

Lisa Ballantine
Executive Director
829-452-6860


UNEP