Volunteer feeds displaced Haitians
A Maple Ridge woman has left for the Caribbean to help people suffering from two natural disasters
Linsay Buss, a director at STIMMA, gave the thumbs up at a stack of donation boxes in the Maple Ridge liquor store, one of 25 liquor stores that supported the fundraiser for Haiti.
Photograph by: Sylver McLaren , TIMES
About 35 volunteers from across Canada left on Sunday to spend two weeks in earthquake and hurricane ravaged Haiti.
The leader of these humanitarians is Linsay Buss, a Maple Ridge mother of two grown kids, who is a director of STIMMA.
The charity name stands for Short Term International Medical Missions Abroad but has since grown to stand for much more since its inception in 2006.
STIMMA started with just a medical team, holding clinics in remote, impoverished areas, offering free medical and support services, where there is typically no doctor.
But now STIMMA has evolved to include a construction team, and in Haiti volunteers will do food distribution "because that is what they've told us they need," said Buss.
"We're staying in an orphanage in a village called Cabaret, about 40 minutes from Port au Prince, and just off the coast," said Buss, adding that the orphanage houses 21 boys, mostly victims of the 2010 earthquake.
"It's another disaster state, displaced people walking around, lots of homeless, tent cities were wiped out," she explained.
The country hadn't recovered from the destruction left by the earthquake in 2010, when in August Hurricane Isaac pummeled the country leaving further destruction.
The greatest need is food as 70 per cent of crops were destroyed.
"The crops were wiped out and the people are starving as a result," she said.
"We will do a food distribution to as many people as we have the money to feed," explained Buss.
They have a medical team equipped with supplies, who will travel to outlying villages and offer treatment to as many people as they can.
They also give hats, shoes, reading glasses, vitamins, medications, and more.
A construction team will be building one full house, hiring Haitians from the area to work with them.
"I'm proud that with STIMMA, every dollar that people donate goes directly to the people we see there. We have no overhead to speak of, we're run totally by volunteers, so when people donate money they can be sure it's going directly for food or medication for people that don't have any."
STIMMA has also made trips to El Salvador, Peru, Zimbabwe in Africa, and other trips to Haiti.
To donate or learn more visit www. stimma.org.
