WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina |Midlands volunteers send plane packed with food to Haiti

Midlands volunteers send plane packed with food to Haiti

By Brandi Cummings - bio | email

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - There is not one story or image that can capture the magnitude of the disaster in Haiti. People across the world are responding, and giving in many different ways.

On Friday, a Midlands group packed a plane to send food to the Haitian people.

We've seen the pictures of masses of people helpless and hungry, struggling to survive. We've also seen the glimmers of hope in rescues days after the deadly earthquake rocked Haiti.
     
Now more help is on the way.

"Today's effort is getting food supplies down there," said Wade McGuinn.

McGuinn is the co-founder of the Haiti Children Project. It's a group of volunteers who've been helping children at an orphanage in Jeremie, Haiti for four years.
     
The recent earthquake has the group doing more.

One of the biggest needs right now is food, so several Midlands volunteers have gotten together to coordinate this effort to send beans and rice to those in need.

1,800 pounds of food pack a small plane. From the Columbia Aviation hanger, it goes directly to Haiti in just six hours.

"They'll actually be able to land right on a dirt strip near the orphanage," said McGuinn.
     
McGuinn says the reason for this mission is simple.

"People are starving to death," he said.

The help does not end Friday. McGuinn and his team plan to take a plane full of medical supplies to Haiti next week.

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