2 life 18 Foundation, Inc

2 Life 18 Foundation, Inc. was one of the first NGO’s in Haiti to respond to the 2010 Cholera Epidemic and coordinated a massive emergency relief effort during the January 12, 2010 Earthquake

Haiti Quake by Jan Garup – Noor images

2010 Haiti Cholera Epidemic

2010 Haiti Cholera Epidemic

2 Life 18 Foundation was one of the first NGO’s to be in contact with the office of the President of Haiti and the Ministry of Health for emergency assistance in order to combat the October 2010 Cholera Outbreak where the death toll of the cholera epidemic in Haiti has now reached 5,000 as of April 26, 2011. Within days of the outbreak, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, American Red Cross, Partners in Health/Zamni Lasante and several other Haitian NGO’s, 2 Life 18 facilitated the procurement and delivery of millions of dollars of medical supplies, medicines, cots and cleaning supplies. 2 Life 18 arranged emergency chartered flights and cargo vessels from the USA to Haiti carrying over 123 tons (246,000 pounds) of emergency aid.

An outbreak of cholera, a disease that had not been documented in Haiti for decades, was confirmed in Haiti in October 2010. According to figures released by Haiti’s Health Ministry, nearly 3,000 Haitians are still hospitalized with cholera after the outbreak infected around 300,000 people.

Health officials have documented that Cholera is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The bacteria releases a toxin that causes increased release of water in the intestines, which produces severe diarrhea. It occurs in places with poor sanitation, crowding, war and famine.

The cholera outbreak has been believed to be caused by the contamination of rivers with excrement. The strain itself is typical to one in South Asia around the Ganges Delta of India and Bangladesh. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the epidemic will remain in the country for some years, and many resources will be necessary for its total eradication.

These numbers support findings from a study published in March in the journal Lancet and conducted at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and Harvard Medical School which predicted that the cholera epidemic in Haiti this year will be far worse than United Nations’ projections, which had estimated 400,000 cases of the diarrheal disease over the course of the epidemic. The study suggests that there could be nearly twice that number — perhaps 779,000 cases of cholera — between March and November of this year alone.

Epidemiological models estimate that just a 1 percent reduction in the number of people forced to drink contaminated water would avert more than 100,000 cases of cholera this year and prevent some 1,500 deaths. Vaccinating about 10 percent of the population would spare about 900 lives.

January 12, 2010 Haiti Earthquake

The January 12, 2010, the thirty-five second earthquake of magnitude 7.0 and its aftershocks caused devastation in Haiti. The earthquake has created a situation without precedent, made worse by the fact that it hit the country’s most populated area as well as its economic and administrative center. The situation is even more tragic because for the last three years Haiti has experienced stability in terms of society, politics, security, economic growth and a nascent improvement in living conditions. Much of Jacmel, in southern Haiti and Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas’ experienced significant infrastructure damage. The death toll mounted to 170,000, plus an estimated 300,000 injured and some 1.5 million homeless. The majority of Government buildings, including the National Palace, were destroyed and in need of replacement. According to the aforementioned report, between 1990 and 1999, 16 cyclones, 25 severe floods, and 7 droughts have caused profound devastation to Haiti. The devastating May 23, 2004 storm was responsible for 1,261 deaths, 1,414 missing persons, 2,399 destroyed houses, and 30,000 people in need of relocation. Its 2nd century independence celebration was shattered by Hurricane Jeanne, which swept Gonaives and the Northwest of Haiti and left behind 3,000 dead and 250,000 homeless.

In the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake, the destruction of infrastructure was colossal. About 105,000 homes were totally destroyed and over 208,000 were damaged. More than 1,300 educational institutions and more than 50 hospitals and health centers have collapsed or are unusable. The country’s main port was severely damaged and is now in limited operations. The Presidential Palace, Parliament, law courts, and most ministerial and public administration buildings were destroyed.

Although environmental indicators were already at warning levels, the earthquake has put further pressure on the environment and natural resources, thus increasing the extreme vulnerability of the Haitian people.

Within a few days of the earthquake 2 Life 18 Foundation formed a team of 18 volunteers led by David Perez where we immediately started to coordinate our emergency relief efforts to support medical teams and many local grassroots efforts and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that were already on the ground and enroute to Haiti. While manning the hundreds of incoming phone calls every day and filtering through thousands of emails of pleas for help from people needing medical and emergency supplies on a 24x7 basis, 2 Life 18 team members were able to quickly and effectively gain access from may generous donors to provide vital large-sized commercial jet aircrafts, helicopters to transport emergency medical teams, medicine, medical instruments, water and food supplies to affected areas. Each mission was also able to bring not only live saving supplies in, but also air transport the injured out of the affected areas to emergency field hospitals in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

2 Life 18 Foundation in cooperation with the American Red Cross, Enfants Entraide /Free the Children, Partners in Health /Zamni Lasante, Project Medishare and many other NGO’s coordinated several massive medical relief programs in Haiti that saved many lives in the aftermath of the Earthquake and the Cholera outbreak. In all,2 Life 18 coordinated the delivery of over 2,600 tons (5.2 million pounds) worth millions of dollars of emergency aid for the earthquake and cholera relief efforts.

In the aftermath of the Earthquake and Cholera outbreak David Perez, President of 2 Life 18 Foundation working in partnership with Haiti’s Ministry of Health and the Haitian Diaspora Federation / The Haitian League spent the past 14 months writing and submitting over twenty three Grant proposals totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, some of which have been funded and were able to activate funding within weeks of submission by major American institutions like the American Red Cross to keep critical care hospitals operating, providing for emergency medical supplies, chartered flights, fuel, trucks, cots, megaphones, salaries for doctors, nurses, staffs, trauma and rehabilitation centers and related services. Other Major proposals submitted by 2 Life 18 on behalf of the Haitian Diaspora Federation to USAID and Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (IHRC) for the new construction of 36,000 homes and hundreds of business along with economic stimulation of creating new SME’s to make Haiti self sustaining are currently under the final stages of evaluation.

Other NGO’s we supported and ask our donors to continue to support: Artists for Peace and Justice, American Red Cross, Angel Wings International, International Medical Assistance Team, Partners in Health,C.A.R.E, CARE Haiti, Christ Fellowship Church, Compassion Alliance, Convoy of Hope, Fishers of Men, Enfants Entraide, Free the Children, GLOBAL D.I.R.T.,Giving Children Hope, Haiti Clinic, Hope for Haiti, IsraAID, IDF, Les Petits Freres et Petits Soeurs de l’Incarnation, Missionary Flights International, Morningstar Christian Academy, Operation Blessing,Project Cure, Project Medishare, Reach Out to Haiti, Association Cabral Developpement, Helping Hand Mission Organization and many other local organizations.

We also coordinated relief and rescue efforts with the Government of Haiti, The State Department, The US Embassy in Haiti, U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and key members of Congress and other foreign governments and many multinational companies including Virgin Unite, The Hain Celestial Group, Nika Water Company, LifeGivingForce and others that continue to support our efforts for the long-term rebuilding of Haiti.

Notable Donors

Other major notable donors include Drew Brees the Quarterback of the New Orleans Saints and MVP of Superbowl XLIV and his foundation The Brees Dream Foundation, Irwin Simon, CEO of The Hain Celestial Group who donated over 250 tons of supplies that included vital baby formula, soy milk, rice milk, baby food, water and diapers. Richard Branson of the Virgin Group and David Cush, President & CEO of Virgin America who In the early weeks of the disaster, donated seats on flights departing to Florida for over one week transporting medical personnel and urgent medical supplies to Florida, which then were transferred to the next available private jets and/or cargo planes en route to Haiti. We also want to thank the First Lieutenant Timothy Keegan, USAR and the US Army Reserves and many other NGO’s and volunteers that assisted us to raise funds, get donated foods, medicine and medical equipment to help earthquake survivors in Haiti to save lives.

Reports on our success from Haiti and updates from our team on the ground:

From: Michael Regan
Subject: Thank you for the successful flight
Date: Monday, March 01, 2010 11:55 AM

David/Albert/Marianne,

I just wanted to send a quick note thanking you for all the effort, good faith, and funds that you put into last night’s flight. I know you made a lot of children and parents very happy. The readout I received from the Embassy is that things went smoothly at the airport in Port au Prince. I hope those of you on the flight had a chance to spend a bit of time with the children and those parents who were on board.

Very best regards,
Mike Regan, US Department of State
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From: Alanna Ow
Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:28:29 -0800
The operation was a success. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
Director, Miami Field Office U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
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From: Alan Schneider
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:17:29 -0800

“David, I just wanted to thank you and your donors for the fantastic planeload of medical equipment and medicines you sent to us. We have just unloaded the equipment at the IsraAID encampment within the Israel Defense Forces camp here in Port au Prince. Some of the items are already in use and others will be going into service in the coming days. Any equipment that our team cannot use will be transferred to a hospital or other appropriate facility. Thanks again for all your efforts. The Haitian people need it badly.
Shabbat Shalom” – Alan Schneider in Haiti
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From: Alison Thompson
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:40:40 -0800

“Everywhere I go I hear David Perez helped us with this and that. Everyone is grateful for your huge effort in support.” – Medic Alison Thompson in Haiti
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From: Alison Thompson
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:41:40 -0800

“Located an army base feeding 40,000 people daily but they only have enough food for today. Food and water are priorities right now. The army is begging us to help. Amputations daily with no meds. Situation dire. We were woken up by beautiful singing about God and we ran off to find the church. 40,000 people were lined up at 4 waiting to be handed the smallest bit of food to last them the day... The team saw over 2,000 very infected patients today. Dehydration and many health problems are exploding all over. There is so much to do. We have seen over 5,000 patients in the last few days and it's a tiny drop in the big bucket.” – Medic Alison Thompson in Haiti– Medic Alison Thompson in Haiti
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Haiti Earthquake Relief

Photo by Jan Grarup / NOOR. Noor is a registered trademark of Noor Images B.V. All rights reserved. This photo is donated by Noor and should not be used elsewhere without license or permission. NOOR was founded by nine award-winning independent photographers who produce globally-relevant, in-depth visual reports. NOOR’s highly-respected documentary photographer members produce award-winning imagery about social, political, environmental and cultural issues around the world.

Meal, Ready-to-Eat, (MRE) to feed 700,000 people on their way to 2 Life 18 Foundation's Hangar at Opa Locka Airport in Florida. A coordinated effort to load over 315 tons (630,000 pounds) on 350 Pallets of MRE s food, medicine and vital supplies to Convoy of Hope and other NGO s in Haiti donated by the Big Hearts Brigade, Christ Fellowship Church, Compassion Alliance and coordinated with the assistance of MFI and 2 Life 18.

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