Friendship Village donates to Haiti relief

When Haiti was struck by an earthquake at 5 p.m. on January 12, 2010, children were in school and their parents were doing their jobs. Then the media began coverage, and the residents at Friendship Village began asking how they could help. The Friendship Senior Services Foundation (FSSF) mobilized with a dedicated fund for donations to Haiti and a challenge to match up to $5000 in contributions.

According to Friendship Village CEO, Steve Yenchek, “It was tremendously rewarding to see the out-pouring of generosity from the residents. Their response was automatic and did not need to be cultivated.” The community raised $6,635 among 110 checks and the Friendship Senior Services Foundation added $5000, for a gift presented to CARE USA of $11,635.

Jan Tucker, Chair of FSSF said, “While the idea to create the fund came from residents, it was most important that we chose an organization that would be committed to Haiti for the long-term. The Board chose CARE USA as the recipient organization because of their commitment to Haiti and their mission to create sustainable development in the poorest places in the world.”

Tom Haschman, Deputy Executive Director of Fundraising for CARE USA, told attendees at the presentation that CARE USA has raised $40 million since the earthquake and has a goal to raise $100 million for Haiti by the end of 2015. A separate fund created by CARE employees is helping to rebuild the homes of the 130 CARE staff living in Haiti. For now, many CARE employees and their families live in the one standing building in Port-au-Prince, where their office is located.

CARE USA was established in 1946 at the end of WW2 to provide “CARE” packages for survivors of war torn areas. Today, CARE USA employs over 10,000 people working in 70 countries outside of the United States where people live on less than $2 a day. They are focused on helping communities rebuild themselves by teaching practical skills. CARE USA has also taken on specific programs to help the plight of women and girls who are most often the worst victims of poverty and abuse.

Haschman explained that due to the massive devastation in Haiti where 250,000 have already lost their lives, CARE is providing first-response relief efforts now to bring sanitation, clean water, food, build latrines, etc. and is providing psycho-social counseling to survivors. They will move into the next phase of assistance by helping to rebuild the infrastructure of Haiti and finally to remain in the country to teach them how to create a sustainable lifestyle on their own.

Haschman is a Schaumburg native whose grandparents lived at Friendship Village. He thanked the residents and Board representatives for their very generous donation and appealed to the audience to continue with their generous contributions since they will be needed for many years.

For more information about CARE USA, visit: http://www.care.org/.