Plant With Purpose Haiti Update

Our Technical Director, Bob Morikawa, and our Executive Director, Scott Sabin, recently returned from a trip to Haiti where they oversaw and assessed Plant With Purpose’s earthquake relief efforts. We will be posting pictures and videos in the coming week from their trip. You can see some below.

Since the earthquake, Plant With Purpose has distributed over 250,000 pounds of rice, and has provided 79,000 pounds of bean seed to thousands of rural farmers. Additionally, we have employed 489 workers to construct 86 miles of soil conservation barriers, which will provide a vital barricade against the impending hurricane season.

The local Haitian staff has also been conducting weekly assessments in the communities where Plant With Purpose works to get a better sense of the situation. Last week, they found that the most significant challenges for households were obtaining food and shelter, and seeds and farming. Before the earthquake, people were eating under 3 meals a day, but now they are reportedly eating less than 2 meals per day. Furthermore, according to surveys, the most significant challenge faced by the communities as a whole is acquiring food.

Although much is being done to help the people of Haiti, it is still going to be a long road to recovery. And there remain serious obstacles, such as the hurricane season, which some are predicting will bring many storms to the area.

Please keep Haiti in your prayers! You can also help by donating online at www.plantwithpurpose.org toward our relief and long-term recovery efforts. Or, consider sponsoring a village in Haiti. Your $30 a month sponsorship will double thanks to a matching grant, which will greatly impact the lives of a Haitian community by providing them with the food and shelter they so desperately need. Thank you for your support!

A community in Haiti works to create soil conservation barriers as a preventative measure against the potential upcoming hurricanes.

Tents where the Haiti-Floresta staff and Scott slept.

A fragile tent city right by the Plant With Purpose Haiti office. This is better than most since the shelters have two tarps.