Rick was in Connecticut ministering to his dying mother when the earthquake hit last week. He immediately rushed back to his home and to his Haitian family, colleagues, staff and friends to help. When I (Maria) spoke to him the morning after and asked what he needed from us he said, "If you are moved to do so, put on some work gloves, grab a shovel and help me dig my people out". Unfortunately, we are probably too late to dig out the 50 or so staff and small children that are buried in the rubble. We are not too late, however, to get him his supplies that will save other lives.
We have been called here by our dear friend, Father Rick Frechette. A doctor and priest in Haiti for the last 22 years, Rick defines the power of one man's call to action. He and his Haitian colleagues have built and run the only free pediatric
excerpt of an article by Maria Bello on The Huffington Post, January 21, 2010
We have been called here by our dear friend, Father Rick Frechette. A doctor and priest in Haiti for the last 22 years, Rick defines the power of one man's call to action. He and his Haitian colleagues have built and run the only free pediatric
hospital in Haiti, the only hospital for disabled children, two orphanages, 20 street schools, free medical clinics in the poorest slums of the city, Cite de Soleil and most recently, New York City, a job training center that includes a bakery and shoe factory. He supplies the only free drinking water to the people of Cite de Soleil and feeds thousands of people a day in and around Port-au-Prince.
The Port-au-Prince I hear and see today is nothing like the vibrant city I visited last year. A group of us from L.A., led by Paul Haggis, created an organization called Artists for Peace and Justice to fund Rick's projects in Haiti and went down to work with him. For days we rode around the streets of Cite de Soleil in open air trucks, greeted by joyous children and smiling adults. I was struck not only by the overwhelming poverty of a country only one hour from our shores but more by the the Haitian people themselves who, living in the midst of it all, found a way to celebrate life each day. There is no celebrating today, only the sounds of endless grief. Read the rest of the Huffington Post article.
The suffering continues. Just because it is not in the headlines, let us not forget to help.
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