RIESTER

RIESTER Foundation

Jim Breitinger

Thank you for your help with our Haiti fundraiser.

On behalf of the RIESTER Foundation, thank you to everyone who donated generously and helped to spread the word regarding our friend’s situation in Haiti.

Some updates:

Excerpt from an email sent by Toby Banks from Haiti:

Our facilities in Haiti sustained considerable property damage in the devastating earthquake on Jan. 12. None of the staff or orphans in our care were injured but one house was destroyed and the orphanage needs extensive repairs. Our organization has served the people of Haiti for more than 30 years; we were here before the earthquake and we will be here long after the various large crisis organizations are gone.

We have been blessed by so many people through prayer, encouragement and financial support during this crisis. We have also been blessed by a large construction firm in Ohio who will come alongside us with engineering expertise and construction supervision in building a new orphanage facility that will be stronger and meet the evolving needs of the girls in our care. Repairs on the existing orphanage building have started and once completed, the girls will return there temporarily until the new facility is finished.

We have already begun the process of long-term community relief to assist with the needs of our Croix des Bouquets neighbors. We are meeting immediate needs for food, medical care and temporary housing. Our plans for rebuilding focus on encouraging neighbors to help one another and providing economic stimulus to the area by paying a stipend for work completed.

Pa Bliye Ayiti (Don’t forget Haiti).

>>>>>>>>End dispatch from Haiti<<<<<<<<<

We would like to thank Brad DiIorio of Salt Lick Publishing for donating space in Q Salt Lake to run the following ad:

RIESTER_F_HAITI

An update regarding the attempt to evacuate:

After the earthquake there was a major effort to evacuate from Haiti. Toby Banks, and the girls at the orphanage, received paperwork to come to the U.S. until the situation stabilized in Haiti and the buildings at the orphanage could be rebuilt. The paperwork was revoked after the U.S. and Haiti made a policy change. This was around January 21. Since then efforts continued to find a way out, however, the bureaucratic realities were daunting. For now, everyone at the orphanage is settling in to their new routines. Toby and Tim Banks would still like to evacuate temporarily, though their expectations of that happening have diminished considerably. RIESTER did what we could to help with the evacuation. Though many federal officials were helpful, in the end we were not able to make any progress–so far.

The purpose of the Hope Center for Orphaned Girls is to raise young women who will be leaders and productive members of Haitian society. These are not children that are candidates for adoption. Toby and Tim Banks, and their parent organization, are committed to helping Haitians learn how to help themselves.

Spread the word:

Tell your friends about our efforts in Haiti by directing them to http://www.riester.com/haiti

To support the Hope Center for Orphaned Girls please click on donate below to make a donation from the RIESTER Foundation PayPal page:

donate_sm

Or send a check to:

RIESTER Foundation
802 North 3rd Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Please write “Haiti” in the memo line of the check.

Your donation of $10 or more will go a long way to help our friend Toby with the amazing work she, her husband, and others are doing.

All contributions are welcome and will be used for the orphanage.

RIESTER

Roy Dufek’s perspective on Haiti: “Small acts of kindness make the world a better place.”

Roy Dufek is a popular young man at RIESTER. He is part of our information technology team, rescuing RIESTERites from technological headaches.

Roy is in his early twenties. He’s tall, clean cut and never seems to be in a bad mood—though if you don’t know him well he can be quiet and shy. Once you get to know him, you see his wicked and quirky sense of humor.

In the summers of 2004 and 2005, Roy joined a youth group and volunteered his time by traveling to Haiti. He spent two weeks there each summer, and he says that his time in Haiti gave him a new perspective on the world.

Never had he seen or imagined poverty like he saw in Haiti. His trips there revolved around three orphanages. One of these orphanages is called Wings of Hope—they take in disabled children and children with special needs.

Poverty, poor health, the dangers of childbirth and disease have long conspired in Haiti to leave hundreds of thousands of children without parents. Some parents simply can’t care for their children in the poverty-stricken nation. The children at Wings of Hope with their special needs had found a refuge in a country with few resources to care for them. These are the people Roy was there to help by doing service projects.

The youth group he traveled with took the maximum number of bags they were allowed to carry–loaded with basic supplies including toilet paper. It was difficult to ship things to Haiti because packages were regularly ransacked, misdirected or simply stolen.

In Haiti Roy saw open sewers for the first time—ditches on the roadsides with raw human wastes exposed to the open air. He saw a lot of other things too. Roy referred us to this report to read more about some of the problems in Haiti: “Paradise Lost: Haiti Without Trees.”

Roy says his time there was “eye opening.  It changed my life and how I think about things.” When he came home, things that used to bother him, or that might upset his friends, didn’t seem as important anymore. After observing extreme and widespread poverty first-hand, the world just felt different. It all made “me happy to have what I have,” he says. “We have so much here, and they have so little.” Through reaching out to others, Roy felt he had made a difference. He was inspired by the work of the orphanages in Haiti where he was helping. “Never underestimate your ability to make a difference, small acts of kindness make the world a better place.”

Pam Doan, one of Roy’s colleagues at RIESTER, describes him as a young man with an old soul. He’s a great guy and his perspective on Haiti has given all of us at RIESTER insight into that stricken nation.

The RIESTER Foundation is raising money for an orphanage in Haiti that was badly damaged during the quake.

Some of the girls from the Hope Center for Orphaned Girls--the orphanage the RIESTER Foundation is raising money for. Their conditions are rough, their home from before the quake is still unusable. Never lose faith in the ability to make a difference in the lives of others. Photographed this week in Haiti.

Some of the girls from the Hope Center for Orphaned Girls--the orphanage the RIESTER Foundation is raising money for. Their conditions are rough, their home from before the quake is unusable. Never lose faith in the ability to make a difference in the lives of others. Photographed this week in Haiti.

Click here and then scroll down to read all of our posts on Haiti and learn how you can help.

Jim Breitinger

Conan O’Brien, cynicism and 20 little girls in Haiti.

It’s so easy to be cynical. In the best of times, a daily dose of the so-called news is enough to wear away at anyone: a house burns down, a car crashes, government officials stumble, jobs are lost, work and family politics can be difficult, a loved one gets sick or dies, a new president supposedly doesn’t sparkle like his supporters dreamed he would. Even in a crowded world we sometimes find ourselves alone. Yes, there is always fuel for the cynic.

Over the past few weeks we were exposed to one of our regular media sideshows. New “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien was shoved aside due to ratings and network politics. His predecessor (himself pushed out previously due to network politics) was re-anointed as host of the “Tonight Show.” In the broader scheme of things it was an interesting story, in the way that gossip and drama can be interesting, but it wasn’t the sort of story that alters the course of human events.

On January 12, an earthquake struck Haiti. It did alter human events and unleashed death, destruction and suffering that is nearly unprecedented. Large wars in the last century were worse, but among disasters, the Haiti quake ranks right up there. It managed, through scale alone, to make Hurricane Katrina seem like a relatively minor event—which it wasn’t.

At the end of his final telecast as “Tonight Show” host, Conan O’Brien made a plea to his fans. He said, “I’m asking this particularly of young people that watch: Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it’s my least favorite quality. It doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”

I too hate cynicism. I always have. Though at times, I too am cynical. Regardless, Conan is right:

Cynicism does not lead anywhere.

At best, it’s a coping mechanism in what can be a tough world. At worst, it’s a cop-out.

Over the past two weeks I’ve been following closely the plight of an old high school classmate: Toby Munson Banks. She and her husband Tim are running an orphanage in Haiti. While close to the epicenter of the quake, their orphanage building didn’t collapse though it did suffer severe damage and is uninhabitable. As mentioned in earlier posts, Toby and Tim quickly chose to try to evacuate the girls at the orphanage. Living conditions are pitiful with corpses everywhere, people with severe injuries struggling to survive and severe problems getting food and water to the population. All things considered, the orphanage under Tim and Toby Banks is doing OK, but that’s relative.

They are also suffering. Tim and Toby made the decision this week to send their two young children, who have been living with them in Haiti, home to Ohio. With uncertainty as to when the family will be reunited, this was a gut-wrenching choice. They are still working to evacuate the 20 girls for whom they are legally and morally responsible. They are under a kind of stress that is intense and is something that is beyond the scope of the experiences of most Americans.

The RIESTER Foundation made a quick decision after the quake to do what it can for the Hope orphanage and the 20 little girls aged 2-13 whose only family are Tim and Toby Banks. So far, red tape has prevented them from being evacuated to a temporary safe haven in Ohio while the orphanage is being rebuilt. As reported earlier, this orphanage exists to raise and educate Haitian girls in a stable, loving home environment and to prepare them to live productive lives in Haiti. They are not candidates for adoption to American families, but they are in the custody of the Banks–Americans living in Haiti.

We hope the Banks succeed in obtaining refuge and we are continuing to do what we can to help.

I join Conan with a heartfelt plea: Do not be a cynic.

Yes, these are 20 girls in a situation where over a million people are facing untold hardships. Yet they are girls in the custody of Americans who are responsible for raising and nurturing them. Every life has value that is incalculable. Everything we do as individuals and as a nation makes a difference to a population reeling from this natural disaster.

Join the RIESTER Foundation and Conan O’Brien and stand against cynicism. Our civilization, as well as our individual journeys, depends on people who rise above the roadblocks and travails of life. These hurdles are often internally erected, but sometimes they are very much external, such as when you’re faced with recovering from a disaster of immense proportions or when your parents die or disappear when you’re an infant or a very young child facing the world alone.

“Amazing things will happen.” Conan.

And more amazing things can happen with your help.

To support the Hope Center for Orphaned Girls please click on donate below to make a donation from the RIESTER Foundation PayPal page. The RIESTER Foundation is still matching donations, dollar for dollar:

donate_sm

Or send a check to:

RIESTER Foundation
802 North 3rd Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Please write “Haiti” in the memo line of the check.

All contributions are welcome and will be used for the orphanage.

To see all updates from RIESTER regarding Haiti go to:

http://www.riester.com/haiti

Haitians wait for the distribution of emergency supplies following the earthquake. Regardless of the challenge, regardless of the deaths, regardless of the destruction, cynicism will never help. While we're living, we have a duty to overcome life's challenges and burdens. Photo by Daniel Barker, U.S. Navy, January 2010.

Haitians wait for the distribution of emergency supplies following the earthquake. Regardless of the challenge, regardless of the deaths, regardless of the destruction, cynicism will never help. While we're living, we have a duty to overcome life's challenges and burdens. Photo by Daniel Barker, U.S. Navy.

RIESTER

Toby Munson Banks explains the decision to leave the U.S. Embasssy in Port-au-Prince.

The RIESTER Foundation is raising money in support of Haiti’s Hope Center for Orphaned Girls. Below is an update from Toby Banks in Haiti. Toby and her husband Tim are currently working to temporarily evacuate the orphans that they are responsible for because of the desperate conditions they face in Haiti. The goal of the orphanage is to raise girls to become productive citizens in Haiti. The orphanage gives parentless girls a family, an education and sisters–creating a lifelong support system.

From Toby Banks:

After 60 hours of camping on the floor of the embassy, Sterline became ill with a stomach illness. A doctor came to check on her and gave us some things to help her, but caring for her in the environment we were in was impossible. There were literally thousands of people going through the area we were in with 2 toilets. Diapers, wipes, baby food, water and MREs were provided. The embassy personnel, DHS folks, DOS folks, Consular General folks, everyone in the embassy was gracious and accommodating. In spite of this, the girls were becoming increasingly uncomfortable and upset as time was passing. We were unable to sleep, sharing 2-3 spoons and water bottles, could not bathe or even properly clean the girls and I knew that once Sterline became ill, it was just a matter of time until the illness was passed to others because of the conditions. It was a difficult decision to make, and even looking at our goal of evacuating the girls as the high priority, I had to decide to move from the embassy to our temporary shelter at the clinic so the girls could be cared for. This does not mean that we have ceased our attempts to evacuate the girls or even that our attempts have lessened. It just means that we had to change our address to work from.

>>>>>>END DISPATCH FROM HAITI<<<<<<

To support the Hope Center for Orphaned Girls please click on donate below to make a donation from the RIESTER Foundation PayPal page. The RIESTER Foundation is still matching donations, dollar for dollar:

donate_sm

Or send a check to:

RIESTER Foundation
802 North 3rd Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Please write “Haiti” in the memo line of the check.

All contributions are welcome and will be used for the orphanage.

To see all updates from RIESTER regarding Haiti visit: http://www.riester.com/blog/category/haiti/

Gary Kaasa

A message from RIESTER Foundation President Gary Kaasa on Haiti.

One of the girls at Hope photogaphed in December of 2009, before the earthquake.

One of the girls at Hope photographed in December of 2009, before the earthquake.

The mission of the RIESTER Foundation is to preserve, conserve and protect our planet. We are active both locally and internationally with projects in Arizona, California, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.

Due to the extreme situation in Haiti after the January 12 earthquake, we made a quick decision to do our part to help in Haiti where the human suffering is hard to comprehend. Toby Banks, a very good friend of Tim Riester’s, runs an orphanage in Haiti: The Hope Center for Orphaned Girls. The RIESTER Foundation is working to raise money to support this orphanage at this time of great need.

Our foundation has no paid staff. Because we are matching donations this means that 200% of what you donate will go directly to support the orphanage in Haiti. Your donation of $10, $20, $100 or more will have twice the impact.

As I watch the news coverage I realize how fragile life can be and that we should all be willing to step up to help the less fortunate.  The girls at the Hope orphanage have no shelter as a result of the earthquake and our donations will make an immediate difference in their lives. Toby Banks and her husband Tim are trying to find a way to evacuate the girls temporarily, but their home is in Haiti and funds are needed to help them rebuild.

Please click on donate below to make a donation from the RIESTER Foundation PayPal page:

donate_sm

Or send a check to:

RIESTER Foundation
802 North 3rd Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Please write “Haiti” in the memo line of the check.

From the entire RIESTER Foundation Board thank you for considering this worthy cause.

Gary Kaasa
President, RIESTER Foundation

Please use the following URL for all updates from RIESTER on Haiti: http://www.riester.com/blog/category/haiti/

Jim Breitinger

Young Haitian girls need your help–update on the orphanage.

Young girl at Hope. Photo predates the earthquake.

Young girl at Hope. Photo predates the earthquake.

The situation in Haiti is dire. Our friends Tim and Toby Banks are struggling to deal with the chaos around them. They need to care for two of their own children who live in Haiti with them and the twenty girls whose home is the orphanage. Details on how you can help are at the end of this post. The RIESTER Foundation is matching whatever you can give.

The orphanage, which is both school and home to the Banks and the twenty orphan girls who live there is unsafe and unusable. The Hope Center for Orphaned Girls exists to provide a stable home and an education to young Haitians without parents. It is not an orphanage that places children with adoptive families. The number of orphans in Haiti, over 200,000 before the earthquake, has led to a variety of types of orphanages to serve these children. Hope raises Haitian girls to live productive lives in Haiti. One of Haiti’s many problems is high illiteracy and lack of education. Hope is working to change that.

Because the situation is so bad and there is not currently a home or even a safe place for the girls at Hope, the Banks decided the best thing to do was to seek temporary asylum and bring the orphans to their home in Ohio until the building could be secured and the situation in Haiti stabilizes.

On Wednesday, U.S. Embassy personnel granted humanitarian visas and the group of 23 was about to begin their journey out of Port-au-Prince. Before they could leave, the paperwork was subsequently revoked. The visas granted were a new type of visa created by the Department of Homeland Security specifically to speed the process of migration for Haitian orphans being placed in American families. The orphans at Hope live in the custody of Americans who are temporarily expatriates–there is no intention to permanently relocate the orphans to the U.S. They fall into a grey area where no current visa clearly covers them.

For over two days, Toby, her two children and the twenty girls camped out inside the U.S. Embassy. Tim Banks is planning to stay behind to begin the rebuilding process. Last night officials at the embassy encouraged Toby to stay with her group inside the embassy. Current laws and rules do not allow her to take the children out of the country, however, because of the extraordinary circumstances Toby and Tim are hopeful that something will change.

This afternoon Toby and the children left the embassy and went back to Hope’s compound. They are still trying to find a way to leave the country for a temporary safe haven.

Regardless of what comes next Tim and Toby Banks need funds for the orphanage especially because of the extreme situation they are facing as a result of the earthquake.

The need in Haiti is huge. There are many good people and organizations working as hard and fast as they can for the millions of people affected by the earthquake. Because of our connection to the Banks we are doing what we can to help them. Please join us.

Your contribution will make a difference for twenty little girls aged 2-13 who need our help.

All money raised by the RIESTER Foundation until March 1, 2010 will be directed to Hope and the RIESTER Foundation is matching donations dollar for dollar up to $2,500.

Please click on donate below to make a donation from the RIESTER Foundation PayPal page:

donate_sm

Or send a check to:

RIESTER Foundation
802 North 3rd Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Please write “Haiti” in the memo line of the check.

Thank you.

We will continue to add updates regarding our efforts to raise money for the Hope Center. Use this link to see all updates from RIESTER, including previous posts, regarding Haiti: http://www.riester.com/blog/category/haiti/

Photos can't begin to capture the extent of the ruins.  Members of Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue scale the former Montana Hotel during rescue operations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 14, 2010. The all volunteer service partnered with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and multi-national relief agencies to support relief efforts in the aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake.  Photo by member of U.S. Navy.

Photos can't begin to capture the extent of the ruins. Members of Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue scale the former Montana Hotel during rescue operations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 14, 2010. The all volunteer service partnered with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and multi-national relief agencies to support relief efforts in the aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Photo by member of U.S. Navy.

Mirja Riester

ABC News Reports on Haiti’s Hope Center for Orphaned Girls.

The latest news reports from Haiti have raised the estimated death toll to 200,000. The scale of this human tragedy is hard to imagine. I was happy to hear there were no injuries at the orphanage from this morning’s 6.1 aftershock.

There have been at least two reports from ABC News mentioning the orphanage the RIESTER Foundation chose to assist in Haiti. The most recent report includes footage taken live during the earthquake at the Hope Center for Orphaned Girls:

Click here to see the video on the ABC website with footage taken during the quake at the orphanage.

Last week Diane Sawyer did a story focusing on the problems of parentless children in Haiti. In this report Tim Riester’s friend Toby Munson Banks is mentioned by name and she appears in the video (in a red shirt) though she doesn’t speak on camera:

Click here to see Diane Sawyer’s report from last week on Haiti’s orphans and footage of Toby Munson Banks.

We will continue to add updates regarding our efforts to raise money for the Hope Center. Use this link to see all updates from RIESTER regarding Haiti:  http://www.riester.com/blog/category/haiti/

There are many worthy causes related to the massive devastation in Haiti. The RIESTER Foundation chose to raise money for the Hope Center for Orphaned Girls because of our personal connection and because of the immense problem of children in Haiti with no parents. All money raised until March 1, 2010 will be directed to Hope and the RIESTER Foundation is matching donations dollar for dollar up to $2,500.

Please click on donate below to make a donation from the RIESTER Foundation PayPal page:

donate_sm

Or send a check to:

RIESTER Foundation
802 North 3rd Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Please write “Haiti” in the memo line of the check.

Thank you.

Photo from the orphanage courtesy of Toby Munson Banks via Facebook. Photo taken in 2006.

Photo from the orphanage courtesy of Toby Munson Banks via Facebook. Photo taken in 2006.

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