Friday, January 29, 1999
Tristate aid flows by ton to Honduras
Hurricane Mitch crisis persists
BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A Cincinnati nonprofit group plans to send a convoy of care filling 15 semitrailers in donations from this region in the next month to hurricane-scarred Honduras.
In its biggest relief effort yet, Shoulder to Shoulder Inc. wants to ship 300 tons of medicine, food and farming supplies to the Central American country by March.
It's asking area residents to open their wallets to fill the semitrailer containers to provide relief for remote cities in the northern Yoro region of the nation that have been cut off from help until only recently.
About 6,000 people were killed and 1.4 million were left homeless in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch whipped through Central America the last week of October.
In another dramatic relief effort, Griffin Industries Inc. of Cold Spring has announced that 1,250 tons of supplies were delivered to Honduras on Jan. 17. The food, water, tents, medical supplies, ambulances, buses and trucks were collected at more than 25 Griffin and subsidiary locations and delivered aboard a Griffin ship. The company produces a variety of byproducts used in animal nutrition and fertilizers.
Shoulder to Shoulder has been committed to sending one to two containers of relief a month from Cincinnati, but decided to increase that dramatically in response to pleas for help from remote regions.
In addition to food, Hondurans are asking for farming equipment and seeds so they can begin planting crops to eat and sell.
“All of them have been very proud and self-respecting, and made it clear they don't want to be in a position to take handouts the rest of their lives,” said Dr. Jeffery Heck, director and treasurer of Shoulder to Shoulder. He also is residency director for the University of Cincinnati Department of Family Medicine.
The agricultural needs include seed corn, fertilizer, shovels, pickaxes and machetes, Dr. Heck said.
“It's really critical they get (the seed) in quickly so they can start harvesting their own crops so they can eat and sell,” he said. “They are hungry and want to get the food in the ground.”
In addition to food and farming equipment, Hondurans also are telling Shoulder to Shoulder they need housing materials such as concrete blocks, nails and wood to help rebuild destroyed homes.
The plight of the homeless will become more dire as the school year resumes Monday, Ruth de Castro, co-director of Medical Ministry International, said Wednesday from her office in El Progreso, in the nation's northern Yoro region.
Left in school shelters are about 700 people, including villagers from Chiquita Brands International banana plantations visited by The Cincinnati Enquirer in November, Mrs. Castro said.
That number is down from about 6,000 people that at one time clogged makeshift shelters in El Progreso. The rest returned home after floodwaters receded or are staying with families or friends, she said.
Members of the Honduran government's relief committee are scrambling to clear vacant land to set up temporary housing, she said.
“They have to find a place to build shelters, but I don't know what they are going to use,” Mrs. Castro said. “They have to clear the area up because otherwise, I don't know what they will do. Otherwise they may delay classes.”
To help provide a place to live for those removed from the schools, Shoulder to Shoulder is sending a team of volunteers in April to help build houses. During the same trip, a team of doctors will visit the two cities in Yoro that are to receive the 15 containers full of Tristate donations.
The call for more donations was prompted recently by villagers responding to questions by Shoulder to Shoulder contacts about their needs. The 30,000 residents of remote San Jose and Urraco were some of the last to receive international aid.
Matthew 25: Ministries of Loveland will help package the materials in Cincinnati, which will be shipped through donated Chiquita containers on the company's ships at Chiquita's expense. The company donated $20,000 to Shoulder to Shoulder last month.
So far, Shoulder to Shoulder has raised $60,000, shipped one container of supplies and plans to send another next week.
Chiquita officials said they will be able to supply the 15 containers to help reach Shoulder to Shoulder's goal in February.
Chiquita lost virtually all of its banana crop in Honduras, which was about 10 percent of its overall banana production.
So far, the company has shipped 800 containers full of 16,000 pounds of supplies donated nationwide to hurricane victims in Central America.
“We've been helping people all across the country,” said Joe Hagin, Chiquita vice president of corporate affairs. “It's especially nice for us to help people from Cincinnati.”
TO HELP
To help hurricane victims in Honduras, call Cincinnati-based Shoulder to Shoulder Inc. at 853-4350. Donations can be mailed to Shoulder to Shoulder, Franciscan/UC Family Practice Center, 2446 Kipling Ave., Cincinnati 45239.
School plan, shelter space needn't clash
Missing man, teen girlfriend found
Bang! Road project Bang! deafening Bang!
Fast train gets a green light
Miami suspect protested fingerprinting
Student killed after landing on utility pole
Cincinnati seeks ideas for downtown
Magnet signups Saturday
Mayors push anti-handgun legislation
Teen may face adult trial in fire
Tristate aid flows by ton to Honduras
At last, a Turpin auditorium
Dad's slaying called mistake
Dual pain for drivers on Dixie
Falmouth theater back on boards
Former football player arraigned in fatal crash
Lucas stays conservative - so far
Man pleads not guilty to child porn charges
Sex ed: How much, how soon?
TRISTATE DIGEST
