Kindness can change lives
This man is my
and he has changed mine
....and many others (when I say many, I mean mannnnyyyyy)
Haiti: a country of destruction, ruin and poverty, yet a country with so many smiling faces. Everyone sees this country needs help, but very few people have the drive and desire to take action. If you see a need, you should fill it. You won't know things are really being done until you do something yourself.
One person who has adopted this model is local businessman
Mr. Jim Scott: owner of Ground Effects Ltd., a company operating in Windsor, Mexico and China, that manufactures and sells car parts. Through the support and generosity of his business as well as his friends and other Windsorites, Mr. Scott and his family started their own Charity Called
Enable Haiti.
Mr. Jim Scott: owner of Ground Effects Ltd., a company operating in Windsor, Mexico and China, that manufactures and sells car parts. Through the support and generosity of his business as well as his friends and other Windsorites, Mr. Scott and his family started their own Charity Called
Enable Haiti.
There are two things that started Mr. Scott's involvement with helping the people of Haiti: his company's specially designed structures (pictured above) and a request to deliver a room full of donated shoes to the people that can use them (pictured to the left).
These specially designed shelters are manufactured by his company in pieces that can be assembled in Haiti without power tools and in a relatively short period of time. (read a CBC article about them here!) They can be used for anything from offices to school houses. Since they aren't anchored to the ground, they can move freely in the wind. These are the only structures that survived the horrible January 2010 hurricane and were used as government and aid offices as the rebuilding began.
When local hockey star Bob Probert passed away, his daughter had a room full of gently used shoes collected, but no way of getting them to Haiti. Thanks to Mr. Scott, those shoes are all being well loved by someone who is making good use of them.
These specially designed shelters are manufactured by his company in pieces that can be assembled in Haiti without power tools and in a relatively short period of time. (read a CBC article about them here!) They can be used for anything from offices to school houses. Since they aren't anchored to the ground, they can move freely in the wind. These are the only structures that survived the horrible January 2010 hurricane and were used as government and aid offices as the rebuilding began.
When local hockey star Bob Probert passed away, his daughter had a room full of gently used shoes collected, but no way of getting them to Haiti. Thanks to Mr. Scott, those shoes are all being well loved by someone who is making good use of them.
When Mr. Scott went to Haiti for the first time, it was only supposed to be a "one-time deal," but as he saw how poor the people were he felt compelled to do more. Since then, he has made multiple trips to Haiti delivering shipping crates filled with much-needed supplies like food, toiletries, school supplies, wheel chairs, clothing, water purification tablets and books. The crates sit on his business's property in Windsor where he fills them with donated supplies, then they take about 35 days to make their way to Haiti. Mr. Scott makes the journey to Haiti himself with EVERY crate he sends to make sure all the donated items get into the hands of the people who need them. He does most of his volunteer work in an city called Petionville - about 90 minutes outside of the capital Port-au-Prince. None of the volunteer work he does is supported by the government (no monetary support, or other), all of this is funded by his company Ground Effects and donations made to his charity Enable Haiti.
Over the past couple of years, Enable Haiti has "adopted" a rehab center and two orphanages.
The rehab center is specially for children injured in the January 2012 earthquake with no one else to take care of them. Before Mr. Scott's help, there were 8 women taking care of nearly 100 injured children. Many of the children were injured to the point where they could not control their bowel movements and the rehab center did not have diapers, so the women were constantly washing clothes and leaving them out to dry. Mr. Scott provided industrial-level washing machines and dryers (along with a generator), as well as 9000lbs of detergent and 3000 diapers. Since then, the living conditions for these injured children have significantly improved.
Before Mr. Scott and Enable Haiti's help, the children that lived in the two orphanages were constantly sick due to the lack of available clean drinking water. With something as small as the donation of water purification tablets, these children were happier and a lot healthier. Mr. Scott and his group of volunteers work with the orphanages helping them become more self-sustainable. Enable Haiti has provided chicken farms giving the children eggs to eat and barter, and soil was shipped in from Jamaica to make vegetable gardens since the soil in Haiti is too rocky to promote growing. Around March 2012, construction was finished on schools near each of the orphanages. Starting September 2013, approximately 126 young children were given the opportunity to attend school, many for the very first time. This not only gives them something to do with their time, but an education that will help them make a difference in the future of Haiti. A scholarship fund was even set up to send the brightest kids to University (in Haiti or North America).
The rehab center is specially for children injured in the January 2012 earthquake with no one else to take care of them. Before Mr. Scott's help, there were 8 women taking care of nearly 100 injured children. Many of the children were injured to the point where they could not control their bowel movements and the rehab center did not have diapers, so the women were constantly washing clothes and leaving them out to dry. Mr. Scott provided industrial-level washing machines and dryers (along with a generator), as well as 9000lbs of detergent and 3000 diapers. Since then, the living conditions for these injured children have significantly improved.
Before Mr. Scott and Enable Haiti's help, the children that lived in the two orphanages were constantly sick due to the lack of available clean drinking water. With something as small as the donation of water purification tablets, these children were happier and a lot healthier. Mr. Scott and his group of volunteers work with the orphanages helping them become more self-sustainable. Enable Haiti has provided chicken farms giving the children eggs to eat and barter, and soil was shipped in from Jamaica to make vegetable gardens since the soil in Haiti is too rocky to promote growing. Around March 2012, construction was finished on schools near each of the orphanages. Starting September 2013, approximately 126 young children were given the opportunity to attend school, many for the very first time. This not only gives them something to do with their time, but an education that will help them make a difference in the future of Haiti. A scholarship fund was even set up to send the brightest kids to University (in Haiti or North America).
Mr. Scott saw a need, and he is doing his best to fill it. The world needs more people like him.
He inspires me to want to make a difference in the world we live in. I continue to crochet mats out of milk bags that he takes with him to Haiti for people to sleep on. It is like hitting two birds with one stone - these milk bags stay out of the landfill here in Canada, and the mats make sleeping on the ground a little more comfortable for people in Haiti. The milk bags are washed, cut and tied together into balls before being chocheted into mats of different colours and sizes. I hope by telling others about the importance of spreading kindness to everyone around us, and by spreading kindness myself, someday I will make as big an impact on someone's life as Mr. Scott has made on mine.