Brooklyn-based IceStone, the producers of countertops and flooring made out of recycled glass, was under 5 feet of water from Sandy. Here is a news story about that. They are still without most of their power.
Several other foundation loan recipients, like Cheryl Stevens, who normally work 16-hour days, lost business from closing during the storm, but report that they finally got some sleep!
Haiti, dear Haiti, continues to take the brunt of storms, earthquakes, and political turmoil. Following is a letter from Haiti by Anne Hastings, CEO of Fonkoze Financial Services. Anne was a contented strategic management professional in Washington, DC, until she joined a study trip to Haiti in the late ‘90’s. The rest is herstory!
Greetings from Haiti,
I have been watching my TV every evening this week to stay up-to-date on all the devastation that Sandy has left in its wake in your world…after living through what it’s done in my world. How different the impacts—but how jolting to all of us.
The houses burned, the people killed, the buildings flooded, the transportation chaos, the dangling crane—all of them were so out of the ordinary for what we know in New York and New Jersey. And the incredible efforts of the nurses and aides and firefighters and police!
In Haiti, it was the all-too-common devastation caused by heavy rains that leave people without shelter, without businesses, without crops and livestock—it’s just basically more of the same but with so much more intensity. With virtually no first-responders!
Still, in New York and New Jersey it was almost without precedent as I understand it.
In any case, I want you to know that I’ve been thinking and praying for all of you while planning for our relief efforts here. You all mean so much to me—and your support of our efforts in Haiti is what keeps me going. I just wish there was more I could do for you as you try to bring your lives back to normal.
Peace and love to you all,
Anne
Thank you for your gifts to the Untours Foundation that put us in relationship with such amazing work and recovery in the world!
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill