NewburyportNews.com, Newburyport, MA

Local News

Discussion

comments powered by Disqus
January 21, 2010

Local charities see surge in donations

By Katie Curley Katzman

Lisa Gallagher of Hawtan Leathers in Newburyport's Industrial Park has partnered with Port City Laundromat to collect donations for those affected by the earthquake in Haiti.

Charla Holt, who owns the laundromat, is allowing her business to be used as a drop-off point. A volunteer has worked to organize and label bags of clothes that Merrimac resident Clinton Bridges has been picking up.

Bridges bring them to Hawtan employees Candy Fernandez and Tito Ramos, both of Haverhill, who sort the clothing and shoes by gender and size and box them for shipment to Haiti.

"We have almost enough to fill a separate 20-foot container and are hoping to use monetary donations to defray the cost of shipping," Gallagher said. "The port in Port-au-Prince is closed to commercial traffic right now, but we got word today that they may open parts of it by the end of the week. In the meantime, we are exploring shipping to the Dominican Republic and trucking it across the border to Haiti. We are targeting the first shipment for the first week in February."

Gallagher's husband, Dan, is still at their tannery in Haiti, where they have found out that they have lost some of their employees in the quake. The tannery is up and running despite a 6.0 aftershock that rocked the region yesterday morning. A curfew has been put in place from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. to guard against looting.

"We have sustained some losses of employees and their family members — our office bookkeeper was killed in the market collapse in Delmas. She was getting bread for her family," Gallagher said. "We are just waiting for the banks to reopen in order to assist them with funeral arrangements, which is something we have always done for our workers. We hear some of the banks may reopen tomorrow. We need the money, too, for supplies and food for the workers."

Gallagher has been able to communicate with her husband via Skype, a software application that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet.

"It was very reassuring to all of us up here in Newburyport. The earthquake's toll is clearly visible on everyone's faces, but they are all pulling together and helping each other and the company out," Gallagher said. "Dan continues to be amazed at the selflessness of our workers. The port in Cap-Haitien is opening soon, and in the meantime we are working on rerouting shipments through the Dominican Republic."

At Partners In Development based in Ipswich, staff continue to coordinate a relief team to be sent down to assess the damage done to PID structures, staff and members. Gale Hull, who heads the organization and will lead the team, is planning to leave on Saturday night for the Dominican Republic and then make her way to the clinic that the group runs in Blanchard, part of Port-au-Prince.

The quake was responsible for a PID guesthouse collapse that killed two staff members and three guests.

While some staff and PID members have been reunited with their families, others are still searching.

Last week, the Common Man Family of Restaurants held a fundraiser at all of their 17 locations across New Hampshire. The restaurants donated 50 percent of their proceeds to be split between PID and the American Red Cross relief efforts; an estimated $54,000 was raised. In addition, the Flying Monkey Movie House in Plymouth, N.H., also part of the Common Man family, will be hosting another fundraiser today and will donate 50 percent of their proceeds to the aforementioned organizations.

Response has also been overwhelming at IC-Haiti, the nonprofit organization based at the Immaculate Conception Church.

"We continue to actively raise funds for relief," organizer Eric Brennan said. "We have raised another $5,000 to $6,000, and we've gotten a lot of response, not just from people in town and at the parish, but from friends, family and associates."

Brennan said he was taken aback when a colleague passed him a $1,000 check.

"People are frustrated, but the one thing they can do is write a check," he said.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local charities see surge in donations
by By Katie Curley Katzman , , Thu Jan 21, 2010, 03:59 AM EST

Port Pics
AP Video
Special Features