Mormon Life - Haiti tag

Accident sends teenage boy miles from home to receive assistance from LDS network and hospital

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:49:00 -0600

source: MormonTimes.com

Mormon Life says: A heartwarming story . . . Giovanni Pierre-Louis was 11 years old, playing with a friend on a pleasant afternoon in September 2008 in Leogane, Haiti. Unbeknownst to Giovanni and the others, a deadly electrical cable lay a matter of feet to the side.

They would learn so mere moments later — and Giovanni’s life would be changed forever.

Though Giovanni is unsure — or chooses not to remember — whether his friend made contact with the cable incidentally or out of childlike curiosity, the friend did so. The cable had been made especially dangerous because it had been corroded by a recent storm. The friend was killed in seconds, and Giovanni tried to offer help. But the electrical current carried to Giovanni and was far too strong for the child.

Haiti remains a focus for Church humanitarian relief efforts

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:22:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Haiti's devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake in January 2010 and a deadly cholera outbreak last month has kept the Caribbean island country a central focal point for Church humanitarian-relief efforts for a year.

The Jan. 12, 2010, quake killed an estimated 230,000 Haitians, injured 300,000 and left another 1.5 million homeless, and international non-government organizations (NGOs) scrambled to help provide aid and relief. But the challenges then have only worsened through the ensuing months, stymied by impeding mountains of concrete rubble, a crippled Third World economy and a worsening government that lacks leadership and stability.

"We're in as good or better of a place as any NGO," said Lynn Samsel, the Church's director of humanitarian emergency response and community services, of ongoing efforts in Haiti.

An example of the slow processes on the island: The Church has authorized the building of a bishop's storehouse in Port-au-Prince, used by local leaders to store and distribute food and commodities. Leaders in Salt Lake City have authorized breaking ground to commence construction but are still awaiting final approval from the Haitian government.

A year later, Church continues to provide aid to Haiti

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:26:00 -0700

source: Newsroom.lds.org

Mormon Life says: Read this for the numbers and facts--did you know over 1 million pounds of food have been donated by the Church? Pretty awesome. The devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010 shattered and changed millions of lives, but the relief efforts and outpouring of support by organizations and individuals worldwide offered hope. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been working diligently since the disaster to provide aid to the people of Haiti through its humanitarian aid program.

In January of 2010, Bishop H. David Burton, presiding bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who oversees the Church’s humanitarian program said, “Our hearts ache for the people of Haiti and our prayers are with them as we witness the unimaginable suffering they are experiencing. We are grateful for the many generous donations that enable the Church to provide extensive relief in Haiti, as well as other parts of the world.”

Mormon Church aid still reaches Haiti despite ongoing obstacles

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 11:43:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Haiti's devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake in January 2010 and a deadly cholera outbreak last month has kept the Caribbean island country a central focal point for LDS Church humanitarian-relief efforts for a year.

Similar to providing ongoing humanitarian assistance in other disaster areas such as Samoa and Indonesia, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is committed to aiding Haiti and its people with long-term assistance.

"Long-term" may be the operative phrase, since the church — like nearly any other international nongovernmental organization (NGO) providing relief aid — still is stymied a year after the Jan. 12 quake by the impeding mountains of concrete rubble, a crippled Third World economy and a worsening government that lacks leadership and stability.

"We're in as good or better of a place as any NGO," said Lynn Samsel, the church's director of humanitarian emergency response and community services.

Rebuilding Haiti

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:05:00 -0700

by Jamie Lawson
source: ldsliving.com

Mormon Life says: The images shocked the world—masses of Haitians, starving and injured; people digging through the rubble of Port-au-Prince with their bare hands in desperate search of loved ones; the Presidential Palace in ruins. Wednesday, January 12, marks the one-year anniversary of the devastating Haiti earthquake that killed an estimated 230,000 people, injured 300,000, and left one million homeless. During that time, what has been done to help the shattered Caribbean nation rebuild? And how are the Church and its members helping? Sadly, reconstruction efforts in Haiti have inched forward at a painfully sluggish pace due in large part to a nearly nonexistent government. That, compounded by a cholera outbreak that has killed 3,600 people and hospitalized 50,000 since mid-October, has paralyzed the country.

“Unfortunately, not much has changed since the earthquake,” said Erik Sorenson, Church member and co-founder of Utah Haiti Relief. “The tent cities are in bad condition, and the presidential election dispute has caused a lot of rioting and security issues.”

In fact, according to a recent report by UK-based Oxfam International, “less than 5 percent of the rubble has been cleared, only 15 percent of the temporary housing that is needed has been built, and relatively few permanent water and sanitation facilities have been constructed.” But even amidst the quagmire, two nonprofit organizations founded by Church members—Healing Hands for Haiti and Utah Haiti Relief—have been able to make significant progress.

Glimmers of Hope

In 1999, Dr. Jeff Randel, a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor who served a mission in the tiny Caribbean country, founded Healing Hands for Haiti. Tragically, the facilities for the well-organized and effective nonprofit was reduced to rubble following last year’s earthquake. Even so, volunteers have still been able to make an impact.

“We’ve just opened a new temporary clinic in Port-au-Prince,” said Kim Butler, a team leader who has been with Healing Hands for Haiti since 2001. Butler said that about 90 percent of the rubble has been cleared off of the organization’s compound. In fact, later this month there are plans to break ground on a $1.8 million rehabilitation hospital to replace the organization’s damaged buildings.

Despite the setbacks Healing Hands has suffered since the earthquake, the focus of the organization is clear—provide rehabilitation for injured Haitians. “One thing Healing Hands is really focusing on is treating spinal cord injury,” Butler said. In addition, the organization provides rehabilitation for amputees, support for hydrocephalic children and a program to repair and maintain wheelchairs.

While Healing Hands for Haiti is focusing on rehabilitation, Utah Haiti Relief has zeroed in on caring for women and children. “We decided to focus on two orphanages on that first trip last year, and we have been helping them ever since,” said Sorenson. In addition, the nonprofit recently completed construction of a women’s center (which can house about 100 people) on the property of the Enfante Jesus orphanage.

“We created this model so women who were widowed, many of whom have been disabled because of the earthquake, can keep their children at the orphanage while they learn how to live with new disabilities and receive counseling,” Sorenson said. “Once the women are ready, we teach them business skills and life skills to help get the economy rolling again.”

Other Utah Haiti Relief projects include building a school and a new medical clinic.

“We feel very blessed that we’ve had the opportunity to go down and help,” Sorenson said. “Our hearts are still in Haiti. In fact, I’m adopting a little girl who we helped get rehabilitated. But it’s an endless process—since the presidential election in November, no one really knows who is in charge.”

Church Response

Because the nine LDS chapels in or near Port-au-Prince were mostly undamaged by the earthquake—something many people see as a miracle—the buildings were able to serve as shelter for as many as 10,000 Haitians in the weeks following the disaster. Meanwhile, the Church quickly gathered emergency supplies such as food, tents, tarps, blankets, water-filtration bottles, first-aid kits and even toys. “We sent more than 60 truckloads of relief supplies, including 10 air shipments. That includes a million pounds of food and over three thousand tents,” said Lynn Samsel, Director of Humanitarian Services.

“Now we are largely assisting our members with their needs,” he said. “We have about one thousand members still living in tents and about thirty-three families living on Church property. Our goal is to have everyone living within the community by the end of February.”

Samsel explained that the difficulty in finding places for members to live lies mainly with land issues. “We know our members need a place to stay, but they need to find land where they can put a temporary shelter. The hard part is proving who owns the land, since so many records were destroyed in the earthquake, and finding someone who can give permission for members to live on it. Then there’s the problem of getting the debris cleared. We’ve only built seventy-three temporary shelters, but we were anticipating building four hundred.”

Samsel said that in addition to finding suitable housing, the Church continues to assist members and some of their neighbors with employment. “We’ve placed about 356 people, with 300 additional in self employment,” he explained. “We’ve also established business partnerships where we’re paying for members to receive training, and some employment has come as a result.”

He continued, “Our focus has been on housing, employment and education. We’re looking to do a more thorough assessment once the government is in place. We really want to make sure that what we do is going to be sustainable and that it’s something the country is comfortable with—we don’t want to get ahead of the people we’re trying to help.”

In response to the recent cholera outbreak, the Church sent nearly 17,000 hygiene kits, 8,500 water-filtration bottles, 5,000 cholera-prevention and treatment kits, 3 large water-purification systems, 5 large medical tents, 390 cases of hand soap and cholera education materials.

Firm in the Faith

By all accounts, the Church is doing everything possible to care for its Haitian congregations. But how have the members been coping since the disaster? It seems Latter-day Saints who visit a ward in Haiti describe the membership there the same way—faithful, hopeful and resilient.

“The priesthood leaders and Relief Society leaders have been remarkable from day one,” said Samsel. “The work goes forward. Attendance in church has gone up and baptisms continue.”

“When you go to church on Sunday, you would never in a million years guess that some of those people are living in tents or living on the streets,” said Butler. “The congregation is full, they are happy, they are enthusiastic, they are clean. I attended a service there in October, and for the closing song [the congregation] sang “Joy to the World” at the top of their lungs—every person. They are well and as strong as ever.”

Prosner Colin, president of the Haiti Port-au-Prince Stake, reports that with the help of the Church programs, the local members are pressing forward with their lives. “Although the Church lost about 42 members after this disaster, members have stayed strong and [are doing] their best to find employment,” he said. “In that matter, the Employment Resource Services sent a group of employment specialists from Salt Lake City to help the members strengthen their skills, psychologists to help members avoid mental problems, engineers to help them have a transitional housing converted into a shelter, [as well as] the establishment of a bishop’s storehouse.”

He concluded, “Just seven months after receiving my call to serve [as stake president], the country hit with this terrible earthquake. Nevertheless I could see second after second that the hands of the Lord were upon us. Really I did not know what to do, but He knows, and He takes care of us.”

525,600 Minutes

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 21:52:00 -0700

by Jamie Lawson
source: MormonLife.com

There are approximately 525,600 minutes in a year. (For all you trivia buffs out there, yes, I am aware that in the Gregorian calendar an average year is exactly 365.2425 days, but for simplicity’s sake, I’m rounding down to 365 for this equation.)

As we begin 2011, I can’t help but wonder how well I spent the last 525,600 minutes of my life. Did I spend enough of them with the people who matter most? Was I as productive as I should have been? Did I gain any wisdom as a result of the challenges I faced in 2010? Despite my many shortcomings, I like to think that I’m a better person than I was a year ago. In fact, I wouldn’t trade even the most difficult moment of 2010 because of what I’ve learned from it.

While the New Year provides an opportunity for personal reflection, it’s also the time when the media is filled with year-in-review stories—a look back at the most significant events. I would argue that one of the events that impacted the world most in 2010 was the Haiti earthquake. As the news of the horrific disaster spread across the globe, people’s hearts were filled with love and compassion for the Haitian people, and donations, supplies, and volunteers poured in to the tiny Caribbean nation. But as the weeks and months wore on, the media attention waned, and the tragedy became a faint memory for most of us. But those in Haiti have had to endure a year of heartache and suffering as the recovery efforts inch forward at a painfully sluggish pace.

Wednesday, January 12, marks the one-year anniversary of the earthquake. I’ve been working on a story about how Church members are aiding the progress that has been made in Haiti over the past year (watch for it this Wednesday), and after speaking to LDS volunteers, representatives from LDS Charities, and Church leaders in Haiti, I’ve discovered that while the past year has been extraordinarily difficult to say the least, our Haitian brothers and sisters are generally happy, hopeful, and stronger in their faith. Personal trials provide opportunity for personal growth if we allow ourselves to seek out the lessons that are there to learn, and the members in Haiti have done just that as they have faced 525,600 of the most challenging minutes of their lives.

May 2011 be filled with joy for you and your loved ones. And may we all follow the example of the humble members of Haiti and greet every hardship with a smile and hope for the future. How well will you live the next year of your life? Now is the time to decide—nearly 11, 520 minutes of 2011 have already passed, and the clock is ticking.

Church joins other organizations to help in Haiti cholera outbreak

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:08:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

The Church has joined with other nongovernmental organizations in response to major cholera outbreaks in Papua New Guinea and Haiti.

Health officials in Papua New Guina report that the number of cases of Cholera in their country is declining; more than 280 people have died with more than 2,000 reported cholera cases.

Local priesthood leaders report that 75 Church members in four separate branches have died of Cholera. Infected members continue to receive treatment as needed. No missionaries are in affected areas, according to a Church welfare report.

Church responds to cholera outbreak in Haiti and Papua New Guinea

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:23:00 -0700

source: Newsroom.lds.org

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has joined with other nongovernmental organizations in response to a major cholera outbreak in Papua New Guinea. Local Church leaders report 75 deaths from the outbreak among Latter-day Saints. It is unclear how many total deaths there are, but some reports indicate it could be in the hundreds.

“We express our deep love and concern for those who have been affected by this epidemic,” said Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Church’s Pacific Area Presidency. “We offer our sincere condolences to those who have lost family or friends.”

The Church has sent 25 tons of emergency food and medical supplies to the region. The first shipment of food from the Church in Port Moresby arrived in Daru on 24 November.

LDS Church explains why Haiti chapel rejected hurricane victims

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:30:00 -0700

source: Newsroom.lds.org

Mormon Life says: We knew the AOL story looked fishy. There are always two sides to a story. This weekend, an AOL article reported that Haitians displaced by flooding caused by Hurricane Tomas were not allowed shelter in a Church meetinghouse in Leogane, Haiti. The fact is that other Church buildings in Haiti were used as public shelters, and arrangements had been made for this particular building to be used by a government agency to respond to the disaster. Because of this arrangement, it was unclear to some whether the building could also be used as a public shelter. Of course the Church would want to shelter all those who sought refuge, as it has done countless other times in scores of nations and places. The Church has a well established reputation for caring for the needy. The report of this event obviously describes an isolated aberration.

No sanctuary at this LDS church in Haitian storm

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 09:58:00 -0700

source: aolnews.com

Mormon Life says: Apparently, an LDS meetinghouse in Haiti was only offering refuge to members during the violent storm last week. The water in Haiti's seaside town of Leogane rose to the doorsteps of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But if you're local, and homeless, you needn't have bothered coming here for help. Help is for Mormons only.

Hurricane Tomas swiped the western coast of Haiti late last week, and three days of rain brought massive flooding to many towns, including Leogane. The U.N. estimates 1,500 people in the city were displaced by the flood, most of whom have been living in temporary tents since the Jan. 12 earthquake.

The LDS church is one of the biggest and most modern buildings in Leogane, with the capacity to safely hold and protect 200. The church's hurricane policy? Only church members can seek shelter there. On Friday, 36 congregants and family members slept at the church.

They didn't receive food or water, sleeping mats or mattresses. On Friday afternoon, a dozen women sat on the ground and in chairs outside, underneath the shadow of the church's enormous satellite dish, while church staff more or less ignored them.

10 months after rescue of daughter from Haiti, family is sealed

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:03:00 -0600

by Kate Ensign-Lewis
source: ldsliving.com

Last Friday dawned with the promise that Jeremy and Hollie Wardle would finally reach the culmination of their journey to bring their family together. They and their children would finally be sealed to the last addition to their family—their 7-year-old, Gabbie.

“When all six of the kids came in, in their white clothes, and Gabbie being asked individually to come kneel across the altar with us—it was so beautiful,” Jeremy said afterward.

There were times when they wondered how far away this day was. In particular, January 12, 2010, dawned with a new challenge and a special reason for concern: Gabbie was still living Haiti when the infamous earthquake hit.

Then and Now

Though the Wardles would soon learn that Gabbie was safe, they were told that the crèche where she lived had supplies for only two days. Jeremy and Hollie leapt into action, calling friends and family to help them reach her and help the crèche.

“We always felt like Gabbie was coming home,” said Hollie. “But I just kept saying to [Jeremy], ‘This is so much bigger than I think you or I can imagine.’ Even though Gabbie is our priority, they’re our priority, too.”

Within a week, Jeremy had flown to the Dominican Republic (the only means of access to Haiti during that time), connected with Utah Haiti Relief volunteers who would help bring supplies to the Creche and fly out orphans, and gotten to the orphanage in the nick of time. For three days Jeremy and some of the volunteers stayed at the orphanage, accepting new loads of aid each day, until Gina Duncan, who runs the crèche, returned from a 72-hour stint at the U.S. embassy—18 visas in hand for some of her orphans to get to their adoptive families. Jeremy and the UHR volunteers were able to fly the children out and help bring them to their families in the U.S.

Helping these other orphans was rewarding for Jeremy and Hollie, but it was with particular relief that, on January 23, they were able to bring Gabbie safely home to Bountiful, Utah.

Now, 10 months later, life with Gabbie is finding its rhythm.

“She’s really found her place in the family. It’s been a really good acclimation process,” said Jeremy, though he added that it hasn’t been without challenges. “Anyone can study on adopting older kids, and there’s issues. Not to say that we’re without, but she’s been an angel. A lot of issues are not hers but us getting used to her.”

Gabbie, for instance, loves to find out what other people are doing. “She’s kind of a nosy little girl, which I love about her,” said Jeremy, chuckling, “but it sometimes rubs her older brothers wrong and we have to chitchat about it. The hardest part and the most beautiful part is that everybody is so different.”

With six children—four of them adopted from three different families—the family has a lot of individuality to deal with. Jeremy and Hollie try to emphasize the different strengths and talents of each child and remind the others to value their own talents and never be jealous. “The earlier we parent those potential challenges, it’s easier to deal with it,” Jeremy said.

“None of this would be possible without my wife—being able to stay home and be a good mom,” he added. “There have been sacrifices on all ends, but they’re really not sacrifices in the long run. They’re good things.” And these good things keep them going.

Together Forever

Undoubtedly, one of the best things the Wardles have experienced was their family sealing last Friday.

“It was beautiful,” said Jeremy. “We asked the kids, since it was the very last time we would be there until they received endowments, that they would try to remember everything about the temple—that they would just sponge it up. And they did.”

For Kaden and Cole—the oldest of the Wardle children—this was the third time they got to experience a family sealing. Jeremy believes this latest experience had perhaps the most profound effect on them. “They’re still kids, but they have a spiritual maturity that just makes me pleased. They know that they’ve been able to experience cool things. Kayden has been to Haiti, they’ve experienced the death of their brothers. It’s allowed them to mature,” said Jeremy.

While distance separates the Wardles from some of their family (Hollie’s parents are on a mission in Russia and one of her sisters lives abroad), several friends made it to the occasion, including the three men from Utah Haiti Relief who helped to rescue Gabbie from Haiti. “It took so long to get out of the sealing room because everyone had to hug each one of our kids,” he said, “and our kids really went and hugged everybody.”

But one of the best moments for Jeremy witnessing Gabbie’s excitement and awe as she knelt at the altar on her “special sealing day.” “She just kept looking back and forth at our eyes the whole time—not nervous, but like, ‘wow!’”

Children Ambassadors

Jeremy has returned several times to Haiti during the past year. As part of an ongoing effort with Utah Haiti Relief (UHR, utahhaitirelief.com), Jeremy and Hollie try to promote aid wherever possible, even when they can’t go down. Some of the most exciting developments for UHR have been the building of a hotel, a hospital, and a women’s center, the last of which was built particularly for women who lost husbands and limbs after the earthquake. And of course, he and Hollie continue contact with the crèche that three of their children came from.

In fact, Jeremy will be returning to Haiti in January to help Hollie’s sister in her adoption of a little girl from Gabbie’s crèche. And she’s not the only one adopting. In addition to Hollie’s sister, two UHR friends, the Wardles’ neighbors, and Jeremy’s business partner have decided to adopt children from the crèche because of contact with the Wardles. Gina Duncan, who runs the Creche Enfant Jesus in Haiti, calls these children her “little ambassadors.”

“It just shows how wonderful these kids are,” says Jeremy. “People get attached to their spirits. Something is resonating to others.”

These children have resonated in the lives of many, especially the Wardles, and though the journey to bring their family together has brought unique challenges, they’re happy with where they have come.

“Every family has their own set of challenges, but I think the beautiful part is we have a choice of what the outcome is going to be,” said Jeremy, recalling the loss of two boys that initially motivated them to adopt. “We could still just have two boys and be sad that we lost a couple boys, but we opened our hearts to what the Lord wanted, and not only do we have another four beautiful children, but they have just fulfilled us beyond measure.”

Click here to read LDS Living's Mar/Apr article about Gabbie's rescue.

Journey for a Lifetime

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:00:00 -0700

by Kate Ensign-Lewis
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: Through a chain of events filled with sorrow and joy, Jeremy and Hollie Wardle found the children who were to join their family. And in their journey to rescue one daughter from the after-effects of Haiti's magnitude 7.0 earthquake, they discovered an even greater bond. Jeremy and Hollie Wardle had already started their family journey with two beautiful boys when it took an unexpected detour. For the second time, they lost a son after premature birth. Inconsolable, they wondered what the future held.

But on their way home from the hospital after losing their son, they felt prompted to call their friends, the Kehls, who had also lost children and had chosen to adopt. In a discussion with the Kehls that evening, Hollie and Jeremy suddenly realized the Kehls were meant to help them find a little girl. Within minutes, Ed Kehl was phoning his aunt who ran an adoption agency. It turned out she had a newborn child in Philadelphia--a little girl--who was ready to be adopted.

Just seven days later, their daughter Brooklyn was safe inside their home.

Unexpected Joy Out of the tragedy of death, the Wardles were led to their first daughter. It would become a pattern for their family--each addition has led to the blessing of another. "Each one of our children has played a specific role," says Jeremy.

The adoption of one child led them to consider adopting more. So, four years later, after choice experiences, they were led to adopt two siblings, Robens and Nyah, from Haiti. They thought this adoption would add the last of their children to the family. But on their first visit to Robens and Nyah at the Crèche Enfant Jesus in Haiti, they saw another little girl, Gabrielle, who consumed their thoughts long after the visit. "I just knew she was supposed to be with us," says Hollie.

With odds stacked against them, the Wardles completed Gabbie's adoption one year after Robens and Nyah joined them. And on January 11, 2010, Gabbie was cleared to be with them in two weeks.

Something Bigger The next day, January 12, Haiti was hit with a catastrophic earthquake. It was two days before Gina Duncan, who runs the orphanage just miles from Port-au-Prince, confirmed the safety of Gabbie and everyone in the Crèche. But, she explained, they only had enough food to last two days. Gina asked the Wardles for help. And so this child had led them to an even larger "family." "We always felt like Gabbie was coming home," says Hollie. "But I just kept saying to [Jeremy], 'This is so much bigger than I think you or I can imagine.' Even though Gabbie is our priority, they're our priority, too."

It soon became obvious that the only way to get Gabbie and help the Crèche was for Jeremy to go down to Haiti himself. Bolstered by family and friends--who offered everything from SkyMiles to priesthood blessings--Jeremy departed for the Dominican Republic, planning to get over to neighboring Haiti and help the Crèche, but without any idea how.

Miraculously, everything would fall into place. When he arrived, Jeremy had little more than some food and a cell phone--his lifeline back to Hollie, who would periodically let him know about "angels" who stepped in to help them at just the right moments.

Jeremy would meet the people most instrumental in his trip's success within one day of arriving--twelve men who would get Jeremy and the aid to the Crèche. These men were with Utah Haiti Relief (UHR), an all-volunteer organization has funded the transport of thousands of pounds of aid throughout Haiti.

Jeremy, it turned out, was also able to help them. While other UHR volunteers were already serving elsewhere in Haiti, these twelve men had been directed to Jimaní without a specific idea of what to do. But after hearing about the orphanage and its dire need, these men told Jeremy that he had helped them find their mission: to get aid to the orphans in the Crèche and, afterward, work with Jeremy to find more orphans they could help.

So it was on Monday, January 18, that aid finally made it to the Crèche. As Jeremy and the other men helicoptered over the orphanage, "the aunties that had taken care of the children came running out, their hands were in the air, and they were jumping and clapping," remembers Jeremy. They had made it in the nick of time--sadly, one baby had already died.

Once on the ground, Jeremy found Gabbie and said, "I'm not going to leave without you this time. I promise." But even after helping to attain aid and getting to his little girl, Jeremy felt something larger was yet to be done.

Evacuation For three days Jeremy and some of the volunteers stayed at the orphanage, accepting new loads of aid each day, until Thursday morning when Gina returned from a seventy-two-hour stint at the U.S. embassy--eighteen visas in hand for some of her orphans to get to their adoptive families. She then asked Jeremy if he could arrange for the orphans to fly out with him. He turned to C.J. Wade, one of the UHR volunteers making it all possible, who replied with a smile, "Heck yeah!"

So, in the Wardle's Utah home, Hollie implemented a country-wide phone tree--asking contacts in Chicago, Arizona, and Miami to help arrange for a jet to take the group from Port-au-Prince to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Within hours, they miraculously had the money and the plane. "Things facilitated themselves," says Hollie, who is amazed at how everything came together. "When you're prompted, you act, and great things happen because of it."

Back in Haiti, Jeremy witnessed some tender moments before departure. The orphanage caretakers--the aunties--took their last moments with the children to lovingly dress them in their best clothes and prepare them to meet their new families. Finally, it was time to go. "We were lifting off and I looked at Gabbie--she just had tears streaming down her face and she was blowing kisses to those aunties who had taken care of her since she was two-and-a-half years old. It was so precious. So happy, but so bittersweet." In the end, Jeremy was able to bring Gabbie home on Brooklyn's birthday--six years after their original detour started.

With Gabbie safely at home, the Wardles feel they've come to the end of their journey to find their children. But it isn't the end of their journey to find and help others. The Wardles will continue to serve earthquake victims through UHR. "We're not done in Haiti," says Hollie.

"It's not just about the struggle of getting Gabbie," says Jeremy. "In all that experience, it's just neat how none of us had an objective--it was great teamwork. Just how many families were completed from this. It all starts with a seed. Me going in to get Gabbie was the seed that was planted to get it all going."

The entire experience is a reminder of the phrase inscribed on the only possession Gabbie was able to take from the orphanage--a picture frame holding a photo of Jeremy, Gabbie, and Hollie. A frame the Wardles gave her long before their recent life-changing experiences, which says, "With God all things are possible."

Want to help? Visit UHR's website, utahhaitirelief.org, where you can help the organization reach places outside Port-au-Prince's main humanitarian efforts.