Utahns donate generously to Haiti relief

SALT LAKE CITY — Six months after Haiti's devastating earthquake, local donations to most Haiti relief organizations have slowed to a trickle. But Utahns' money and efforts to help the Caribbean nation cope with the disaster are still at work.

"It's starting to fall off people's radar screen," said Susan Thomas, American Red Cross marketing director for Utah.

To date, the Red Cross has collected $2.1 million in Utah, with 90 percent of that coming in the first two months after the Jan. 12 quake. Nearly half came from online contributions, she said. Nationally, the Red Cross raised about $468 million for Haiti, with 91 cents on the dollar going directly to humanitarian aid.

"I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed at the amount of interest Utahns showed in wanting to help in Haiti, considering the fact it's outside the country and across the country from us," Thomas said.

That distance hasn't deterred Utah Haiti Relief, a St. George-based organization that continues to assist hurt and hungry Haitians, though donations have dried up. Volunteers with the group have made at least seven trips to the island nation, and businessman/philanthropist Jeremy Johnson had his helicopter there this past weekend.

The organization, which now relies mostly on private money, recently built a women's center and keeps a close watch on several orphanages, providing food, clothing and supplies as needed.

"We've really tried to take care of the children," said Erik Sorenson, a co-founder of Utah Haiti Relief, who has been to the country six times.

Volunteers have also delivered tents, tarps and eyeglasses and offered health and hygiene clinics. "For us, the best experience has been touching lives one on one," Sorenson said.

Jeff Randle, the Salt Lake City physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor who in 1999 founded Healing Hands for Haiti International Foundation, said 2010 donations were easily several times more than total donations to the foundation in the previous decade.

However, demand for Healing Hands' rehabilitation services has increased just as much, with earthquake victims added to the mix of Haitians seeking rehab treatment after typical injuries and illnesses.

While only an estimated 3 percent of Haiti's quake-resulting rubble has been removed, six of the seven damaged buildings on the Healing Hands' hillside property in Port-au-Prince have been cleared.