Canoa, Ecuador Earthquake Relief

Thank you for reaching out to help the amazing country of Ecuador and the little town of Canoa that I, Annie McGrath, called home for the summer of 2014,  as well as Stacey Ruud in the fall of 2013. Now, however it is unrecognizable to the last time we saw it.
Ecuador endured a devastating 7.8 Magnitude earthquake this past weekend along with week long after shocks. With Canoa being located just a few miles from the epicenter of the earthquake, it is 80% destroyed.
Stacey, Joe Schufman and myself will  began our travels to Canoa  on Sunday May 1st. Stacey is still in Canoa, Joe and I have returned back to the states.  A group of our close friends and Canoa locals have joined together to create Canoa Revival, doing all  they can to help this town after such a horrible disaster.  Organizations are beginning to help but so much more is need!! 

While in Ecuador we worked closely with Erik Wenz and his crew. After our visit and time in Canoa we feel that the money will best be used to help in the demolition and rebuilding  of Canoa. Erik is a retired Firefighter Paramedic from Sacramento City Fire Department. He is also a member of FEMA Urban Search and Rescue TASK FORCE 7 that's out of Sacramento, California. As a member of USAR he  was one of the first responders to New York on 9/11 and knows how assistance can help. Erik currently lives in Canoa, Manabi, Ecuador and has previous experience as a structural collapse technician and heavy rigger in Urban Search and Rescue. Erik knows firsthand how poor construction and poor building materials can create a recipe for disaster. The rebuild process will take several years and will need the cooperation of local government in the way of standards and inspections to avoid another disaster of this magnitude. Erik intends to administer this account and is donating his time, resources and tools to the cause. As an experienced operator, Erik will personally be overseeing all tool and equipment maintenance and making sure that this program is not for financial gain.





The Canoa community is one of a kind! Kindness, humbleness, and gratitude are just a few everyday qualities of the people who live here.
Not only will we thank you from the bottom of our heart for any donation, but the gratitude from the locals who receive these funds will be appreciated more than you could ever imagine. 

Please know all travel expenses were paid for outside of this account.

Not ready to donate, please consider sharing!

This was an update from Erik earlier this week:

Well, another exciting day in Canoa! We were at the local park organizing our workers for the day, when a 2 story building came crashing down about 200 feet away from us. It was scheduled for demolition with an excavator, but they hadn't got to it yet. Luckily no one was killed or injured. THIS is why we are working so hard to get these buildings down, because they are not safe and we don't want to see any more lives get lost. We are doing demolition on buildings that the excavators cannot get to. But, we couldn't do it without all the support of our donors and the ability to purchase the tools we need. The most recent update we've been told by the engineers we are working with is that the excavators had their contract extended until the most dangerous buildings are taken down. But after that they are gone, and the rubble will remain. At this point, we are saving our donation money for a used backhoe to use for the cleanup and rebuild process, which will most likely be a several year process. Thank you again for your donations, shares of our campaign, and compassion.



Thank you all so much for your time, prayers, thoughts and donations!!

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