As accounts of horror and heroism continue to flood in from the earthquake-ravaged capital of Haiti, residents of the Monadnock region are turning to church pews, retail aisles and concert stages alike in a broad effort to turn their sympathy into money and goods for the international relief effort.

“Everyone’s so stunned. What can we do?” said Lucy Humphrey of Fitzwilliam. Humphrey owns Lola’s Fancys & Friend’s on Main Street in Jaffrey. “There’s nothing much we can do. It’s not like we can all hop on planes and go down there.”

One week ago today, a series of earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 6.5 to 7.3 devastated the impoverished Caribbean nation. But aid is just beginning to trickle in, and international agencies are bracing for an extended stay that is dependant on continued support and donations.

At the Monadnock Bible Conference Center on Dublin Road in Jaffrey, Russell Bryant, director emeritus of the center, said their first concern was for the two orphanages the center supports in Haiti. The one in Port-au-Prince was destroyed, he said. Late Thursday, though, the center got word that all 32 children were safe and well, he said.

“The children had to be evacuated from the building.”

The children, the Haitian regional director and a Monadnock Bible Conference Center board member, who had been visiting the orphanage, were taken in by a neighbor across the street, Bryant said.

“We’re all very happy that they are all safe.”

Along with supporting two orphanages in Haiti, the center has been sending teams of adults and teens on medical and construction missions to Haiti six times a year for the past 27 years.

At the moment food, water and shelter are major needs for everyone in Port-au-Prince, he said. Plans for the center’s first trip this year, a 20-person medical mission in March, is still on track.

The house the center uses to accommodate volunteers has been damaged and needs to be rebuilt. The center will also need to build or rent another building for their Port-au-Prince orphanage.

The center is taking donations for their Haiti relief effort at their Web site www.monadnockbible.org or at TD BankNorth branches. The account is named the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, Bryant said.

The donation table

Humphrey, who sells new and vintage jewelry, coats, rugs and other decorative items in her Jaffrey shop said that when she learned of the earthquake and its devastating effect, “I immediately starting thinking, ‘OK. What can I do — little old me - to be of help,” she said.

Her response was to designate three tables in her store in which all proceeds will go toward relief efforts, she said. Humphrey has placed several of her vintage items on the table and has opened it up to the other venders that sell items in her shop as well as to the general public.

“I have a table down the center of my shop that is available for rent or I just put on my stuff,’ she said. “Now that there’s this massive horror happening I will just have those three tables in my shop raising money for Haiti. ... Some of my renters have also taken things from their inventory and put it on the table.”

Customers that want to support her fundraising effort for Haiti relief can shop at the table, donate money, or donate items to sell on the table, she said.

Martha Dawson and John Sepe, owners of Mindful Books & Ephemera down the street from Lola’s Fancys, have joined with Humphrey in fundraising, selling Tree-Free Greetings journals and note cards.

Relief packages

In New Ipswich pastor Mike Martel of Community Christian Church said his church has joined with other local churches in New Ipswich and Rindge to send relief packages to the people of Haiti. The churches include Hope Fellowship Church in New Ipswich, New Ipswich Congregational Church, Christian Outreach of Rindge and Christian Church of Rindge.

“If everyone across the country comes together, like our churches have, we can make a difference,” Martel said.

Martel said his church has had a long-standing relationship with Remar International orphanages in the Dominican Republic, so they plan to collect and ship food, clothing and construction and medical supplies to the Dominican Republic then drive the supplies into Haiti.

“We’ll raise our own plane fairs to get down there,” Martel said.

He said they are looking for food donations of rice, flour, sugar, powdered milk, canned fruit, meat, vegetables and cocoa. Because water is expensive to ship, he said, they plan to purchase water in the Dominican Republic.

Community Christian Church will be open today through Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon and 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. to receive donated food and items.

Monetary donations can be made to CCC Haiti Mission. Donation containers will be placed out at local stores.

“We’re trying to get this out in the next couple of days,” he said.

For more information you can contact Martel at 801-0826.

Help through the arts

Over in Peterborough, the Haiti relief effort is getting a boost from the arts.

Peterborough artist Mona Adisa Brooks began a Valentine’s Day-themed fundraiser for Doctors Without Border before the earthquake disaster. She is currently accepting Valentines for her Granite Block window display on Main Street. Her ‘All You Need is Love’ art show raised $500 for Doctors Without Borders last winter.

“It’s an ongoing need globally. No matter where the disaster occurred or where the need is, they are there,” Brooks said of Doctors Without Borders.

To participate, drop a 6-inch by 6-inch handmade Valentine and monetary donation in the mail slot of the door between the two Main Street windows. The Valentines will be displayed in the windows. At the end of the show in March you can claim your Valentine or take someone else’s, she said. Brooks can be contacted at 924-9862.

At the Peterborough Historical Society the Friday concert in the Folkway Remembered Concert Series, a performance by folksinger Claudia Schmidt, is now a fundraiser for Haiti relief — $5 from each $18 ticket will go to the American Red Cross response to Haiti. Additional donations will also be accepted at the event. Tickets can be bought for $18 at the Toadstool in Peterborough, the Peterborough Historical Society, and online at www.peterboroughhistory.org. Tickets will also be sold at the door for $21.

Other ways to give
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS
Doctors Without Borders USA
P.O. Box 5030Hagerstown, MD 21741
1-888-392-0392
www.doctorswithoutborders.org

THE AMERICAN RED CROSS
American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013
1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish)
www.redcross.org
Mobile: Donors can text “Haiti” to 90999 on their cell phone to send a $10 donation to support Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.

UNICEF
Online: www.unicef.org

Send Haiti fundraiser information to news@ledgertranscript.com.
We will run a complete listing in Thursday’s paper.