Haitian community determined to aid earthquake victims in person

“I'm going to fight until I get in,” she said.

But Malden Mayor Richard Howard said that is the opposite of what disaster agencies want.

“They are discouraging any group or anyone considering going to the island just now,” he said. “What they don't want is to see the relief efforts down there get overwhelmed by people they can't tell what to do.”

Cambridge Health Alliance physician Karen Hacker expressed similar sentiments, urging residents to focus their efforts on helping local members of the Haitian community who are grieving.

“We've got to help ourselves,” she said. “ I'd like to get on a plane myself [but] the priority has got to be the first responders, the people that are gong to lift the cement.”

Medford High School has designated a room for Haitian students to gather and seek counseling, said Gwen Blackburn of Hallmark Health. She urged the other two communities to make sure students had a place to go while they receive updates from family members overseas.

“The kids are suffering,” she said. “We need to arrange for help [for] them.”

Attendees of Friday's meeting, which was hosted by the Tri-City Community Action Program, already had begun to mobilize members of their organizations by asking for donations of medical supplies, canned food, and money. Pastor Pierre Laguerre of the Philadephie Haitian American Church in Malden said his congregation is organizing a collection of wheelchairs, crutches, and blankets to be shipped to the island as soon as possible. A bank account is also being opened at Century Bank in Malden for donations from the community, he said.

But many questioned whether donations would reach victims soon enough, if at all. The only way to ensure the aid reaches those in need is to deliver it in person, said nursing student Gretta Montina, adding that many relief agents currently administering aid are unable to communicate with the people they are helping.

“We [are] from there, we know there,” she said. “We don't need anybody to translate.”

To consolidate efforts, Tri-City Executive Director Philip Bronder-Giroux suggested pastors draw up a list of trusted agencies where communities can donate. The list and other information on local relief efforts will be posted on city websites and at www.tricityhaitianrelief.blogspot.com..