Wheelchair Promise Press Release

THE RED THREAD PROMISE ANNOUNCES DONATION OF
ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES FOR THE PEOPLE OF HAITI

Four Canadian employees of Halliburton extend the company’s charitable activities by supplying all-terrain wheelchairs to Haiti’s amputee population

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – The Red Thread Promise, a 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to providing medical care to orphans around the world, announces the extraordinary donation of 50 all-terrain wheelchairs, plus shipping costs, by the employees of the Canadian office of Halliburton (NYSE: HAL). As part of The Red Thread Promise’s Wheelchair Initiative, these desperately needed chairs will be distributed to people in Haiti. TRTP is supporting this donation with its own contribution of the maintenance and repair kits that will keep these wheelchairs in operating condition for years.

We have all read a great deal about the crushing circumstances facing the survivors of Haiti’s January earthquake. Among the most needy are thousands of new immobile amputees: men, women, and children. Haiti’s economic and social structure has always provided special challenges to a physically handicapped person. In the post-earthquake period, amplified lack of resources coupled with extremely poor road conditions make traversing the mountainous country even more challenging.

A new All Terrain Wheelchair (ATW) can do wonders to help this underserved population. Developed by Mobility International, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, this wheelchair bears little resemblance to a typical wheelchair. Instead, it is geared to rougher urban or rural terrain. Its back wheels are mountain bike tires and it sits lower, with a special seat cushion that absorbs bounce. Special automatic flex suspension controls side-to-side movement, and the front end extends forward to provide front-to-rear stability.

This rugged vehicle is therefore suitable for a wide range of indoor and outdoor use, from hospitals to city streets to off-road terrain. Its heavy-duty construction is ideal for passage over the steep ascents and descents characteristic of the roads and pathways in rural areas of Haiti where it is most critically needed. Kathy Korge Albergate, President of TRTP, says, “This generous donation will make an immediate, direct, and profound difference to the recipients, enabling children to return to school and adults to find or return to work.”

Each year Halliburton hosts the Halliburton Academy, an event that brings together over one thousand employees from all over the world in Business Development, Technology, Operations and Functional groups to learn more about company's strategies and technologies. During the event, employees play the Chairman’s Cup Golf tournament, with part of the entry fee earmarked for a charity that is chosen by the winning team. The Red Thread Promise wishes to thank the members of the winning team, John Gorman, Sheldon Harbinson, Fred Farmer and Trent Ulmer, from Canada, for choosing the Wheelchair Initiative.

The donated chairs are scheduled to land in Port au Prince in June, and then will go to Mountain Top Ministries (MTM) in nearby Gramothe for distribution. MTM is a well-established institution that provides a school and clinic to impoverished mountain residents of Haiti. One of the organization’s chief priorities has been to help fellow Haitians take ownership of their nation and work to defeat generational poverty, village by village. Willem Charles, founder of MTM, says, “We are delighted with this promising response to our great need for all terrain wheelchairs. Not only will this donation provide independence to handicapped members of our community, but we have a well-equipped workshop ready to provide training in assembly and maintenance of the wheelchairs.”

About Halliburton

Founded in 1919, Halliburton is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the energy industry. With more than 50,000 employees in approximately 70 countries, the company serves the upstream oil and gas industry throughout the life cycle of the reservoir - from locating hydrocarbons and managing geological data, to drilling and formation evaluation, well construction and completion, and optimizing production through the life of the field. Visit the company's Web site at www.halliburton.com.

About The Red Thread Promise (TRTP)

The Red Thread Promise (TRTP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization providing medical care to the world’s orphans, has a long-standing relationship with Mountain Top Ministries. Members of TRTP visit Haiti regularly, hand-carrying supplies and teaching English in the school. President Albergate says, “The Haitian mountains are a constant obstacle to impoverished disabled children, adults and seniors attempting to maneuver through the rough terrain. These all terrain wheelchairs can provide a life-changing experience for those who are immobile. We are grateful to have the opportunity to directly impact the lives of so many people in need.” Learn more or donate at www.redthreadpromise.org.

Your Donations at Work in Haiti

Your contributions are truly making a difference in the lives of others. Whether it is the treatment of an individual orphan like Zheng LuYuan, or bringing supplies to an entire mountainside in Haiti, it is news like this that warms our hearts and reinforces that our work is effective. Thanks to your generous support, we have sent over $13,000 directly to the directors of Mountain Top Ministries and Rivers of Hope orphanage in the past few weeks! Your donations have directly impacted the lives of thousands of Haitians and we wanted to share some of the news with you.

Mid January
Willem was, and still is, highly engaged in helping relief supplies get to the people of Haiti. He met with the Minister of Commerce, the Prime Minister and President Preval on January 21st to discuss this massive undertaking in the mountains outside Port au Prince, where Mountain Top Ministries and Rivers of Hope orphanage are located. Willem worked closely with a team to set up food distribution points in Gramothe and Dumay. The villages of Madeleine, Boucan, Planchet, Tala and Depense were also served at the distribution point in Gramothe. Beth and their sons, David and Stephen, spent hours organizing supplies for rationing. They packaged medical items creating health kits as well as organized and filled large bags of medical supplies from the MTM clinic.

Hugs were shared and tears shed as they said goodbye to friends who evacuated to the Dominican Republic. Those remaining at MTM tried their best to keep their spirits up as they continued to search for classmates and friends. Even though the work was exhausting, sleep was an elusive luxury that many were unable to find for themselves.

Late January
Willem was instrumental in food distribution in the outer lying areas of Port Au Prince as well as in the immediate areas around MTM. The people's desperation was mounting as their need for clean water and food escalated. Willem and Beth reported that there were a few "close calls", but thankfully, God brought them through without incident.

Mountain Top Ministries' school principals reported that all of their teachers survived the earthquake. Sadly, they could not reach each and every family at both the Gramothe and Dumay schools. They prayed for word from all families.

On January 28th, a dry food distribution was done in Gramothe. There was enough for each family to get a 100 lb. bag of food items. On the 30th, Willem, Stephen and a crew from the Gramothe / Thomassin area arrived in the village of Dumay with rice. They handed out one 50 lb. bag of rice for every 4 villagers to be shared; the very elderly received 1 full bag. Once the line of adults was complete, a new line was formed with children. There was enough rice remaining that every 5 children were allowed a full bag to share. Everyone in the village that came for distribution left with food.

Early February
The village of Madeleine is 2 mountain sides walk from Gramothe and is home to some of the poorest children that attend the MTM School. Coordinating a food distribution for this village was challenging. Only a tiny footpath leads to the village making it impossible to take a truck there. MTM assigned one of the older MTM high school students from Madeleine the task of making a list of one name from each family in the village who would receive rice for their family. That one person would come to the Gramothe church to receive their provisions. On February 5th, a large crowd of Madeleine family representatives appeared on the basketball court just below the MTM church. Two by two the family representatives came forward when their names were called and received a bag of rice to be divided between them. 127 families were given food that they otherwise had no way of getting.

Stephen and David were able to assist Willem in the food distribution to the remote village of Boucan on February 9th. 192 more families received rice and oil through the distribution work of MTM.

On February 12th, a family representative from each of the villages of Planchet, Tala and Depense gathered at the church in Gramothe to receive rice and oil. The villagers cooperated so well that Willem was able to give rice to two villages simultaneously, enabling the distribution to move quickly. The people were able to return to their homes before the night settled. 250 more families were served that evening.

From Willem and Beth: Together on behalf of the Haitian people, we are grateful for the donors that are helping to make these kinds of food distributions possible.

From The Red Thread Promise: Thank you for showing your love of humankind by supporting The Red Thread Promise's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.

Wheelchair Promise Program

The Red Thread Promise is coming to the aid of those who have been immobilized by the loss of a limb from the earthquake by bringing all terrain wheelchairs to Haiti.

According to CNN, "Haiti's earthquake is creating 'a generation of amputees,' something that will pose a challenge for Haitian society for years to come... The number of amputees created by the disaster is hard to measure, but Handicap International estimates it is at least 2,000 and growing. Dr. Mitra Roses of the Pan American Healthy Organization said some hospitals were performing between 30 and 100 amputations a day after the earthquake... Amputations in Haiti are especially difficult for patients because so many people get around on foot or by bicycle. Sidewalks and roads are poor and wheelchairs, crutches and canes are few." (photo above is from CNN) Read more.

There is a major need for wheelchairs in Port au Prince and surrounding areas due to the rapid increase in amputees, especially in the mountainous areas. While beautiful, the mountains are a constant obstacle to impoverished children, adults and seniors attempting to maneuver through the rough terrain. All terrain wheelchairs can provide a life changing experience for these people. A bit about the chairs:

• Rugged all-purpose manually powered vehicle
• Suitable for a wide range of use; from hospitals to city streets to off-road terrain
• Heavy duty construction ideal for passage over rocks, potholes, bomb craters and steep ascents and descents characteristic of the road and path ways where it is most critically needed
• Easily disassembled and re-assembled for ease of transportation as well as repair
• Common bicycle wheels and other readily available parts are used as replacements
• Replaceable cushion reduces or eliminates body sores

It is our goal to send an entire 20 ft container of wheelchairs to Mountain Top Ministries (MTM). MTM has a well-equipped workshop at their facility and is eager to provide their expertise by training Haitians how to assemble and completely maintain the wheelchairs.

In order to meet this lofty goal, we need your support.

Each chair costs $250 for an adult or a child. Optional features include:

• Hand brake mounted on armrest: $25.00
• Speed governor set at 15 MPH: $35.00
• Lumbar profile accessory: $30.00
• Repair kit: $75.00
• 3-Year maintenance program: $225

Please consider donating to The Red Thread Promise to make this goal a reality for the disabled people of Haiti. Our mailing address, Global Giving and PayPal buttons are on the right in the sidebar. Mark your donation with "wheelchair" in the subject line.

It's A Small World After All...

Yes, that song is humming through my mind right now. As I am still trying to catch up on emails, I ran across links sent to me a few days ago to 2 different news articles that I'd like to share with you.

Chicago-Area Volunteers Treat Hundreds in Haiti (WLS-TV Chicago)

North Shore Medical Team in Haiti Pressed into Action (Chicago Tribune)

Both are about the amazing 23 person medical team from Chicago that was serving at Mountain Top Ministries while Kathy was there teaching ESL classes. She was blessed to meet all of the members of the group since their trips overlapped by several days and they were sharing the same space. The energetic team remained in Haiti after Kathy wrapped up the first week of English classes and returned to the US. Little did the team members know how much their services would be needed in the coming days.

The group was led by Sue Walsh, a dynamic lady that The Red Thread Promise was privileged to meet in July 2009. She was hosting a fundraiser for (drumroll please...) Mountain Top Ministries. The event happened to be over the same weekend that TRTP was having a board meeting in Chicago. At the fundraiser, the TRTP board met Willem, his wife Beth and their sons in person for the first time. [Pictured from left to right: Sonja (TRTP), Jen (TRTP), Laney (TRTP), Willem (MTM), Kathy (TRTP), Doug (TRTP)] Their energy was infectious and their passion for Willem's home country, Haiti, was overwhelming. It was an evening to remember and so I did tonight, over 6 months later.

I find these kind of coincidences and ironies comforting in a way. It reinforces in my mind that there truly is a red thread of destiny connecting us all. If only we are willing to grasp it and keep an open mind as to where it may lead. That same red thread is pulling us to help our brothers and sisters in Haiti. If you feel the tug of the unseen thread, please consider contributing to our Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. Our mailing address, Global Giving and PayPal buttons are on the right in the sidebar. Mark your donation with "earthquake" in the subject line and 100% of the donation will go directly to Haiti.

ESL program starts in Haiti

What an exciting day for TRTP! Kathy is on a plane bound for Miami and then she is off to Haiti to begin our English as a Second Language (ESL) program at Mountain Top Ministries (MTM) School.

The children of Gramothe, Haiti and surrounding areas are some of the most impoverished children The Red Thread Promise has pledged to help. With Haiti’s 80% unemployment level, it is unlikely that these young ones will find work as adults. We want to change that statistic.

We have the opportunity to teach English to these children who are eager to end the cycle of poverty in their home country. Laying down a strong educational foundation will give them priceless communication skills, opening doors for them into Haiti’s workforce and beyond.

Through this program, we can show these children that we care about them and reinforce the fact that they are each valuable human beings. So valuable that volunteers are traveling from other parts of the world to improve their education in their home country.

Kathy, TRTP co-founder, will travel for one week each month, January through May 2010, laying down the ground work for this program. She will begin work this Monday with two kindergarten classes at MTM School. The program will be fun and energizing for children and adults as they jump, spin, hop, color, all the while learning English. Children will begin by learning the names for objects they see and touch each day in their own environment. If they can see it, they can learn it! Together, we will be giving a precious gift that even poverty can not take away.

Your support is critical to the success of this program. We are in need of $5,400 to complete the classes through May 2010, the largest portion being airfare ($3,000). We appreciate the airline miles and funds that were donated in the last days of 2009 - what a great way to ring in the new decade! We’d like to keep the momentum going. Please consider starting 2010 on a positive note with a charitable donation or airline miles toward our ESL program. Our contact information is on the right as well as a convenient PayPay button.

The Red Thread Promise is also looking for volunteers to travel to Haiti during the 2010/11 school year to continue the program. Interested individuals or groups may contact Kathy at Kathy@redthreadpromise.org for more information.