The senior DRRAG (Disaster Relief Rotarian Action Group) team, working with our fellow Rotarians who are at the "point of the spear" in Haiti, need your help. There is an opportunity for you -- through your Rotary club -- to be a part of a major project that only takes some time, warehouse space, publicity and coordination with your local Air National Guard and very little money.

This is a tent collection project for Haitian earthquake victims. This program was presented to the recent REDI Conference in Houston by District 7020 Rotary leaders, led by PRID Barry Rassin.

Here is what is needed :
Good quality, used tents that are complete. No damaged or junk please.
They need to be water proof.
They need to be in some sort of fabric bag or container that can be secured (closed), with its identifying characteristics (size, type, shape) so that the whole tent stays together during shipment and delivery.
They need to be identified as to number of persons that the tent is designed to hold if possible.
You should clearly identify the contributing club and district.

One of the most desirable features of this project is that it is designed for public participation through media publicity which not only will provide a very cost-effective solution to a need of great magnitude but which also can reflect favorably on Rotary'simage. A large number of non-Rotarians want to help Haiti but do not have any organized means to provide meaningful aid. This program would allow them to help and also to learn about the fine work the Rotary organization performs.

Here is how to take part in a way that involves the local community, Rotary Clubs and your District. Our Rotarian team on the ground has advised that up to 200,000 tents are urgently needed for the victims in Haiti. The onset of the serious rainy season is due to begin in April, and the rain could easily arrive earlier.

Many hospitals have injured awaiting treatment and those who are recovering from surgery sleeping outside the buildings because of overcrowding. These victims, and others, should not be subjected to sleeping under sheets of plastic during torrential rain storms. Our senior Rotarian team in Haiti want tents, not plastic sheeting, which is less stable in any wind.

We already have at least five districts committed to collecting used, serviceable tents, and we have not yet even made a general appeal in to support this program.

Each club that wants to help with this needs to designate a person or team who will collect donated tents.

Each District needs to have a single designated person who will coordinate this and work with the rest of the coordination team from other districts, myself (Leigh Readdy) (readdyla@gmail.com ), and PDG Rob Ketron (D7620) (rob.ketron@gmail.com ). In District 5030 this coordinator is PDG Mike Montgomery ( DsastrPlng@comcast.net ) and in District 7620 the coordinator is Wick Caldwell ( charles.caldwell14@verizon.net ).

Each club or group of clubs in a local area will need a temporary storage location and the District will need strategically located warehouses or other storage facility to hold the tents until they are shipped. Or they can have a collection day when representatives of the clubs involved can work together to collect them into one place and prepare these for shipment.

Tents need to be shipped to the final US transit location in batches of 400 to 500. This program will go on for some time as the need is truly massive, and such programs as ShelterBoxes are far too expensive to meet the need - the cost is high and they are almost out of stock. There are already 10,000+ ShelterBoxes in Haiti, but we can hardly ask Rotarians to fund 200,000 tents at $1,000 each.

Why not? You do the math.

The critical need now is just for good quality used tents that can be donated at NO cost! We are not asking donors to buy tents. The goal is just collect good serviceable tents that are surplus, no longer used, or can be replaced by owners.

A Rotarian-Military Liaison Coordinator will advise the District coordinator of the final transit location. If you can get some tents to where they can reach Florida by March 5th we can get these on a container that will leave for Haiti at that time.

Tents will be delivered to Rotarians on the ground in Haiti who will distribute them to those in need. The tents will be given to those in need as their own personal property.

If you advise the media of this opportunity to help the people of Haiti you could obtain a lot of tents. Also if you provide contact information and drop off points for individual Rotary Clubs you would be making contacts with people who might be interested in joining Rotary. We are so unknown that when people learn of all the great things that we do they may want to join to help.