USVI-On-Line

St. John's William Stelzer is now in Haiti with the Mercy & Sharing Foundation, a group he has worked with for several years. This group pays their own operating expenses, so 100% of cash donations go to their programs in Haiti.

The Mercy & Sharing Foundation's web site:
http://www.haitichildren.com/

William's youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/wtstelzer#p/u

William is also involved in Waveplace, a group which purchases laptops for Caribbean children and provides training and inspiration for teachers.
http://waveplace.com/

- Ruth

Thanks for this information... so many children with so much need - now even more so.

Good sites. Thanks Ruth. I'll be making a donation.

Ruth, thanks for the links.

I viewed the one titled "Giving laptops to children in Haiti" and I couldn't stop smiling while watching the children get totally engaged in their new laptops. Also makes me wonder where those children and their families are today.

Waveplace is a very worhwhile organization from the look of it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Monday night update from William Stelzer :

"Went into Port au Prince today to rescue the kids trapped at the old orphanage and to reunite them with their friends at Mercy and Sharing's new orphanage north of the city. The house mothers sang gospel songs of thanks in the back of the pickup trucks on the journey back and there was much rejoicing when we finally arrived. Later that evening I was interviewed live by ABC Radio in Australia. A good day."

Those words painted a beautiful picture of a pick up full of children and singing women. I know the reality of what these people are going through is really very horrible,but what a lesson for all of us. There is always something to be grateful for no matter how awful everything appears.

Thanks Ruth for sharing and thanks William and Mercy and Sharing for all that you do.

StJohnRuth wrote:Monday night update from William Stelzer :

"Went into Port au Prince today to rescue the kids trapped at the old orphanage and to reunite them with their friends at Mercy and Sharing's new orphanage north of the city. The house mothers sang gospel songs of thanks in the back of the pickup trucks on the journey back and there was much rejoicing when we finally arrived. Later that evening I was interviewed live by ABC Radio in Australia. A good day."

A good day indeed! Thanks Ruth for letting us know, and I hope to hear more from Mr. Stelzer... so many amazing stories from so much rubble.

Thanks for the information Ruth.

Update from Bill Stelzer yesterday afternoon:

"My photography on CNN today
http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/wo ... an.aid.cnn "

That's a very poignant video. Thanks for the link to Mercy & Sharing's website, I'll send a donation.

Thirty-two missing children - missing because someone, or the government, took them somewhere? That is bad enough on a average day, but with all the trauma of the earthquake, to have to confront such an issue is mindboggling to me. I surely hope that they are quickly found, are safe, and are returned to the proper hospital unit.

Thanks for keeping the news flowing Ruth.

More than 300,000 orphans before the devastation... that blows my mind.

... continuing to follow this story, I am saddened to learn that the 32 children have not been found as of yesterday - January 25.
http://www.haitichildren.com/2010/01/32 ... e-missing/


More on Bill Stelzer's misson to Haiti from
http://barnako.typepad.com/news_of_st_j ... d-cnn.html

Bill's back from Haiti and CNN
Known as a teacher, film maker and journalist. St. John's Bill Stelzer is now being called by some a hero. With a few days of the earthquake disaster in Haiti, he was on a plane to help rescue children at an orphange operated by Mercy and Sharing.

The only way to keep tabs was to monitor his Facebook page. "Went into Port au Prince today to rescue the kids trapped at the old orphanage as to reunite them with their friends at Mercy and Sharing Foundation's new orphanage north of the city," he wrote. "The house mothers sang gospel songs of thanks in the back of the pickup trucks on the journey back and there was much rejoicing when we finally arrived."

By Friday, he had "Crossed safely back over the DR border today from Haiti. Exhausted, been living in the extreme for past week or so. Now 'bout to sleep." Saturday afternoon, Stelzer was in Miami - and had seen Avatar in 3D IMAX. "Seems like a lifetime ago when I first made plans to see it here in FL in conjunction with my original trip," he said.

No one who knows Bill is surprised that he brought his camera and was both helping the children and collecting images. CNN featured the work of Mercy and Sharing by interviewing its president and co-founder, Susie Krabacher. While she explained how hard and her group were working, and the lives they were saving, the news network used Stelzer's photos to illustrate.

* Stelzer's photos on CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/wo ... an.aid.cnn
* Mercy and Sharing Web site: http://www.haitichildren.com/

As of Monday, February 1, 2010, 30 of the missing children have been found. Great news!

The Mercy and Sharing Foundation - "In our continued attempts to track down the 32 missing children from the abandoned baby unit, we have now determined that the staff of the General Hospital moved 30 of them to another hospital. Two of the children are still missing. There are so many corrrupt trafficking issues in Haiti right now, and with no infrastructure to track children many of the US agencies, including Mercy & Sharing, are still trying to identify where all of their children went."