Carl Kuehner III had medical staff on the ground in Haiti and had supplies on the ground in Florida. What he did not have was a jet to link up his two most needed assets ”“ until he put in a call to his biggest tenant, General Electric Co., whose aviation leasing specialists swiftly tracked down a Boeing 757 cargo jet in Miami.
The CEO of Building & Land Technology is not sure what the going rate is for a short-notice rental of a cargo jet, and Kuehner cannot put a price tag on how much the aid meant to him and the Hope for Haiti charity his family has led for two decades.
As efforts in the earthquake-wracked country turned from triage to near- and long-term recovery, Kuehner similarly does not have a number in mind for how much Hope for Haiti hopes to raise to support its work there ”“ but he plans to continue working the phones in affluent Fairfield County on the assumption it will take a lot more than what its budgets of bygone years could support.
Donors throughout Fairfield County and the nation continued to step up in February; AmeriCares, Fujifilm Medical Systems and Stamford Hospital announced the donation of a digital X-ray machine to help doctors in Haiti.
AmeriCares said it has sent more than $12.5 million in medical supplies to Haiti through early February, while Westport-based Save the Children said its 300 staffers in Haiti have furnished food, medical aid and other essentials to about 300,000 of the 3 million people directly affected by the earthquake.
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Save the Children noted that conditions are expected to worsen when the country”™s rainy season commences within four to six weeks.
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In the scramble in the earthquake”™s immediate wake, Kuehner was able to connect almost immediately via the Internet with Hope for Haiti staff in Les Cayes, which was far enough from the epicenter to escape damage. Those staffers set out immediately for Port-au-Prince, establishing a triage center amid the rubble.
In Fairfield County, Kuehner spent the next few days marshaling as much support as he could on short notice from companies such as GE, Westchester County-based PepsiCo Inc., and Diageo, which like GE Capital has its U.S. headquarters at Building & Land Technology”™s trophy Towers complex in Norwalk. He then headed to Florida, packed the plane for Haiti Friday night and took off Saturday morning.
After the plane was diverted to the Dominican Republic. Kuehner and his staff were able to rent a couple of tractor-trailers with their supplies ”“ at a rental rate of $1,700 apiece ”“ and made it to the border by nightfall, crossing into Haiti on Sunday.
“It was an eye-opening experience in all senses, from the smell of death; to the visuals, even to the touch,” Kuehner said. “We made it to the ”¦ hospital, and literally as we were unloading boxes we were cutting them open on the spot to feed gauze, bandages, (and other supplies) to the doctors.”
Even as Hope for Haiti links up with other aid organizations and government agencies to better coordinate efforts on the ground in Haiti, his organization and others are already thinking ahead to how Haiti can create new infrastructure to support economic growth whenever it can occur, as well as what new industries the country might be able to foster to give it a path out of chronic poverty.
That takes money.
“The fundraising has to increase because this is a marathon not a sprint,” Kuehner said.
