Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Next Tuesday - Presentation on Haiti!


Wesley and his family are ecstatic to have a cement slab. Their housing from before the earthquake is now complete RUBBLE. Literally. A pile of rubble 84 feet long and up to 8 feet high. Over the past six days, Wesley, in his sandals, worked right alongside a crew of volunteers to remove wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of cement debris. Upon clearing the slab, volunteers gave Wesley two tents for his family - and they were ecstatic!

Four local volunteers, Jim Mahar, Jerry Godbout, Larry Orsini, and Carrie Jackling, recently traveled to Haiti to volunteer at the Hands On Disaster Response site in Leogane, Haiti. Here they worked with Wesley and many others to help them along the road to recovery. "Rubbling," ditch digging, school building, and gardening are some of the ways volunteers are assisting in Leogane.

On Tuesday, June 1st at 7 PM, these four volunteers will be sharing their experiences with a talk and video presentation at the Olean Public Library. They'll describe the work that they've done and the people they've met, share challenges and hopes for helping the people of Haiti. This program is free and open to the public - come and hear their stories, plans for the future, and ways to help locally.

Tuesday, June 1st
7 PM
Olean Public Library

Please join us!

For more information, visit JustRespond, BonaResponds.org, and FoodForHaitiNow.org

Friday, May 21, 2010

Haiti Relief Concert to Benefit FFHN

Rin Wada of the Chamber Music Society of Olean and Evelyn Bysiek, adviser of the Olean High School Interact Club organized a concert and bracelet sale to support BonaResponds' Food For Haiti Now Project! Thank you so much to both groups!! Come out and enjoy the music... buy a homemade bracelet... and help us feed 100,000 Haitians!


Local Young Musicians provide a Haiti Relief Concert

Saturday, May 22nd at 4:30p.m.
at the Bethany Lutheran Church
(6 Leo Moss Drive, Olean).
Chamber Music Society of Olean
The Chamber Music Society of Olean is providing a “Haiti Relief Concert” with the support by Bethany Lutheran Church (6 Leo Moss Drive, Olean, NY) and Olean High School Interact Club (Ms. Bysiek, Adviser). All the collections will be sent to Haiti by the St. Bonaventure University’s “Food For Haiti Now” program. Check out more at the Food For Haiti Now (the BonaResponds/Haiti relief effort) website.

The event features outstanding young musicians of the Olean, Allegany, and Bradford area. Piano: Holden Bernstein, Manu Gajanan, Abraham Knieser, Andrew Liu, Hannah Kim, and Jenny Kim. Violins: Alice Li, Hannah Kim, Rachel Pfeiffer, Karino Wada. Cello: Jenny Kim. Studio 107 Chamber Players (string chamber orchestra): Rachel Pfeiffer, Michael Liu, Christopher Mosher, Samantha Armstrong, Brady Gaynor, Jessica Swetland, Jamal Klute, Andrew Liu, Konrad Morawski, Kasey Boutwell, Maija Klute, Alyssa Brown, Jenny Kim, Abraham Knieser, and Angela Finch. Beautifully hand made bracelets will be sold by the Interact Club members.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Wyclef Jean on Good Day NY

Wyclef Jean: "On Tuesday, Jean stopped by the Good Day NY studios to update the public on what has been accomplished and what still needs to be done for the victims.



Short version:
* Yes there have been questions as to how they have spent the money but he says this is largely result of growing so quickly.  Have hired new accountants.
* He says they have spent $5m of about $10million donated.
* Building temporary homes now.
* Need jobs, not just handouts. How can this be done?

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Why the Media Ignored the Nashville Flood - The Gaggle Blog - Newsweek.com

Why the Media Ignored the Nashville Flood - The Gaggle Blog - Newsweek.com:
"With two other 'disasters' dominating the headlines—the Times Square bombing attempt and the Gulf oil spill—the national media seems to largely to have ignored the plight of Music City since the flood waters began inundating its streets on Sunday. A cursory Google News search shows 8,390 hits for 'Times Square bomb' and 13,800 for 'BP oil spill.' 'Nashville flood,' on the other hand, returns only 2,430 results—many of them local. As Betsy Phillips of the Nashville Scene writes, 'it was mind-boggling to flip by CNN, MSNBC, and FOX on Sunday afternoon and see not one station even occasionally bringing their viewers footage of the flood, news of our people dying.'


- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Orphanage Collection: BonaResponds and Allegany Park and Shop flier

Here is the flier we hung up last night. Feel free to distribute. We'd love to get a big collection.
Haiti Orphanage Collection

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Notice Board Announcement of weekend activities



BonaResponds is having two events this Saturday and would love to have your help!


On Saturday from 10-4 at the Living Waters Church (on State Street near Tim Hortons) we will be having a car wash and clothing sale/Garage Sale for Haiti. HCC has have well over one thousand pieces of clothes (some breand new and easily worth $40 dollars, and also some prom dresses that are worth well over $100). All will be sold at less than $3 each. Also as part of this day we will be collecting school supplies, used computers, and soccer balls for schools and orphanages in Haiti.

We will also be working with CYC (Christian Youth Corps) and Allegany Nordic to work in Allegany State Park. With the State Budget Cuts the Quaker area of Allegany State Park has been targeted to close. After talking with park officials, it is the hope that if the park can be partially maintained by volunteers that it will be allowed to stay open. Thus we have teamed up with CYC (who had done this last year as well) to help paint cabins, work on trails, etc. We will be leaving Murphy at 9:30 on Saturday for this job.

The original plan was not to have both jobs this weekend, but bad weather last month (it rained and snowed the weekend it was scheduled) forced the moving of the car wash/garage sale to now. As a result with finals and some people already going home, we will REALLY NEED VOLUNTEERS.

Please come out. Email BonaResponds@sbu.edu for more information.


thanks!

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Q&A: Addressing Mental Health and Trauma in Haiti | PBS NewsHour | May 3, 2010 | PBS

Q&A: Addressing Mental Health and Trauma in Haiti | PBS NewsHour | May 3, 2010 | PBS:
"Nearly four months after the earthquake in Haiti that killed an estimated 230,000 people and left 1.3 million homeless, mental health workers are trying to help the survivors cope with their feelings of distress, loss and fear
Good article on the Post Traumatic Stress

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Allegany State Park this Weekend!

There are few (if any) groups I would rather team up with than CYC. Pete and crew are so organized and so good that I learn from them every time we work together.

This weekend they are having a big work weekend in Allegany State Park. We'd love to give them a hand.

It is finals time at SBU, AND we already had a car wash/garage sale scheduled, so we really need community members to come out and help. Remember if we don't do anything, we can not complain if the State closes parts of the Park next year. So come on out. It will be fun!


2010 ASP S. Op's Flyer

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Oil Spill Volunteers - Cleanup in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama

Oil Spill Volunteers - Cleanup in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama:
"This web site provides a place for people to volunteer to assist in cleanup operations related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Organizations working on the cleanup may register here to be connected with volunteers. OilSpillVolunteers.com will link volunteers with cleanup organizations; we will not be directing volunteer activities."

A woman we helped in PassChristian MS a couple of times sent this today. She is the homeowner who fed us cookies and allowed us to have the bonfire. She and Ivan (her BIG dog) say hi to everyone.

State College PA on International Service Day

Ronn sent a bunch of videos from back on International Service Day (March 27th) when we worked in State College PA at Nittany Greyhounds.

FlipShare - Private Video Sharing: "Here is one of the videos that I took while I was volunteering on behalf of BonaResponds to Nittany Greyhounds--a rescue organization that rescues and places greyhounds from the racing industry into nice, loving homes. "

  1. Ronn and his introduction.
  2. 5 more short videos of his day
  3. And 2 more here.
Thanks Ronn. Ronn was one of my first finance students ever. He now lives in State College PA.

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Medishare in Haiti

A look at a hospital in Haiti staffed by volunteers. Coolest part may be that they can scan a leg (stump) and have a new prosthetic leg in Haiti (From Miami) later that day! Wow.







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South Georgia man returns from Haiti relief trip - WALB.com News, Weather and Sports for Albany, Valdosta and Thomasville. Leading the way for South Georgia. |

South Georgia man returns from Haiti relief trip - WALB.com News, Weather and Sports for Albany, Valdosta and Thomasville. Leading the way for South Georgia. |:
"Not only did he see a need for homes, but food, clothing and medical treatment were equal means of survival.

'when I got ready to leave they would just follow me down the road,' Battle said. 'My heart was torn apart because I was so limited in what I did but what I did do seemed like the greatest blessing to them.....

The Fuller Center wants to build 5,000 homes over five years....visit their website."