Monthly Archives: January 2010
“A Pittsburgh-based group landed yet another plane here Saturday night to drop off medical supplies and pick up orphans, amid revelations that 11 children remained stranded at the BRESMA orphanage two weeks after the rescue of 54 others.
Onboard were the two Ben Avon sisters whose plight and dramatic air rescue, carried out by a delegation headed by Gov. Ed Rendell, catapulted them to national prominence.
Jamie and Ali McMutrie, who refused to leave more than 100 children in their care at the BRESMA orphanage amid the chaos that followed the Jan. 12 earthquake, suddenly found themselves in a new spotlight: fending off questions about how money has been spent by the Hazelwood church that husbands the funds raised for the orphans.”
Read more at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Diane McMutrie figures she must have knocked on the doors of 100 businesses three months ago when she was trying to raise money for the Haitian orphanage where her two daughters had been volunteering for nearly four years.
“All I heard was, ‘I’ll tell my manager you were here,’ and they wouldn’t call back,” Mrs. McMutrie said.
Now that Jamie and Ali McMutrie’s desperate and successful battle to get the orphans in their care out of Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake has grabbed national and international headlines, people can’t seem to do enough.
“That’s great,” said Diane McMutrie. “But I have to wonder, where were they then?”
Despite calls from CNN, “Good Morning America,” Katie Couric and Ellen DeGeneres, the McMutrie sisters and their family say they are still the same young women who chose to dedicate their lives to Haiti’s children.
Two Ben Avon sisters responsible for rescuing 54 Haitian orphans from the earthquake-ravaged country say they are getting used to being called heroes, while also introducing their new younger brother to their hometown.
Watch the video
Watch the full interview on “Ellen”
Ali and Jamie McMutrie struggled to make sense yesterday of the 10 days since an earthquake destroyed their beloved Haiti, prompting pleas for help that were finally answered earlier this week by a rescue mission that brought them home to Pittsburgh.
The Ben Avon sisters had cared for the 54 orphans who were evacuated with them for years, in some cases. Yesterday, as many of them were taken home by their adoptive families, they said goodbye.
Jamie McMutrie, 30, said she still did not know the logistics of how they were saved from the crumbling city, where they had feared for the children’s lives.
Ben Avon sisters Jamie and Ali McMutrie only just returned from earthquake-ravaged Haiti. But the women’s mother says her daughters can’t wait to go back.
Jamie and Ali McMutrie talk at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh after returning from earthquake-ravaged Haiti with dozens of orphan children.
Watch the Video
Diane McMutrie barely had wiped away one round of tears before another one began as she spoke at a community rally last night in honor of her daughters, Jamie and Ali, whose plight to get orphans in their care out of earthquake-stricken Haiti has drawn worldwide attention.
“I am so thankful that Jamie arrived today,” Ms. McMutrie said, before bowing her head to compose herself.
Ms. McMutrie told the crowd of nearly 100 people who gathered at the Mayernik Center in Avonworth Community Park how much her family appreciates the overwhelming support her daughters have received since the earthquake destroyed Haiti’s capital and left the orphanage Jamie and Ali helped run in tatters.
“The girls said to please say thank you all for everything you have been doing,” Ms. McMutrie said.
The sisters from Ben Avon who brought 54 Haitian orphans to Pittsburgh spoke about their journey for the first time on Thursday night
Jamie and Ali McMutrie said they still cannot believe they’re home in Pittsburgh with all the children safe and sound.
“We haven’t stopped to think about how all this happened,” said Jamie.
The sisters said they are not deeply religious, but say that “something” got them through their ordeal.
“We don’t even know what happened,” said Jamie. “We know that we asked people to help us get out and now we’re here, but we don’t how it happened or who did what.”
Read more/watch the video at WPXI-TV
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