Various BonaResponds' updates

It has been a while, so I will give some fast updates:

1. SIFE will be sharing some donations of used computers.  They will be going to the Bahamas, Haiti, and probably some inner city schools in the US.   If you would like to help, please contact us.   The donations come from SBU, local school districts, and others. THANK YOU.
2. Got two pleasant surprises in today's BV.  We will be receiving some money from a Halloween fund raiser on campus.  24 people will be touring the "Haunted areas" of Bonaventure. (I think it would be a great tour, too bad I missed out on it.)  Also we will be getting volunteers from the newly re-formed Knights of Columbus on campus.  
3. Several jobs this weekend: 

• On Saturday at 10:30 we will begin work from the back of Murphy.  It currently looks like we will be doing many smaller local jobs (example: cutting some downed trees on trails, packing school supplies for Haiti, taking back some of the recyclables we cleaned off of Bruce's porch last week, and starting to frame some new ramps.   We may also begin a job in Limestone, but would like to stay close to SBU to see some of the Woman's Rugby Playoff game.  Go Legends!
• On Sunday we will be MAINLY making 600+ pizzas for the Catt County SPCA.  This will be from about 11:00 to 3:45.  (we leave campus at 11:10)  Additionally a few people will be needed to do a smallish roof job in Hinsdale. 

  Related articles

• How much does it cost to sponsor a student? (HaitiScholarships.org)
• Meet Maudeline one of our applicants for the coming school year (HaitiScholarships.org)

'Green Tags' Offer Simple Way to Manage Cleanup Efforts - WETM 18 Online

'Green Tags' Offer Simple Way to Manage Cleanup Efforts - WETM 18 Online:

"For Brian Johnson and his family, cleaning up their Athens home seems like a never-ending process; after more than a month of demolition, it’s also a process they could no longer handle by themselves.

“I don’t got the time. We’re working constantly, [and] then coming back here. There’s no time to do it,” Johnson said.

The video has Holly in it (she was helping to find us jobs and worked with us (or us her?) on a home). Also has shots of three of the homes we worked on :)

BonaResponds plans community service, volunteer trips throughout region - News - The Bona Venture

BonaResponds plans community service, volunteer trips throughout region - News - The Bona Venture

From the BV

"Last Saturday, members built a wheelchair ramp....in Buffalo.

This weekend, members are traveling to Athens, Pa., where flood waters [almost] 800 homes in the area.

Senior Jessica Misiaszek said she is looking forward to the trip.

"Even though it is midterm break, I would rather spend my time volunteering and helping people than sitting around and doing nothing," Misiaszek"

Day one in Athens

Saturday -- three jobs ALMOST completed...1 really big, 1 pretty big, and one average sized...


First job was on Suterlee in Sayre PA.  The house had been gutted but the basement had not been touched.  It was a combination of mud and cement blocks as one side of the foundation had caved in.  Relax Larry, it was safe.  We had an assembly line up the stairs and to the curb. Went VERY fast.  Then turned attention to the mud which was just wet enough to be relatively easy to scoop so long as there was not concrete in it--a fact which means that approximately 1 in 20 shovels were easy.  Just when we thought we were getting close to done we realized there was a large crawl space with much mud, insulation, and heating conduits.  Steve (Banger) did a great job of handing out barrels of insulation and wood to be disposed of. 


AS the work began to near completion about half the group broke off and moved furniture and cleaned out the basement of the next door neighbors.
 
The largest job was a house on Maple that had not been touched since the flood; it had mud everywhere, carpets covering floors, and mold rampant, oh and by the way, there is still about an inch of water in the basement.  The volunteers completely gutted 5 rooms and a stairway in about 4 hours. We have to go back to do the basement but otherwise the job is 95% done for gutting (some in bathroom).

Haitian camp populations decline, but residents still in need – UN official

600,000 is too many for 21 months later.

Haitian camp populations decline, but residents still in need – UN official:

30 September 2011 –
"The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) still in camps in Haiti after their homes were destroyed by last year’s catastrophic earthquake has declined from 1.5 million to 600,000, but hardship in the settlements has not eased, the United Nations humanitarian chief said today at end of her three-day visit to the country."

And from Canada's Chronicle Herald on Thursday:

"The latest figures from the UN’s Office of the Special Envoy on Haiti show slightly more than 40 per cent of the $4.6 billion in development funds promised to Haiti by the world’s governments for 2010-11 have been delivered. Haitians rightly fear that the shortfall in promises for the years beyond 2011 will grow as the world moves on. .....

 and later:

"Among the observations of our 10-day, fact-finding mission to Haiti this past June are the following:
• Life in the displaced persons camps remains harsh. In many, there is no ready access to potable water, toilets, bathing facilities and medical services.
• Nearly half of the buildings in Port au Prince left standing by the earthquake are unsafe for habitation, yet Haitians have moved back into them in large numbers.
• New shantytowns housing tens of thousands of people have arisen on the arid lands beyond the former northern perimeter of the city as people lose faith — or patience — in formal reconstruction plans."

 Related articles

• Georgianne Nienaber: Haiti: Cholera Down but People Still "Abandoned Like Stray Dogs" (huffingtonpost.com)
• No tarp relief for Haiti's homeless | Mark Weisbrot (guardian.co.uk)