When the 7.3 magnitude struck Haiti on January 12th, the already-impoverished and struggling nation was reduced to chaos. The initial news stories painted a bleak picture of tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless, with total devastation of essential infrastructures such as hospitals, roads, airports, schools, and relief offices.
Within days the IFRC had posted on Flickr a collection of photos that showed the damage. The images ranged from wide aerial shots–of neighborhoods that look almost like they could be the aftermath of crude structures flattened and destroyed by a toddler "playing" earthquake in his sandbox–to tear-jerking close-ups of children whose dirty, bandaged faces show banal expressions from knowing too keenly in their young lives the pangs of hunger and poverty.
As I clicked through these images and read the scant reports that came out in those first few days, I imagined what it would be like to be there amidst the devastation. I imagined what it would be like to a child in that environment. I was determined to help in any way I could. I knew that the people of Haiti were surrounded by dilapidated buildings, raw sewage, broken glass, and other debris. They needed food, medical care, shelter, and clean water. I didn’t have any of those things to offer, and, like many of you, I’m not in a financial position to give any meaningful amount of money. But I did have children’s shoes—shoes that could protect the feet of the Haitian children to keep them safe and clean.
On January 19th, I contacted my local Red Cross chapter and asked whether they were accepting in-kind donations and was told they were not because they had no infrastructure in Haiti to receive them—their own offices had been destroyed. Disappointed but not discouraged, I posted my findings on Twitter and quickly received a link to a shoe store in Canada that was accepting donations of shoes to send to Haiti. From their website I was able to jump to Soles4Souls and then everything just fell into place.
On the Soles4Souls website I read about their commitment to donate 1 million pairs of shoes, along with other relief supplies, to victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. To meet this goal, Soles4Souls partnered with shoe stores and other businesses who accepted donations on their behalf. After my experience with the Red Cross, I first needed to confirm with the Soles4Souls procurement department that they could in fact get the shoes into Haiti. Once they assured me they could, I got to work.
KidBean.com is primarily an online retailer, but for a time I did also wholesale a few products, including a line of organic hemp children’s sneakers that I co-designed. I also had organic hemp sandals, rainbow sandals, and loafer-style organic hemp shoes for kids. In all, I had nearly 850 pairs of children’s shoes in my warehouse and I sent every one of them to Soles4Souls on January 22nd for them to forward to the children of Haiti.
It took several hours to ready the shipment and my six-year-old son, Jared, was indispensable that Friday afternoon as the two of us raced around the warehouse emptying bins of shoes, sorting and counting the contents, and then packing them neatly in boxes. We weren’t ready when our UPS driver came by for our daily afternoon pickup but he happily agreed to come back later that evening to pick up the shipment.
(In case you’re wondering about my dark attire, you should know that I always wear black on Fridays. Whenever possible I attend a weekly vigil with the Women in Black in downtown Asheville. Even when I can’t attend, I still wear black as a symbol of my protest of violence everywhere.)
I’m glad that I was in a position to offer assistance to the victims of the earthquake, and I’m encouraged by news like today’s Miami Herald report that, as of February 1st, $35 million had been donated via text messages alone to various Haitian relief efforts. The local response here in Asheville has been amazing, including creative fund-raising events by businesses such as The Water Lily and Wildflower Studio salons donating money from haircuts, Rosetta’s Kitchen sending to Haiti all donations from their Sunday cauldron soup night, and the upcoming Help Haiti Heal benefit concert.
While the global response has been incredible—especially considering the economic downturn that still affects so much of the world—there is still a long way to go. The Washington Post reported today that only about half of the 2 million Haitians who need food aid have actually received it so far—three weeks after the earthquake. About 70,000 people have received temporary shelter materials, but tens hundreds of thousands more are in need of such basic necessities.
Please, if you have not already done so, I urge you to give in any way that you can. Numerous charities are accepting donations for Haiti relief and USA Today columnist Sandra Block offers valuable tips on what to consider before choosing a charity. Whether you donate by text, with a credit card online, or give a pair of shoes at your participating local shoe store, your donation WILL make a difference in the lives of the victims of this earthquake.
Let’s not stop with providing emergency assistance to the people of Haiti in their time of crisis. As relief workers are able to bring aid to the victims and the country begins to heal and rebuild, let us also remember to address the long-term social and economic injustices that contribute to the poverty in Haiti.
