LDS Camarillo grad raises dollars to help in Haiti

CAMARILLO, Calif. – Jacob Blickenstaff wants to help others help themselves.

That's the 24-year-old Brigham Young University senior's motivation for volunteering a month of his time this summer to help earthquake victims in Haiti.

"I'm very, very excited to go down there," Blickenstaff, a 2004 graduate of Adolfo Camarillo High School, said in a phone interview from Utah.

Blickenstaff will graduate in August from the Utah university with a degree in physiology. He wanted to be of service to others while he's waiting to enter medical school in the fall of 2011. He heard from another university student about Sustain Haiti, an initiative to empower Haitians. The country was in need of economic help even before the magnitude 7 earthquake struck the area on Jan. 12. The concept of teaching Haitians to become self-sustaining appealed to Blickenstaff.

As a Sustain Haiti volunteer, Blickenstaff must raise $2,100 to cover the cost of his trip—airfare, lodging and meals. Part of the money he and other volunteers raise will pay for seeds, gardening tools and supplies for Haitians to start businesses. A portion of the money will also help Haitian orphanages and will be donated to nonprofit humanitarian organizations partnering with Sustain Haiti.

Read the full story via MormonTimes.com