Join Southern University, Ag Center in Haiti Relief

The January 12 earthquake in Haiti devastated that nation and has many people wondering what they can do to help. In the years since Katrina, the process for managing donations has become more efficient, effective, and secure.

Southern University and the Ag Center have had a long history with Partners of the Americas, and many of our faculty and staff have travelled with them on many development projects in El Salvador, Louisiana's southern partner. Retired animal scientist James McNitt has worked in Haiti to develop a rabbit project which now involves more than 700 rabbit farmers.

If you want to make a donation to the Haitian Disaster Relief with assurance that it will be used properly, McNitt suggests donating to Partners of the Americas  http://www.partners.net/donate.

Southern University and A&M College professors Warner Anderson, Kristan Gordon and Ernst Pierre have started the Southern University Haiti Disaster Relief Drive. Items that are desperately needed by the Haitian children are:

Items needed are:

• Book bags
• Suitcases
• Clothes (for warm weather)
• Footwear
• Sanitizer
• Repellent
• Baby formula
• Thick blankets
• Toilet paper
• Female sanitary items
• Baby wipes
• Pampers
• Soap
• Shampoo and conditioner
• Caps

All donations can be brought to Southern University’s Center for International Education, Room 1100 in T.H. Harris Hall, located on Elton C. Harris Drive. A receipt will be given to all individuals making financial donations for the Haiti Disaster Relief Drive.  Contributions are tax deductible. 

Through the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Louisiana has offered the U.S. State Department and FEMA resources to assist in the Haitian disaster response efforts, including more than 65,000 MREs and thousands of bottles of water being donated by Lipsey Mountain Springs Water.

Businesses that want to donate equipment and large-scale commodities to the Haiti response efforts can donate through:

•  Department of State Global Partnership Initiative: http://www.state.gov/s/partnerships/
• USAID: http://www.usaid.gov/

Cash donations from individuals or the private sector can be made through the following websites:

• Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund: www.yele.org
• InterAction: http://www.interaction.org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti
• AidMatrix: http://www.aidmatrix.org/haiti.htm
• ALAN: http://www.aidmatrix.org/alan/about.html
• CIDI: http://www.cidi.org/
• American Red Cross: https://american.redcross.org
• Salvation Army: http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_sa.nsf

Visit FEMA http://www.fema.gov/rebuild/recover/howtohelp.shtm for a listing of other legitimate organizations and methods of donating.

Those seeking information on colleagues, friends, and loved ones missing in Haiti will find help at http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/ha/earthquake/index.htm for important public information from the United States Department of State or call 1-888-407-4747 (due to heavy volume, some callers may receive a recording).

For more information on Southern's Haiti Desaster Relief Drive, contact Anderson, Gordon or Pierre at (225) 771-2613.

For more information on the rabbit farm project, contact McNitt at (225) 771-2262 or email james_mcnitt(at)suagcenter.com

Center trains agents on emergency preparedness

In order to teach local communities, families, school leaders and childcare center employees how to respond to emergencies, the SU Ag Center Family and Human Development program hosted a three-day emergency preparedness training for Extension agents who work through-out the state. 

“It makes no difference what the disaster is, but it does matter that all of us learn to mitigate and pre-pare in order to remain safe and healthy,” said Chancellor Leodrey Williams. 

As a result of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Gustav, the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center collaborated with the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Center of Emergency Preparedness to reduce the hardship and struggle caused by disas-ters along with the poten-tial spread of the H1N1 threat faced by citizens of this state and others nationally. 

“The last decade has brought to the forefront horrendous weather condi-tions that have prompted many families and other individuals to learn emer-gency responses to various hazards,” said Kasundra Cyrus, Ed.D, Family and Human Development Specialist, and training organ-izer. These conditions have included natural, man-made and technological conditions in addition to the risk of pandemic type situations. 

Each agent received a cur-riculum resource guide to teach citizens how to make advanced preparation for their communities’ different needs and various dis-asters. According to Cyrus, provisions are made for the resource curriculum guide to offer directions for com-munity-centered trainings, but each agent or educator should have a knowledge base and a set of skills in disaster preparedness and readiness. 

“It is our responsibility to assist the community and ensure that home environ-ments are safe and secure. To promote these safe environments, the curriculum guide focuses on the pre-ventive measures of disaster planning and emergency readiness,” said Cyrus. 

Although the training did not highlight every kind of disaster that can occur, it provided program partici-pants with an overview of hazards, knowledge, training, and skill building. 

Extension agents were trained on seven lessons designed to help teachers, directors, families, and community advocates discover ways that will make emergency preparation easier for the residents of their community and children under their care.  Topics and presenters included: Overview of Emergencies Preparedness Response and Mitigation: What do we need to know? by Mary Wells, facilities planner, Southern University System Health Challenges and Pandemics: Is it the H1N1 Flu? by Sherhonda 

Harper, statewide nurse consult-ant; Agricultural Emergency Preparedness by Diane Stacey, DVM, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry; Knowing What to Say about Emergency Preparedness and Mitigation by Ken Pastorick, public information officer; Chemical Spills and Other Hazards by Stephen Phillipe, Office of Public Health, Center for Emergency Preparedness; Emergency Preparedness Response Curriculum Guide and Program Evaluation, by Cyrus; What Should You Tell Farmers About Sheltering Livestock from the Disaster? by Renita Marshall, DVM, assistant professor, animal science, and di-rector of livestock programs, Christie Monroe, assistant live-stock program director, and Antoino Harris; Learning About Data and Data Entry by Wilbert Harris and William Augustine, Ag Center technology staff; Food and Water Safety During Disasters, De’Shoin York, assistant nutrition specialist, and Fatemeh Malekian, PhD, associate professor, Ag Center; What Should You Know about Crop Damage? by Chris Robichaux, PhD, county agent, SU Ag Center; Emergency Preparedness for Youth by Joanie Ledet, parent educator, SU Ag Center; Emergency Preparedness for Families by Delores Johnson, parent educator, and Sarah Sims, extension agent, Southern University Ag Center. 

The agents returned to their parishes prepared to provide classes that will enable citizens to prepare for and mitigate any emergency situation over time.