By Robb Murray
Free Press Staff Writer
HAITI — Tim Stromer dreams big. And right now, for all the people suffering in Haiti, he’s really hoping his dreams come true.
Stromer, director of the Mankato Kids Against Hunger chapter, is hoping to raise a few million dollars and package a few million meals to send to Haiti. During the last few years, the popular charity has sent about 70 percent of the thousands of meals it packs each year to Haiti.
Today, however, Stromer feels a heightened sense of urgency. As video footage emerges from Haiti, the world is getting a glimpse of how one of the worst earthquakes in a nation’s history has left its capital city, Port-au-Prince, in ruins, and tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, dead.
Stromer sent an e-mail Wednesday morning saying he needed to raise $200 million and that an unprecedented national effort would be needed to truly help the people of Haiti. “In a way it’s totally unreachable,” Stromer said. “But in a way, we have one person in Mankato that can write a check for that much. So it’s very reachable.”
Stromer’s not the only one hoping to make a difference. Jared Brown, who attended school in Mankato and now runs a humanitarian organization called Project 81, has been working in Haiti for several years. His group has distributed deworming pills to thousands of Haitians and helped a village get clean drinking water.
They’re also pulling children out of slavery and helping villages implement more efficient means of agriculture. Brown said he spoke with the Port-au-Prince mayor on Tuesday before the earthquake and the two marveled at how much progress had been made in work done at a hospital. Brown then tried calling the mayor after the earthquake but hasn’t been able to reach him.
Project 81 has worked extensively with the mayor, Brown said, and has developed relationships with people throughout Haiti. They’re planning a relief trip in early February. When they go, they’ll bring a film crew to document their efforts. Brown said the hope is to show people the real Haiti and get the word out about how much promise is shown by its people, and how much help is going to be needed to clean up the mess.
His work with Project 81 — the name of which comes from Village 81, which was is so named because of its proximity in kilometers from Port au Prince — has brought Haiti close to his heart. Seeing the devastation, he said, has been difficult. “It’s very discouraging, very unsettling,” Brown said. “There was just so much hope last time we were down there, so much talk of the future. ... This is the worst it’s ever been. It’s just very overwhelming and sad.”
Brown said he hopes the disaster will at least make people aware of Haiti and its plight as one of the world’s poorest countries. “Maybe it’ll finally get the attention it needs,” Brown said. Stromer has made several trips to Haiti and delivered millions of meals. Now, he said, Haiti needs everyone’s help more than ever.
Stromer’s first trip to Haiti was with his church. “When I was there, I fell in love with the country, the kids, the people,” he said. Not long after that, the Kids Against Hunger Mankato chapter adopted Haiti, and he’s tried ever since to make a difference for the starving people who live there.
“It’s possible for Mankato to make a major impact in Haiti,” he said. “I feel like we’ve tapped about 2 percent of the potential.” Stromer said that, ideally, he’d like to raise enough money to keep people packaging meals around the clock for several months. But to do that would require at least $10 million and probably more.
He admits it will be difficult, but not impossible. Stromer said a woman he knows in Haiti e-mailed him Wednesday morning and told stories of tending to victims, including one case where she used duct tape to prevent a child from bleeding to death. She also told Stromer the compound she lived in shook all night long with aftershocks.
“This is possibly the worst human disaster in the last 100 years,” he said. Right now, Stromer said, what Kids Against Hunger needs is money. They also need people to pack food, but they can’t pack food unless they buy food.
To help, Kids Against Hunger can be reached at 387-1390. Online donations also can be made at: kidsagainsthungermankato.org . Visit project81.org to learn more about their efforts.
