9/11 Relief Group Recounts Work in Haiti

The H.E.A.R.T. 9/11 team has returned from Fond Parisien, Haiti after successfully accomplishing a goal of building 50 homes in six days.   The days begin at 5 a.m., predawn, when all the workers meet for breakfast under a dark, star-filled sky. After eating, they'd pile into an enclosed paddy wagon and head out to the job site.

The work began on a construction site that sits on the edge of a tent city, full of refugees displaced by the 2010 earthquake. While this may first seem gloomy and dismal, it is instead completely the opposite. Those living in makeshift shacks watch as their homes are built every day, and delight in the prospect of trading in their dusty dirt floors for wooden ones, their industrial garbage bag roofs for those of wood and metal.

After working for hours, the team ventured into the villages to play with the children and speak with the locals. This tireless group proved once again that through tragedy there is always resilience. We held an organized soccer match for the Haitian children, made possible by donations from H.E.A.R.T. 9/11 and Local 79 member, Charlie 'Chaz' Rynkiewicz. The team originally got the idea after previous trips to Haiti, struck by the similarities the sport evokes in both American and Haitian children.

Once again H.E.A.R.T. 9/11 has made a difference that will not go unnoticed.  

By Bill Keegan

Keegan is the founder and president of  H.E.A.R.T. 9/11