ANDERSON, Ind. — When the earth moved and walls tumbled in Haiti, 1,500 miles away, trapping thousands beneath crumbled buildings, news of the tragedy moved a few Anderson residents to act.
“I got up one morning two or three days after the Haiti thing and I hate flying, but you know when you get that feeling inside that you’ve got to do something? That’s what I got,” Anderson firefighter Skip Ockomon said Wednesday.
A few calls later, Ockomon had organized an April trip to Haiti with Families Forever, a local agency that serves the community with faith-based counseling and outreach services.
Pastor Dennis Coppock of Families Forever said the trip is scheduled for April 3-10, costing each participant about $1,500.
Ockomon has coined the group of travelers “Families Forever Team Haiti.”
About six people from Anderson have already signed on for the trip, Coppock said.
The pastor added the group was hoping that more locals would join in taking the trip, giving Haiti relief workers a much-needed relief.
The specifics of the trip were still tentative, he said.
“We’re still working out all the details as far as what we’ll be doing and what supplies we’ll bring.”
Local businessman James Mougeotte, who signed on to take the trip, said he was anxious to get back to the country he visited on a mission trip in 2007.
The people of Haiti, he explained, were struggling to survive even before the earthquake rocked their capital city.
“They’re literally living on pennies a week or a month as far as any income,” Mougeotte said.
After an earthquake further damaged the impoverished country, Mougeotte said, the situation is dire.
“It just needs a lot of help,” he said. “Conditions are just terrible. If ‘terrible-er’ is a word, it’s got to be.”
Mougeotte said the country is in such need for medical help, that missionaries without medical training were used in medical roles even before the quake.
“I pulled teeth,” Mougeotte recalled of his trip.
Though he’s not a dentist, Mougeotte yanked unhealthy teeth from Haitians suffering from infection.
Ockomon said the trip was still in its early planning stages, but organizers welcomed other area residents interested in helping Haitians.
It’s critical that interested parties respond immediately, Ockomon added, because passports must be secured in advance.
While organizers are attempting to set a plan in motion for the trip, Coppock said, efforts are limited by the ever-changing circumstances in Haiti.
“What they’ll need two months from now is different than what they’ll need today.”
Those interested in taking part in or learning more about the local effort to help Haiti should contact Ockomon at 425-1936 or Families Forever at 642-4462.
Contact Brandi Watters 640-4847, brandi.watters @heraldbulletin.com.
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PATRICK FARRELL
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Group organizing trip to Haiti
Firefighter Skip Ockomon joins forces with Families Forever
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