Goodwill’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake

March 23, 2010

A silohuetted boy reaches upGoodwills across the United States and Canada have been invited to conduct local donation drives for wheelchairs, walkers and crutches to benefit thousands of people with disabilities in Haiti.

The effort is coordinated by Dennis Pastrana, CEO of Goodwill Industries of South Florida (Miami), at the request of Goodwill Industries International, Inc.  While Goodwill is not a relief organization and does not have a presence in Haiti, it is at the core of the Goodwill mission to provide help to people with disabilities.

Following the earthquake in January, many Goodwill agencies responded to the disaster by collecting money, blankets,  wheelchairs, walkers and crutches to help those in need.

This coordinated donation drive will benefit thousands of people with previously existing disabilities and disabilities resulting from injuries incurred during the natural disaster.

The mobility aids are being sent to a team of doctors, nurses and staff from the University of Miami Medical School that are on the ground in Haiti.

The team was among the first to arrive after the earthquake, and continues to provide medical assistance to hundreds of critically injured people in a 240 bed temporary tent hospital with operating rooms and advanced technology.

The physicians are treating a large number of patients, many who are in need of hand, arm and leg amputations. More than 2,000 wheelchairs are needed as these patients leave the hospital.

Goodwill plans to send thousands of wheelchairs, walkers and crutches to the medical team, to be distributed at no cost to those in need of assistance in Haiti.