Original Link
By Andrew Ramonas | January 14, 2010
The former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania is trying to help victims of the 7.0 earthquake that destroyed much of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, this week, The Associated Press reported today.
Mary Beth Buchanan, who served as U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh from 2001 until November 2009, is trying to arrange for a private plane to shuttle Haitian orphans to the United States, according to the AP. She is in contact with an immigration lawyer and has found a doctor to help care for the children, whose orphanage is in Port-Au-Prince, the AP said.
Americans Jamie McMurtie Heckman and Alison McMurtie, who live at the orphanage and hail from Pittsburgh, are trying to obtain emergency relief status for the children to come to the United States, according to the AP. The children have been living in the orphanage’s yard without any food or water since the quake struck the impoverished Caribbean nation on Tuesday, the AP said.
Buchanan did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Main Justice left on her home voicemail.
We reported in October that she is considering a bid for a House seat from Pennsylvania.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
"Anger grows in quake-hit Haiti over aid delay"
Original Link
By Tom Brown and Andrew Cawthorne – 1 hr 24 mins ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Desperate Haitians set up roadblocks with corpses in Port-au-Prince on Thursday to demand quicker relief efforts after a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands and left countless others homeless.
Angry survivors staged the protest as international aid began arriving in the Haitian capital to help a nation traumatized by Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake that flattened homes and government buildings.
More than 48 hours after the disaster, tens of thousands of people clamored for food and water and help digging out relatives still missing under the rubble.
Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for TIME magazine, said he saw at least two downtown roadblocks formed with bodies of earthquake victims and rocks.
"They are starting to block the roads with bodies. It's getting ugly out there. People are fed up with getting no help," he told Reuters.
The Haitian Red Cross said it believed 45,000 to 50,000 people had died and 3 million more -- one third of Haiti's population -- were hurt or left homeless by the major 7.0 magnitude quake that hit its impoverished capital on Tuesday.
The quake flattened buildings across entire hillsides and many people were still trapped alive in the rubble after two days, with little sign of organized rescue efforts.
"We have already buried 7,000 in a mass grave," President Rene Preval said.
By Tom Brown and Andrew Cawthorne – 1 hr 24 mins ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Desperate Haitians set up roadblocks with corpses in Port-au-Prince on Thursday to demand quicker relief efforts after a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands and left countless others homeless.
Angry survivors staged the protest as international aid began arriving in the Haitian capital to help a nation traumatized by Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake that flattened homes and government buildings.
More than 48 hours after the disaster, tens of thousands of people clamored for food and water and help digging out relatives still missing under the rubble.
Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for TIME magazine, said he saw at least two downtown roadblocks formed with bodies of earthquake victims and rocks.
"They are starting to block the roads with bodies. It's getting ugly out there. People are fed up with getting no help," he told Reuters.
The Haitian Red Cross said it believed 45,000 to 50,000 people had died and 3 million more -- one third of Haiti's population -- were hurt or left homeless by the major 7.0 magnitude quake that hit its impoverished capital on Tuesday.
The quake flattened buildings across entire hillsides and many people were still trapped alive in the rubble after two days, with little sign of organized rescue efforts.
"We have already buried 7,000 in a mass grave," President Rene Preval said.
"Utah-supported Haitian orphanages in dire need"
Original Link
By Marc Haddock
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 6:13 p.m. MST
Paul H. Cook, founder of A Child's Hope Foundation which operates an orphanage in Timarche, about 25 miles from Port-au-Prince, said the foundation's board has been meeting to decide how to respond to the crisis.
The 200-plus orphans housed in the foundation's facility are alive and accounted for, but the country's needs are unimaginable. Currently the organization (www.achf.org) is planning to assemble care kits for the children.
...
Provo's HIT Web Design supports another Haitian orphanage, the Hope for Little Angels of Haiti, which was in the process of moving from Carrefour, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, into Port-au-Prince proper when the earthquake hit.
Brad Stone, a co-owner of the company, said about half of the 60 orphans cared for by Hope for Little Angels, those who had been moved into the city, have been accounted for, but the Provo company is still waiting to hear about those in Carrefour.
By Marc Haddock
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 6:13 p.m. MST
Paul H. Cook, founder of A Child's Hope Foundation which operates an orphanage in Timarche, about 25 miles from Port-au-Prince, said the foundation's board has been meeting to decide how to respond to the crisis.
The 200-plus orphans housed in the foundation's facility are alive and accounted for, but the country's needs are unimaginable. Currently the organization (www.achf.org) is planning to assemble care kits for the children.
...
Provo's HIT Web Design supports another Haitian orphanage, the Hope for Little Angels of Haiti, which was in the process of moving from Carrefour, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, into Port-au-Prince proper when the earthquake hit.
Brad Stone, a co-owner of the company, said about half of the 60 orphans cared for by Hope for Little Angels, those who had been moved into the city, have been accounted for, but the Provo company is still waiting to hear about those in Carrefour.
"Ben Avon sisters in Haitian orphanage trying to save children"
Original Link
Thursday, January 14, 2010
By Rachael Conway, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Two sisters from Ben Avon who live at the crumbling BRESMA orphanage in Port-Au-Prince are pleading for help to get a group of children emergency refugee status so they can come to the United States.
In a text to her husband Doug, Jamie McMutrie Heckman, 30, said she and her sister, Alison, 21, were living in the orphanage's yard with the children without food or water.
"We truly can't keep babies alive ... water contaminated. This is our only hope," she texted, using a stranger's Blackberry. "I want to make sure everyone understands we can't stay in Haiti and the kids will not live if they stay. Riots will start within two days."
Several blogs are keeping track of communications with the sisters and a family friend has started a Facebook page asking people to send petitions seeking help with the childrens' refugee status to their congressmen.
...
The children the sisters want to bring back to the U.S. are nearly through the adoption process and have families waiting for them, Mr. Klanderud said.
Former U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said this morning that she has secured the help of a doctor who can examine the BRESMA orphans, has spoken with an immigration lawyer and is in contact with the owners of an airplane company to see if she can get a plane for the rescue mission.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
By Rachael Conway, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Two sisters from Ben Avon who live at the crumbling BRESMA orphanage in Port-Au-Prince are pleading for help to get a group of children emergency refugee status so they can come to the United States.
In a text to her husband Doug, Jamie McMutrie Heckman, 30, said she and her sister, Alison, 21, were living in the orphanage's yard with the children without food or water.
"We truly can't keep babies alive ... water contaminated. This is our only hope," she texted, using a stranger's Blackberry. "I want to make sure everyone understands we can't stay in Haiti and the kids will not live if they stay. Riots will start within two days."
Several blogs are keeping track of communications with the sisters and a family friend has started a Facebook page asking people to send petitions seeking help with the childrens' refugee status to their congressmen.
...
The children the sisters want to bring back to the U.S. are nearly through the adoption process and have families waiting for them, Mr. Klanderud said.
Former U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said this morning that she has secured the help of a doctor who can examine the BRESMA orphans, has spoken with an immigration lawyer and is in contact with the owners of an airplane company to see if she can get a plane for the rescue mission.
"Colorado Charity Requests Humanitarian Visas For Haiti Orphans"
Original Link
Survivors Describe Horrific Conditions, Need For Aid
Jaclyn Allen, 7NEWS Reporter
POSTED: 4:37 pm MST January 14, 2010
UPDATED: 5:27 pm MST January 14, 2010
The first day after the earthquake, Dixie Bickel, of Colorado Springs, was in survival mode, but now, she is starting to wear thin.
"Today, we seem to be wanting to find a corner and cry," said Bickel, speaking via web cam from Petionville, a suburb of Port au Prince.
She is the director of the God's Littlest Angels orphanage, and even though everyone there has survived the quake, she described hellish conditions.
...
She and other American families are requesting humanitarian visas, so children in the orphanage who are in the process of being adopted by American families can leave.
"They need to be allowed to go home so that we can take in more orphans," she said. "Because we know for every child we send out, there is going to be two to take that bed."
Sen. Mark Udall's office said he has received calls from several Colorado families asking for help in obtaining humanitarian visas for the children they are adopting.
His office said he has reached out to the State Department to find out what he can do to expedite the process.
-------
Survivors Describe Horrific Conditions, Need For Aid
Jaclyn Allen, 7NEWS Reporter
POSTED: 4:37 pm MST January 14, 2010
UPDATED: 5:27 pm MST January 14, 2010
The first day after the earthquake, Dixie Bickel, of Colorado Springs, was in survival mode, but now, she is starting to wear thin.
"Today, we seem to be wanting to find a corner and cry," said Bickel, speaking via web cam from Petionville, a suburb of Port au Prince.
She is the director of the God's Littlest Angels orphanage, and even though everyone there has survived the quake, she described hellish conditions.
...
She and other American families are requesting humanitarian visas, so children in the orphanage who are in the process of being adopted by American families can leave.
"They need to be allowed to go home so that we can take in more orphans," she said. "Because we know for every child we send out, there is going to be two to take that bed."
Sen. Mark Udall's office said he has received calls from several Colorado families asking for help in obtaining humanitarian visas for the children they are adopting.
His office said he has reached out to the State Department to find out what he can do to expedite the process.
-------
"Child Trafficking Major Concern After Quake"
Original Link
Thousands Of Children Left Without Parents
By Mike Paluska, CBS Atlanta Reporter
POSTED: 4:58 pm EST January 14, 2010
UPDATED: 5:28 pm EST January 14, 2010
ATLANTA -- UNICEF and international adoption agencies said getting children into safe zones is a top priority after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
The massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit the island of Hispaniola has left thousands of children without parents.
Before the quake even hit UNICEF statistics from 2007 show there were 380,000 orphans already in Haiti.
“There are so many children that are in desperate need of help that’s what we are here to do to keep them alive and get them the nutrients they need and clean water. It becomes the one place of stability for the kids where they have people UNICEF workers they can relate to they have educational material so they can start back with school,” said Alissa Silverman, deputy director for UNICEF in the southeast region. “UNICEF is tracing family members and caring for children orphaned by the disaster to protect them from harm or exploitation."
...
“My first concern is who is with the kids how many of our nannies our ok and who is watching the kids and then all the kids on the streets,” said Chareyl Moyes, the program manager for Wasatch International Adoption. Moyes works with a number of different agencies and orphanages in Haiti. She said early reports about how much damage they suffered are good.
...
A lot of families in the U.S. according to a number of international adoption agencies across the country said some people were at the very end of the process to adopt a child from Haiti. “Now, it will set everyone back,” Moyes said.
------------
Thousands Of Children Left Without Parents
By Mike Paluska, CBS Atlanta Reporter
POSTED: 4:58 pm EST January 14, 2010
UPDATED: 5:28 pm EST January 14, 2010
ATLANTA -- UNICEF and international adoption agencies said getting children into safe zones is a top priority after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
The massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit the island of Hispaniola has left thousands of children without parents.
Before the quake even hit UNICEF statistics from 2007 show there were 380,000 orphans already in Haiti.
“There are so many children that are in desperate need of help that’s what we are here to do to keep them alive and get them the nutrients they need and clean water. It becomes the one place of stability for the kids where they have people UNICEF workers they can relate to they have educational material so they can start back with school,” said Alissa Silverman, deputy director for UNICEF in the southeast region. “UNICEF is tracing family members and caring for children orphaned by the disaster to protect them from harm or exploitation."
...
“My first concern is who is with the kids how many of our nannies our ok and who is watching the kids and then all the kids on the streets,” said Chareyl Moyes, the program manager for Wasatch International Adoption. Moyes works with a number of different agencies and orphanages in Haiti. She said early reports about how much damage they suffered are good.
...
A lot of families in the U.S. according to a number of international adoption agencies across the country said some people were at the very end of the process to adopt a child from Haiti. “Now, it will set everyone back,” Moyes said.
------------
"Church, immigrant groups plan to airlift Haitian orphans to S. Florida"
Original Link
MiamiHerald.com
Posted on Thursday, 01.14.10
BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND SERGIO BUSTOS
In a move mirroring Operation Pedro Pan in the 1960s, Catholic Charities and other South Florida immigrant rights organizations are planning an ambitious effort to airlift possibly thousands of Haitian children left orphaned in the aftermath of Tuesday's horrific earthquake.
``We will use the model we used 40 years ago with Pedro Pan to bring these orphans to the United States to give them a lifeline, a bright and hopeful future,'' Catholic Charities Legal Services executive director Randolph McGrorty said at a news conference in the offices of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.
``Given the enormity of what happened in Haiti, a priority is to bring these orphaned children to the United States,'' he said.
Archdiocese of Miami officials and other local organizations have already identified a temporary shelter in Broward County to house the children, McGrorty said.
He also said they had been in contact with the Obama administration to assist in bringing the children from Haiti with humanitarian visas.
Operation Pedro Pan was launced on Dec. 26, 1960, as part of a successful clandestine effort to spirit children out of Fidel Castro's new Cuba as communist indoctrination was spreading into Catholic and private schools.
By the time it ended 22 months later, the unique exodus of children -- ages 5 to 17 -- had brought 14,048 unaccompanied Cuban minors to America, with the secret help of the U.S. government, which funded the effort and supplied the visa waivers, and the Catholic church, which promised to care for the children.
The late Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, a Miami priest, was considered the father of the effort.
As the children filtered into Miami and their numbers swelled, many went to live with relatives and family friends, but others were sent to Miami-Dade group homes and camps called Florida City, Kendall and Matecumbe. They were then relocated across the country to archdioceses in places like Nebraska, Washington and Indiana.
There, they went to live in orphanages, foster homes and schools until their parents could find a way out of Cuba. Sometimes the separation was brief; sometimes it lasted years.
-----
This does not sound right.
MiamiHerald.com
Posted on Thursday, 01.14.10
BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND SERGIO BUSTOS
In a move mirroring Operation Pedro Pan in the 1960s, Catholic Charities and other South Florida immigrant rights organizations are planning an ambitious effort to airlift possibly thousands of Haitian children left orphaned in the aftermath of Tuesday's horrific earthquake.
``We will use the model we used 40 years ago with Pedro Pan to bring these orphans to the United States to give them a lifeline, a bright and hopeful future,'' Catholic Charities Legal Services executive director Randolph McGrorty said at a news conference in the offices of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.
``Given the enormity of what happened in Haiti, a priority is to bring these orphaned children to the United States,'' he said.
Archdiocese of Miami officials and other local organizations have already identified a temporary shelter in Broward County to house the children, McGrorty said.
He also said they had been in contact with the Obama administration to assist in bringing the children from Haiti with humanitarian visas.
Operation Pedro Pan was launced on Dec. 26, 1960, as part of a successful clandestine effort to spirit children out of Fidel Castro's new Cuba as communist indoctrination was spreading into Catholic and private schools.
By the time it ended 22 months later, the unique exodus of children -- ages 5 to 17 -- had brought 14,048 unaccompanied Cuban minors to America, with the secret help of the U.S. government, which funded the effort and supplied the visa waivers, and the Catholic church, which promised to care for the children.
The late Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, a Miami priest, was considered the father of the effort.
As the children filtered into Miami and their numbers swelled, many went to live with relatives and family friends, but others were sent to Miami-Dade group homes and camps called Florida City, Kendall and Matecumbe. They were then relocated across the country to archdioceses in places like Nebraska, Washington and Indiana.
There, they went to live in orphanages, foster homes and schools until their parents could find a way out of Cuba. Sometimes the separation was brief; sometimes it lasted years.
-----
This does not sound right.
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