Great news

Thanks to everyone for your great support of this donation & my trip to Haiti. It truly has been really touching. We received great news today...our generators have cleared customs! They will now be distributed to those who need them most. Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen.

On another happy note, Jimmy Buffet has our story posted on his official website. Here's the link: http://www.buffettworld.com/2010/06/10/buffett-aids-briggs-stratton-in-haiti-relief-efforts/

Warmest regards,

Laura

Our engines have never mattered more

I am at the Ft Lauderdale airport. My purse was lost or stolen at the Port au Prince airport. I honestly don't even care. I am so reflective of my journey it consumes me. I thought I would have slept well last night, but I didn't. I was anxious to leave Haiti, but now I want to go back. I am excited to get home and see my husband and daughter, but I want to go back. I am blessed for everything I have in my life. I am thankful that I have a job with a company I am honored to work for. I am blessed to work with so many great people. There were so many emails this week from co workers, many of whom I have never met, that I cannot respond to them all. Please know that I have read them and very much appreciate all the support and kind words. This blog is melancholy and for that I apologize. In a day or so, I will take time to remember the funny things. Anyone who knows me knows that I always have funny travel stories. Somehow humor and goofiness seem to follow me wherever I go. As always, they found me in Haiti.

Again, our engines never mattered more...

In the eyes of Haitians

Over the course of time in Haiti, you have to look behind the devastation.

I’m a true believer in seeing into people’s soul what I see in their eyes. I expected to see nothing short of extreme sadness and despair in the eyes of Haitians. That’s not what I saw, however. Although there were many Haitians whose eyes held terror and sadness, I saw hope and pride and somewhat of an acceptance of who they are and where they live. Even in the eyes of Aramid, I didn’t see sadness in her eyes; I saw hope for the future and for the women of Haiti.

I sit at the airport somewhat numb, but overcome with emotion, because I don’t know how to digest my last four days. But yet, I am filled with excitement about what we can do to help the situation in Haiti.

The outpouring of emotion that I have received via e-mail from employees has brought me to tears. Thank you for all of your support, both from our employees and from outside of Briggs & Stratton. There is so much help that we can give, and I will help you figure out how to do that.

Signing off for now as my flight is boarding. Again, thank you for all of your support. I now realize that our engines never mattered more.

For more information on what’s going on in Haiti, please read an article from today’s New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/world/americas/04haiti.html?ref=todayspaper

June 4

We finally have a little down time this afternoon so I will write to you all. I am still full of emotion from my visit in the tent city this morning. So, perhaps it is time to share some details I have not been able to share until now.

Yesterday, when we were in City Soleil, I learned that 2 million of the 9 million folks located in the city are living in tents (hence the term tent city). The earthquake demolished the prison, which is located here. There are four thousand prisoners free and located somewhere n City Soleil. The crime there is so bad. It was the only time on this trip that I truly was afraid.

My hotel is called the Oleffson Hotel. It has been here for over 95 years. It’s actually quite charming once you look beyond the meager accommodations. There are nice tables outside under the awning to have a meal or relax after your day. The décor of the hotel is Voo Doo, which is really prevalent here. There is apparently good voodoo and bad voodoo). I hope the little statue in my room is good voodoo.

My room is small and if I try and charge my laptop, the one light that I have does not work. There is a $10 charge per day for electricity. There were some pretty big cracks around the windows so I plugged them up with paper to keep mosquitoes and geckos out of my room. What I did not realize was that the small rat was already in my room and waiting. Yikes. I only saw him twice, but left a treat out for him so he wouldn’t bother me while I slept (okay, I did not sleep too well knowing he was in my room!).

I’ve met some amazing people at my hotel in addition to Jimmy Buffett. I’ve met many media types who are here for one reason or another. I was able to give several interviews to global reaching correspondents. They LOVE our story, especially when I talk about the culture of our company and its employees and our overwhelming desire to help those in need. There was a photojournalist from New York who wants to cover our story when I return to the U.S. I’ve met folks from the U.N. and National Security and some really incredible volunteers here for missionary work.

It is rainy season here. It’s about 100 degrees and very humid. It’s sunny in the morning and there’s thunder and lightning and heavy downpours in the afternoon.

Tomorrow I am meeting with the Board of Directors for Pan American Development Foundation and will travel back to Florida late in the afternoon. The time has gone so quickly. More later…

June 3

We headed out early to visit a woman named Aramid. She lives in one of the tent cities. She has started an organization to help sexually abused women, which is a rampant problem here. We meet her just outside her tent and she shared her story. She started her organization abour 5 years ago. She lost her office and 350 members/staff in the earthquake. She lives in a pup size tent with one mattress and10 family members. She invited me to see her home and I was humbled by her trust in me. She has now found a new space for her office, which is more important to her than having a permanent home.

She will receive one of our generators for her office.

I cried for the entire car ride back from our meeting. Aramid was violently raped as a child and her life’s mission is to help others from experiencing the same. I am unbelievably moved by her story.

June 2

I was met with another cold shower this morning. There is no hot water here. Why should I complain...most don’t have any water...

We headed to City Soleil, about 10 miles away. I have read that some think this is the worst place in the world. It is just out of Port au Prince. We are visiting the Haiti Clinic which is an organization that we donated a generator to about 16 months ago. It is ther only means of power for this clinic.

When we arrive just outside the village, we are met with the head of the clinic, who escorted us to the clinic. It is not safe to travel by ourselves here. The prison, which is a short distance away, was ruined in the earthquake. There are 4000 convicts roaming this area.

When we arrive, the children run to our vehicle. They are yelling "Americans...Americans". They don’t have visitors often and they are excited. Most aren’t wearing clothes as they cannot afford them. The minute we exit our vehicle, they touch us and want to hold our hands.
My heart is an open sore at this point. They are so beautiful and I want to feed and clothe them all.

I hear the sound of the generator which is just next to the front door of the clinic. The building, which has 4 rooms, is a vacated space by a drug lord. There is an office/exam room, a waiting area, a pharmacy and a surgery room. The surgery room is lit by one dim lightbulb hanging freely from the ceiling, which we are powering. The room is no bigger than a cubicle. The pharmacy is run by a gentleman named Bobo, who is so proud to show us his area. He smiles widely and hugged me.

The clinic is open 10 hours a day and is run on our generator the entire time. They see 50 to 60 patients a day. They ask where they can get an air filter for the generator. I tell them I will send a case. I cannot help myself.

We also visited a school up the street. The Director of the school died last week from illness. He could not afford the $2500 to travel to the Domican Republic to have a sugery. He leaves behind 3 children and a wife. The children at the school are sad. We also visited an orphanage that had 17 children and no electricity. I will send them a generator. I cannot say no.

On a lighter note, I spent about 30 minutes with Jimmy Buffet lat the hotel, istening about his work here and the new school he is building.

He inquires about a generator for the school. I tell him we will help.

He is kind and generous. He spoke to the embassy about getting our gens out of customs. He wants to help us. I told him he should think about playing our stage at Summerfest :)

June 1

As I arrived at the airport yesterday at 7:30 p.m., I was met with craze and confusion. The airport was so damaged in the earthquake that we were taken to a warehouse to go thru customs and collect our luggage. Words cannot describe the complete and utter devastation that is still here. Imagine collapsed buildings, rubble, garbage and so many people living in tent cities. The human suffering seems unbearable, yet I am humbled beyond belief.

We have a brief stop at the hotel to drop off our luggage and we will drive about 20 miles outside of Port au Prince to see the construction of a new school, where the tools to build the school are being powered by one of our generators. It is a long, hard drive and the roads are so chaotic. So many people, so much destruction. I saw the collapsed palace that used to house government officials. The 20 mile drive takes 2 hours.

We arrive at the construction site, which happens to be at the epicenter of the earthquake. There are about 30 children in a 3-sided tent. There is one blackboard and no chairs or desks. There is just a tree branch that some may have had an opportunity to sit on. The children are happy. About 300' away is the new school construction. One of our generators sits in the middle and powers welding equipment. It is inspiring to me. The Haitians are proud, good working people. The Haitians do not call it the earthquake, they call it the event.

I met with the principal of the school, who is so thankful for our donation. He invites us to the tent to meet the children. They are all different ages and completely adorable. They gathered together and sang 3 songs for us. My eyes well with pride that we could help them have a new school.

After the long drive back to Port au Prince we met with the Minister of Interior and a representative of the Pan American Development Foundation. Since the palace is rubble, they are in a makeshift office down a busy side street. They wanted to meet with us to thank us for our generosity. We had a very nice meeting, whcih had to be translated from Haitian Creole just for me.

We arrived back at the hotel at 6 p.m. exhausted, hot and hungry. We are all quiet as we are trying to absorb our day. After a quick meal of rice and beans I sleep.

Oh - did I mention that I saw Jimmy Buffett in the lobby last night? He was sitting two tables to the right of me as I wrote this blog.

Post Script: While dictating the blog this morning, I received a call to come to the hotel lobby. I was introduced to Jimmy Buffett and had an opportunity to share with him the story of our donation. He has offered to make introductions to key government officials. A music icon exists in the midst of chaos and rubble. Haiti and the spirit of all who desire to help her continue to amaze us all.

5:26 a.m.

I am sitting at the Fort Lauderdale airport awaiting my flight to Port au Prince. It's eerily quiet here at the airport. Perhaps everyone is tired from the long holiday weekend. I anticipated being joined on this flight by American aid volunteers. Instead, Haitians join me.

I awoke at 3:40 a.m. with feelings of anxiousness and excitement. While waiting in the security line at the airport, I finally meet John Engle, Co-Director of Haiti Partners and Allan Klotsche, who is on the advisory board of Haiti Partners. I have communicated for months by e-mail and phone with these two gentlemen and I am glad to finally meet them. They advised me that the press conference has been rescheduled until Wednesday morning and that we will travel to the countryside to meet some of the recipients of our generators.

And so the journey begins...

Media coverage

As we've been busy preparing to leave, we've had some great positive coverage from the media. It's nice to see our company get some well deserved kudos on all the good efforts its done in our global communities. If you didn't see the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Article yesterday, here's a link http://www.jsonline.com/business/94983129.html.

Also, our local WTMJ Channel 4 was at our corporate office earlier today and will be airing a segment on the news at 4pm and 10pm this evening in Milwaukee. Hopefully I'll be able to find a link after the airing to share with those outside the Milwaukee area.

I've received a great deal of well wishes from my colleagues over the last few days. I am honored to work with each and every one of them.

Introduction - Changing the lives of others

On January 12, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti at 4:53pm. Over 100,000 people lost their lives. Approximately 3 million people were in need of emergency aid after the earthquake. As I write this, these statistics seem impossible to comprehend.

In the weeks and months following this devastating earthquake, our company and its employees watched in awe as more details unfolded. There were calls and emails from so many at Briggs & Stratton wanting to know what we could do to help, from production workers, to office personnel and senior management. What was clear from the beginning is that we wanted to help and we would help, but we would need to wait until some of the incredible challenges Haiti faced were dealt with, like transportation and humanitarian efforts.

Even though I shouldn’t be surprised by the attention the earthquake received, I was incredibly touched by the outpouring of emotion from my coworkers. I remember 9/11. My phone never stopped ringing from folks wanting to help. In the end, the Company and our employees donated over $40,000 to the Red Cross Disaster Relief efforts. I remember Hurricane Katrina. Again, my phone didn’t stop ringing. We sent over 100 generators to help with those efforts. There are too many examples over the years to mention, but I have never been more proud to work for Briggs & Stratton than I am by this recent heartfelt willingness to help.

Now, it’s Haiti’s turn. We CAN help. In February 2010, Todd Teske and Harold Redman decided to donate an entire semi-trailer full of generators. That’s 240 units. Wow. So I began to think about how we get them to Haiti, and how we get them to those that need them most. I quickly realized that we could not do this alone and we would need to partner with an organization that is experienced with these types of efforts and is also located in Haiti. Bill Reitman came to the rescue on this one. Bill serves on the Board of Directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters, and recalled serving previously with a gentleman named Allan Klotsche, who had left corporate America 10 years ago to join Haiti Partners.. Bill connected me with Allan and I shared the news of our donation. Allan was speechless.

We began to work tirelessly to figure out logistics. We shipped the generators to our warehouse in Miami, which we lease from a company called Ceva. Ceva graciously donated the storage charge for the units. We then identified a carrier to donate the cost of transporting these units by boat to Port Au Prince, Haiti. It was nothing shy of incredible how much everyone wanted to help.

The units have been in customs in Port Au Prince for some time. The government in Haiti is far from recovered and these things take time. Patience has been key. The generators are slated to be released any day now. We have worked with Haiti Partners and the Pan American Development Foundation to identify the 240 recipients of these units, which consist of schools, clinics, churches and educational institutions. It is a labor of love to get these units distributed, as transportation is still difficult in Haiti.

I reached out to our service team here in Milwaukee to see if we had any service support in Haiti. We did not. In a matter of 24 hours, however, our team has put together a solution, and graciously donated all the service parts they felt would be needed and are working to identify a service provider in Haiti. It continually amazes me how great our people are.

Haiti Partners has graciously invited me to Haiti to represent Briggs & Stratton at a press conference, where they will recognize our donation. We will also visit with some of the recipients of our generators. I am humbled and honored to make this trip on behalf of our company. I will travel to Ft. Lauderdale on Monday, May 31 and depart for Port Au Prince Haiti on Tuesday, June 1 at 6am. I will return from Haiti on Friday, June 4.

This experience will be so incredible that I want to share it with everyone here at B&S so we can all know the difference we are making in the lives of others. I hope you will join me on my journey.

To learn more about Haiti Partners, go to http://www.haitipartners.org/.