Volunteers lend helping hand to Haiti earthquake victims

The situation occurring in Port-au-Prince, Haiti has driven UCC student Dakota Titus’ mom, Lesa Beth Titus, and Project Helping Hands, a non-profit organization here in Roseburg, to reach out and answer the call for help.

Project Helping Hands, not to be confused with the Helping Hands organization, is a Christian-based, global organization that focuses on assisting third-world countries with medical care. Lesa Beth Titus, a Roseburg resident and a member of Project Helping Hands for over five years, will be helping those in need after the devastating earthquake. The group Titus is putting together for the goodwill mission currently consists of medical professionals and Project Helping Hands members. Titus is also looking for additional members with a desire to help. The number of people going on the trip is still uncertain, but it is estimated to be around 20 to 30.

The group is set to leave on Thursday, Feb. 4, and will stay for around one week. This will be the first of many trips this organization will take to Haiti. Although Dakota Titus will not be going on this trip, he has accompanied his mother to other international trips. Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital and the center of the devastation, has the greatest medical need in all of Haiti. “While in Port-au-Prince, the group will be setting up medical clinics and helping those in need. The main focus will be medical, although some Christian aspects will be involved as well,” said Dakota Titus. Since very little time has been allowed to plan and prepare for the trip, the group was unable to conduct any fundraising events. Therefore, each person going on the trip is paying for their own way. Titus and Project Helping Hands are going above and beyond to respond to the need in Haiti.

This is not the first time Tituses have traveled across the globe to give medical aid. Lesa Beth has been involved with Project Helping Hands for over five years, and during that time she and Dakota have gone on more than seven trips to third-world countries such as Africa and Sudan, most of them in Kenya. “During the trips that I went on with my mom,” Titus said, “we would set up medical clinics and spend the entire time just giving aid to the people there.”

The 7.0 earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 12 has left behind catastrophic results that will need long-term assistance. Casualties are presumed to be more than 200,000 and more than 1 million have been left homeless. Haitians who survived the initial quake are now suffering from a lack of food, health care, and other basic necessities.

The lack of food, doctors, and basic necessities means the hungry and injured are suffering from the utter chaos that is evident throughout the small nation. The “St. Louis American” made the statement, "Injured survivors are dying in the streets as doctors plead for help and looters lash at one another in the rubble." There are even predictions that the Haiti quake will be more devastating than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 200,000 people in the surrounding countries. Anyone can give items or monetary donations to Project Helping Hands, and they will be sent directly to where they are needed.

So, according to Titus, the purpose of next week’s Haiti trip is simple: “The main goal my mom has for the trip is just to help the people there and show everyone that there is a great need in these third-world countries, even if a tragedy like this one had not occurred, and that there will always be things people can do to help.”

The Mainstream is a student publication of Umpqua Community College.