Florida children deliver Haiti relief
Children from the American Heritage School (left to right) with Lori Alf (center) of National Airlines. Brie Strickland, Brittany Kroop, Arianna Bennedetto, Starr Bauer, Jasmine LaCoursiere, Lori Alf, Caterina Alf, Betsy Lampert, Taylor Kroop and Max Himmelrich.
As of Feb. 4, 2010, the UN Haiti appeal has raised $1.416 billion with a further $806.56 million pledged. One of the latest donors is National Airlines and a group of school children from Florida.
The Ypsilanti, Michigan-based airline, a subsidiary of National Air Cargo, was persuaded by children from the American Heritage School in Del Ray Beach, FL to fly a DC-8 with 60,000 lbs. of humanitarian aid to Port-au-Prince on behalf of charities Avitat and World Harvest.
The idea came from several children including Caterina Alf who then called her parents. Conveniently, they own the company.
National co-founder Lori Alf said, “The donation of this plane is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. We get to help the Haitian people during this trying time of need and also help these children understand the importance of compassion. My hope is that this trip will create a life experience for them – one that helps them integrate community service, compassion, and charity into their lives moving forward.”
The airline says it is working with several agencies in Port-au-Prince to distribute the hospital supplies, pharmaceuticals, water, syringes, bandages, canned food, clothing, shoes, household goods and medicines from the flight. Two weeks ago, the company operated DC-8 flights from Ostend and Zurich carrying emergency aid to Haiti via Santo Domingo.
According to the UN, the US government has allocated $325 million so far in emergency aid to Haiti via the World Food Program, USAID, the Department of Defense and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
