Posted at: 05/06/2010 6:43 PM
By: David Springer

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Supplies Headed to Haiti

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- Nearly half a year after a huge earthquake devastated the country of Haiti, many people's attention has been drawn to other disasters around the world. But one local group continues to focus on the small Caribbean country.

This bucket brigade started in an old barn in Rochester...

"This is our first shipment since the earthquake," says Bill Timmerman.

But it will eventually end in the country of Haiti.

"It was very necessary before the earthquake and after the earthquake it's even more necessary," says Joyce Grabarkiewicz.

Joyce and Dale Grabarkiewicz run the Sacred Heart Haiti Mission, which supports Mother Teresa's Sisters of Charity in Haiti.

"People lost everything, what little they had is buried under the rubble," says Dale Grabarkiewicz.

Today the mission filled an entire semi trailer with a smorgasbord of donated items. Everything headed to the impoverished country.

"Wheelchairs, crutches, peanut butter, medical supplies, pill bottles," says Timmerman.

Nearly 5 months have come and gone since the earthquake. But for people like Pam Trebtoske, who was in Haiti when the earthquake hit, the country and its people are never far from her mind.

"Holding those babies and feeling for those people. They're real. They're...we love 'em. And our hearts are really there. I think it's a big part of our mission to try to keep people's awareness. Keeping things happening for them," says Trebtoske.

Today that means a semi full of hope... packed one box at a time.

The trailer should arrive in Haiti by the end of the month. In the meantime, the Sacred Heart Haiti Mission continues to take donations and hopes to have another trailer ready to go in September.

If you’d like to help, contact Sacred Heart Haiti Mission at (507) 289-1717