The author
Failure is something I fear. I fear it because I expect the most out of myself; I want people to be able to rely on me.
I have committed myself to going to Haiti for Spring Break. Now others rely on me.
The Spark
January 12. I was in the kitchen with my mother and older brother. My mother sat facing the TV. I stood just to the side. My brother was rinsing his cup out in the sink. The news was on. My mother’s shocked face and her abrupt silence, caused me to turn my attention.
A few minutes had passed and realization of what had happened was sinking in. Sadly, it was only beginning. Commercials interrupted our silence. My brother said something along the lines of, “Well, looks like I’ll be in Haiti for Spring Break.” Perhaps it was only wishful thinking, but his sentence sparked the tinder in my heart and mind.
“Why?” I asked.
“Why not?” he answered.
The Compass
After searching various websites, including Matador, for ways I could volunteer, I concluded no opportunity existed for me to help.
I refused to accept that. I started asking how I could help. The consensus was to donate money. Let the experts do the work that needs to be done; there isn’t room for you.
“I can only sit around and give money I don’t have?”
I started scouring the comments of the articles here at Matador, looking for anything. Eventually I found Vladimir. He was in Haiti, he had a Facebook group, he had pictures and information up. I messaged him. I told him I wanted to help.
In the meantime, I was spreading the word around campus and the Internet. I received plenty of positive feedback, especially from Lindsay, a young woman in Texas. She now has her own trip going to Haiti for students at Texas State University. With her ideas, encouragement, and cheer, my own project started to build.
I received a message from Christy, a kind young woman who works with Vladimir and is a part of the Haiti Volunteer Project. They would be delighted to have me and whoever else can join us to volunteer in Haiti.
She was probably unaware of it, but she had just given me my bearing.
The Company
It’s the night of January 28th. I’m sitting behind a wooden table in one of the corners of the softly lit coffee house I frequent. I’m waiting for 8:30 and for all of the people who were interested in going to Haiti to show up. Expecting only five or six people to show up, I’m surprised to find nearly 15 people, each one interested and full of ideas.
Over the next week, I sent out emails with information, updates, and plans. We had our next meeting. I answered questions, not all of which were within my grasp, but I was honest with people and they accepted that.
I gave out orders, suggestions, and requests. I was leading us somewhere, I wasn’t sure exactly where yet.
The Agenda
Over the course of the next two nights, five of us from the group, which we had dubbed “Students Helping Haiti,” spent our nights out in the Iowa winter to raise money.
The University of Iowa has an active nightlife so we split into two groups and held up posters we had made the night before, after the meeting. I had used stick glue to adhere to poster board not even an hour before. We stood downtown amongst the drunks and soon-to-be drunks. We used five-gallon buckets procured from a local restaurant. They were tainted by the smell of pickles. We asked for money. It was a success, but we still had a long way to go.
We’re now pursuing as many avenues of fundraising as possible to be able to travel to Haiti. We will continue to go out on the weekends and ask businesses for help. However, we realized that we were ignoring the largest collective of potential sponsors. You. Individuals. Now, we are reaching out to everyone for help.
The Campaign
With the help of our local community, and the community that exists here, we will fly to Port-Au-Prince and drive south to Les Cayes. There, we will hire Haitians to cook our meals, putting money into the economy. We’ll help at the orphanage, the hospital, or the field hospital.
We will be there to simply lend our energy, our support, and our smiles. No task will be too small or too big for us to help with.
We want to represent you, the world, and the human race. We want to experience Haiti. We want to help.
The Helping Hand
I come to this network because it’s a community of people with common interests and a common mindset. We are all students of the world, or desire to be so. We all have open minds, hearts that care, and an awareness about the power of the individual.
We look to you for help. By supporting Students Helping Haiti, you have a direct impact on Haiti. After the trip, you will be able to see pictures, videos, and read stories and accounts of our trip. In us, you have faces to put to the cause.
We currently have 17 volunteers. With costs estimated to be approximately $1,000 per volunteer, we have to raise a lot of money. This is where you can lend the help we need to help Haiti.
The Support
If you would like to donate money to Students Helping Haiti, the easiest method is by PayPal. Donate by logging into PayPal. Click “Send Money”; enter the email address studentshelpinghaiti@gmail.com; select “Personal, Gift”; enter your amount; click “Continue.”
Any questions, comments, or concerns otherwise you can also email to studentshelpinghaiti@gmail.com.
Regardless of your contribution, we would like to thank you for the opportunity, for simply caring enough to read and for being an individual.
Community Connection:
To read about other ways you can help young people experience the world and, in doing so, positively impacting others, please read about Matador’s Brave New Travelers scholarship fund.
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13 Comments... join the discussion!
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Incredible.
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Thank you so much.
There is a girl in our group who is a cinema major and is filming everything in the hopes of making a documentary of it. That may not happen right after our trip, but will be in the works.
Also, I will be doing as much writing and posting of pictures and stories, etc. on my blog that I just started.
I will also be in contact with Julie, David, et. al. so that they may showcase Haiti and what happens down there also.
I don’t want to just ask for support, and then provide nothing in return.
Thank you again, I look forward to going to Haiti.
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Why would I send money for you to go to Haiti, when I can just send the money directly to Haiti?
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Keep it up, Jared. The best advice I ever got about service came from Ryan Libre:
“If you truly want to be of service to the world, you need to keep your own needs to a minimum.”
Food for thought.
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Nicee,
I am trying to organizee a trip myself and its tough. All the organizations seem to be geared towards older people.Great Job!
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Hi Jared, I would love to go to Haiti with your group. How can I get involved?
Also, you said there is a girl from Texas State who is taking a student group to Haiti? Well that’s only 30 minutes from me and my school, UT-Austin, so maybe I can connect with her about going with her group? please let me know.
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also, I am so happy you decided to do this.
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Dear Tiffany, I saw your comment a while ago, but was unable to reply, as it was appearing in the comments. I then tried to email you directly my reply, but that failed as well. So, now, I can answer you on here.
-Why should you (or anyone for that matter) send money to me, when they can send it directly to Haiti?-
To answer your question:
It is a matter of personal choice. If you have the ability to send your money directly to Haiti for it to be used properly, and trust in that method, than it is obviously a good choice to do just that.
In the same way, we, Students Helping Haiti, here at the University of Iowa are providing people with a way to have a direct impact on Haiti. Essentially, sending money directly to Haiti as well.
Like I said in the article, we will not be just going down there to tour and look sad. We will be doing work, putting money into the economy, perhaps not on a massive scale, but it is more than before.
So, where you send your money is a personal matter. I’m simply letting people know that if they want to send money to us, they can. I’m providing another outlet for people.
Thank you for your honesty.
Kind Regards,
Jared Krauss↵ -
Dear Tim,
It took me a second of thought to really realize what he meant. Then I got to thinking about what I was planning to bring on this trip, and it was wholly different from any other packing list for any other trip I’ve taken. I’m planning to bring the bare minimum for myself, but I plan on packing a soccer ball or two, some color books, crayons, and maybe some other stuff for kids. I’m cutting down on all the accessories for myself, to make room for things that will provide for others. So, that quote of yours was speaking to me long before you ever wrote it to me, I just wasn’t aware. Thank you for putting words to actions.
Dear Kathryn,
Thank you, and that is very true. However, there is a place for everyone somewhere. There are other places in the world where help is needed as well, and the organization of the effort in those places is much more advanced than in Haiti. While I know a large portion of our empathy sits with Haiti right now, because of the relevance, proximity, and time of the situation, we can still look to other parts of the world, and home, to be of help.Dear Michelle,
I hope that I have put you in contact with the appropriate people. Also, thank you for your gratitude. Good luck in your efforts, and look to my post above.Thank you all.
Regards,
Jared Krauss↵ -
in case that we could not help with money could we donate our time.I mean to go ver there and help out .than you
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If you really want to help, this isn’t the way to do it. Don’t take it from me, take it from experienced aid relief workers who do this stuff for a living:
http://informationincontext.typepad.com/good_intentions_are_not_e/2010/01/dont-go-to-haiti.html#more
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