Minn. aid groups continue focus on Haiti one year after quake

Minnesota aid organizations hope to use the one-year anniversary of Haiti's devastating earthquake on Wednesday as a reminder of the unfinished recovery.

American Refugee Committee President Daniel Wordsworth likens Haiti's recovery to a marathon, not a sprint. A year after the earthquake killed a quarter of a million people, his organization is still sheltering 82,000 people in refugee camps.

"We're part of a very long journey with people who are in incredibly difficult circumstances and much of the work that goes on is the daily work of keeping people alive, keeping people well," Wordsworth said.

Project Haiti will fly in more medical teams in March.

The group Feed My Starving Children says it shipped 58 million individual pre-packaged meals to Haiti in 2010. Executive director Mark Crea said his group expects to ship at least that many this year.

"Haiti has had kind of a triple blow this year. The earthquake certainly was the most severe, followed by Hurricane Thomas which destroyed a lot of the crops and then of course the current Cholera outbreak has made recovery slower and more difficult," Crea said.

Up to 40 percent of meals packed by Feed my Starving Children volunteers go to Haiti. On Wednesday afternoon, to mark the one year anniversary of the earthquake, Haiti supporters are asking for church bells to ring at 3:53 central time, for 35 seconds, the duration of the quake.

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