The McMutrie Sisters are saying “thank you” to the City of Pittsburgh.
Jamie and Ali McMutrie first gained attention when they flew 53 orphans into Pittsburgh after a January earthquake destroyed the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
The sisters, who have volunteered in Haiti since 2002, returned to Haiti after finding homes for the orphans in their care. They are visiting Pittsburgh this week to raise money for their non-profit, Haitian Orphan Rescue, with the goal of building a new orphanage, school, clinic, and farm in Port-au-Prince.
The sisters have a $4 million fundraising goal, but that is not all tomorrow’s event is about.
”We’re kind of calling it a big party — a thank you from us to this whole city because even though it’s 10 months later, we never really got a chance to express how seriously appreciative we were of the people that just poured out help to us, so it’s affordable, and hopefully a way that everyone can come out and have a good time and help support our efforts,” Ali said…
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PORT-AU-PRINC
E, Haiti — The orphanage that was the focus of a dramatic rescue of Haitian children after the Jan. 12 earthquake remains in crisis, with ailing youngsters — one of whom died — and a director who plans to leave soon for Florida.
Approximately 34 children were still at BRESMA — short for Les Brebis de Saint Michel de l’Attalaye — as of last week. Most of them are destined for adoptions in France, while 12 are stranded with no pending adoptions.
Jamie and Ali McMutrie, the sisters from Ben Avon who cared for the orphans at two of three homes BRESMA keeps in Haiti, have been struggling for weeks to bring the stranded children to the United States.
The McMutrie sisters last flew to Port-au-Prince on Jan. 30 to deliver supplies to the orphanage and to make a brief, unsuccessful bid to bring the stranded children with them on the flight back to Western Pennsylvania…
We must help Haiti’s children find their families or find safe, new homes.
Protecting and caring for children with no family is a great burden and a high calling. Tending to orphans in a place like Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which was dangerous before the Jan. 12 earthquake, poses even graver challenges.
The earthquake that crippled Haiti and decimated its capital also tragically collapsed much of the meager support these children had, and there now are more Haitian children without families than ever. This disaster has pushed the suffering of these children beyond the breaking point, and they cry out to the world for help…
What can be done?