North Dakota Orphan Grain Train Division

++ NEEDED ++
We are in need of volunteers (men and women) to help at the Bottineau warehouse. We work each Friday from 9:00am to noon sorting and packing clothing. Come as an individual to help, an LWML group, a group of friends, etc. Work just one day or more -- whatever fits your schedule. Extra hands are greatly appreciated and you'll enjoy the fellowship. Please notify Avonne of your intent at 701.228.5102 or email: hgogt@srt.com

HAITI DISASTER RESPONSE
For immediate release

NORFOLK, Neb. (November 8, 2010)—Orphan Grain Train, a Christian humanitarian relief organization headquartered at Norfolk, Nebraska, has received word from aid workers in Haiti about conditions there at this time. Walking down a street in Port au Prince, it looks as if the earthquake hit yesterday. Without money or heavy machinery to move the rubble, thousands of dead remain buried under the massive piles.

Tent cities still house over a million people across the country, with unsanitary conditions, no clean water, and very little food. Over 600,000 are currently sick with malaria, and cholera has claimed over 400 lives in recent days. With hospitals filled to capacity, patients can be seen lying in the mud outside the hospitals. Today we learned that the contaminated river, which is the source of the cholera epidemic, is likely to overflow its banks, further spreading the deadly disease.

Orphanages throughout Haiti saw a great influx of children following the earthquake. Thousands of children were left without parents, and were forced to live in small understaffed and undersupplied orphanages. Many of the orphanages had extensive damage, so the children had to live and sleep outside. One such orphanage was no longer safe, so the man and wife team who cares for the children set up tents on a friend’s property to give the children shelter from the elements. Following Hurricane Tomas, the tents now sit in deep mud and water, so that the 37 children have no place to stay.

One Orphan Grain Train source described the heartbreaking situation, "One little girl was so sad. She became an orphan when her mother died in the earthquake. She was bare bones, half naked and I thought, this little girl knew what it was to live in a little house with her mother...go to school...eat...and now she is sitting with 36 other children, in very poor conditions...my heart broke over this. It is the same story all over Haiti...thousands of children, now orphans and sad..."

Thousands of children are dying of disease or starvation all over Haiti. Trucks loaded with dead children can be seen hauling away the bodies. At least one child has died because there was no neurosurgeon to operate.

Four days before Hurricane Tomas struck Haiti, Orphan Grain Train was able to get 273,024 rice meals to the city of Cap-Haitien, and distribution centers were stocked with food and water. Orphan Grain Train daily provides food for people in tent cities, orphanages, and at distribution centers. One aid worker thanked us by phone this week, and described the work of Orphan Grain Train, "You are the Hands of God".

The name and character of Orphan Grain Train are explained by the words of Christ recorded in John 14:18: "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." This verse is a great motivator for the work in Haiti, much of which is directed toward orphans.

"More relief shipments are on their way, or waiting for distribution through Orphan Grain Train centers," said Director of Public Relations, Jana Inglehart.

If you would like to partner with Orphan Grain Train to assist with this human disaster, donations of any amount are appreciated. Checks may be sent to Orphan Grain Train, PO Box 1466, Norfolk, NE 68702-1466. Please write "Haiti" on the memo line. You may also give on-line by credit card at www.ogt.org. Click "Donate Now" and fill out the requested information. You will receive an email confirmation of your gift as it arrives in Orphan Grain Train’s bank account.

Orphan Grain Train has shipped more than 1,700 semi-loads of relief supplies for human need to more than 40 countries and 25 U.S. states since 1992. Learn more about Orphan Grain Train at www.ogt.org