A local food and clothing drive is under way for Haiti, and the organizers are hoping to fill up a C-5 cargo plane with supplies by the end of the month. There are a number of dropoff points around Rockland County, including Konbit Neg Lakay in Spring Valley.

For more information call Konbit Neg Lakay, (845) 425-4623.

Below is a story about the effort by reporter Suzan Clarke.

Sept. 7, 2008

SPRING VALLEY – An umbrella group of local organizations is collecting essential items to send to flooding victims in Haiti and is in talks with the state to secure an Air Force C-5 cargo plane for the transport.

About 30 people who were gathered at Konbit Neg Lakay in Spring Valley on Friday morning listened as speakers detailed the devastation in Haiti after a series of deadly storms and a food shortage crisis this year.

Tropical Storm Hanna struck Haiti on Monday, leaving an estimated 137 people dead. The week before, Hurricane Gustav slammed the island, killing 76. Fifteen other people died from the recent effects of Hurricane Fay.

Gustav also took lives and destroyed property in the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

And, with other storms now forming in the Atlantic, local Haitians are worried about what more could befall the already vulnerable Caribbean nation.

The 2000 census estimated that about 11,000 Haitians lived in Rockland, but community activists have said that far underrepresents reality.

Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence reached out to the state for use of the cargo plane, and said he has had three conversations with Gov. David Paterson’s office.

The planes were mostly being used to support U.S. military efforts overseas, but officials seemed amenable to providing one for the delivery, he said.

If an aircraft could be secured, it would be filled with palettes of rice, as well as food, clothing and medical supplies.

It also would be loaded with surplus fire trucks and ambulances, St. Lawrence added.

Renold Julien, executive director of Konbit Neg Lakay, said in the very moment that attendees were meeting and talking, people in the Caribbean were starving to death.

“They don’t deserve to be dying this way,” he said.

Dr. Marie Sahmonde-Myrie, who has treated HIV/AIDS patients in the south of Haiti, said when it rains, conditions are deplorable. Nurses and doctors have had to stand on beds to avoid getting wet, and patients travel for hours each day to get their medication.

“We need food, we need housing” and clothing, she said, adding there were rising fears of outbreaks of malaria and tuberculosis.

Konbit, based in Spring Valley, is one of several Rockland organizations forming the umbrella group. The other organizations are the Rockland Immigration Coalition, the Ramapo Town Haitian Relief Task Force, the Haitian-American Cultural and Social Organization, St. Joseph’s Church and IFG Productions.

Haiti Solidarité, a Union, N.J., nonprofit, also belongs to the coalition.

The umbrella group – which is called the Haitian Relief Task Force – will meet 10 a.m. every Friday at Konbit for updates on its progress. Collections of money and goods will continue until Sept. 30. The cargo plane, which will also carry up to 75 people involved in the effort to oversee the distribution, is expected to depart for Haiti on Oct. 10.

Wilfred Cadichon is head of Haiti Solidarité. He hails from Bainet in the nation’s southeast, and said what has happened to his home nation was hard for him to watch and the government’s ineffectual response has only made it worse.

He commended the umbrella group’s efforts.

Haiti’s troubles seemed to receive less international attention than those of other nations, he said, recalling the quick international response to the recent disasters in Asia. The U.S. should do more for Haiti because they’re geographically close, and America’s foreign policy has had a lot to do with Haiti’s current situation, Cadichon added.

The poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti and its struggling economy have been devastated by the effects of natural disasters, rampant crime and political strife. Of the 8 million people who live in the country, more than half are illiterate, and unemployment is widespread.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.