ONE YEAR LATER, JDC IS PROVIDING HOPE IN HAITI

New York, New York, January 5, 2011: One year after the Haitian earthquake, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s (JDC) critical relief efforts have directly impacted 240,000 Haitians and are paving a path toward better lives for the disabled and children. Through $7.7 million dollars in donations from the Jewish Federations of North America and tens of thousands of individual donors, JDC’s collaboration with Haitian, Israeli, and other NGOs has fed, clothed, provided state-of-the-art medical treatment, job training, and education for the country’s recovering population.

Within days of the earthquake the global Jewish community generously responded to this disaster. One year later, we have helped improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Haitian earthquake survivors. Whether we’re getting people walking again at our rehab clinic and prosthetic lab or ensuring educational outlets for Haitian children, we do so inspired by tikkun olam and our unwavering commitment to the potential of every human life, said JDC CEO Steven Schwager.

JDC and its partners have delivered medical services to more than 53,000 Haitians and additionally aided more than 800 people and fitted more than 70 prosthetics through its state-of-the-art rehabilitation clinic at l'Hôpital de l'Université d'Etat d'Haïti and nearby prosthetic lab. JDC also ran 10 schools in tent camps in Port Au Prince and ensured that 150,000 displaced Haitians had access to 80 emergency water tanks. You can learn more about these and many other programs in JDC’s Haiti Relief One Year Report.

In 2011, JDC will focus on physical and psychological rehabilitation for the disabled and critical schooling for Haitian children. JDC’s ongoing services for Haitian amputees will include professional training for local medical and paramedical staff and treatment by a team of Haitian/American/Israeli doctors, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. JDC will complete construction on a disabled-accessible middle school in Zoranje that includes a vocational training program; is planning on rebuilding a modern elementary and secondary school in Fondwa; and will improve school accessibility for disabled students, including awareness and sensitivity training for teachers and other staff. JDC will also continue its vocational training courses for masons in anti-seismic construction techniques.

JDC’s partners in Haiti are: The Afya Foundation; Catholic Relief Services; Chabad-Lubavitch of the Dominican Republic; EcoWorks International; Heart to Heart International; International Medical Corps; The International Rescue Committee; The Israel Trauma Coalition; Magen David Adom; Sheba Medical Center; The Medical Corps of the Israel Defense Forces; Partners in Health (Zanmi Lasante); PRODEV; UNICEF Haiti; USAID Haiti; US Fund for UNICEF; and World ORT.

You can find more information and feature stories on our Haiti relief work at www.jdc.org/haiti.