Non-profit founder from Wilmington helping Haiti earthquake victims

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — It’s been more than three weeks since a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit Haiti, killing more than two thousand people and causing extensive damage.

One Wilmington woman and her non-profit are working to help those affected, both with immediate relief and long-term recovery.

Becky Graves co-founded Haiti Awake in 2014 after she fell in love with the Haitian people and culture during a mission trip. It’s a Christian-based non-profit that works to equip local Christians to reach their own communities and country by showing Christ’s love in action.

Graves recently returned from a trip to the country, and describes what she saw.

“We drove past this area I believe every day coming and going, and the best way I know to describe it would be as if you were driving down College Road and every building on college road had collapsed,” Graves said. “My mind couldn’t even take it all in.”

The non-profit, which only employs Haitian citizens, has so far raised more than $60,000 in donations. Graves says help like this is greatly needed.

“There is no government program to help you, there is very little infrastructure, there are very few resources, there is no insurance,” she said.

$13,000 went toward food and other supplies, and $40,000 will go toward rebuilding efforts,

“The first house that we’re building because it is in such a remote area, the cost of getting materials out there is going to be nearly as much as the materials themselves are going to cost,” Graves said.

That construction is expected to cost around $13,000, but Graves says other homes in more densely populated areas should cost about half of that. In total, Haiti Awake plans to build between five and 10 houses.

Graves says she wants to share the stories of those who are suffering, so they become more than just a statistic.

“Unfortunately what happens many times with disasters is the news cycle changes and we move on to another disaster,” she said. “I mean let’s just look what’s happened since the Haiti earthquake- we’ve had Afghanistan, we’ve had Louisiana, we’ve had New York and New Jersey.”

If you’d like to contribute to the effort, you can donate here.

You can follow Haiti Awake on Facebook here.