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Haiti Volunteer Trip

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Dear Friends and Family,

As you know, I will be going on a service trip to Haiti to work with orphaned children.  As such, I am fundraising for my trip, and am writing this letter to request any donations that my friends and family may be able to provide.

Global Occupational Therapy for Orphans (G.O.T Orphans) is a non-profit organization deticated to aid orphans around the world.  G.O.T Orphans relies exclusively on volunteers and donated equiment to support our mission; to support orphaned children around the world with physical, emotional, mental, and learning disabilities and difficulties.

About our upcoming trip:  G.O.T Orphans has organized a team to volunteer their time for a service trip to Haiti.  This teams includes Occupational, Speech, and Physical therapists, as well as other volunteers to help treat and teach the children, and build the equipment necessary to carry out the treatment.  From June 23-29th, therapists and students will work with disabled orphans in two orphanages.  The team will be treating the children throughout the week as well as educating the staff and caregivers on the therapeutic activties they can engage these children in.  This includes positioning, the use of equipment, and proper transferring techniques to ensure the best possible outcomes for both the staff and caregivers.

About the children:  Both of these orphanages have numerous children with disabilities that range from learning disabilities to more severe or profound deficites such as cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, and autism.  The very limited amound of therapy equipment they donhave is old and inefficient.  Many of the wheelchairs, walkers, and adaptive equipment are not suitable for their needs due to impoper size and inability to adjust or modify the equipment.  These children lack the proper seating, chair and table heights, and adaptive feeding equipment to become more independent. Independent tasks range from the ability to feed themselves to assisting a transfer from chair to bed and chair to toilet.  Many wheelchair bound children also develop skin sores and break downs, as well as joint contractures becuase they are no positioning materials such as wedges and bolsters.  There are also no adaptive bars and/or toilets to allow the caregivers to aid the children properly and therefore preserve their own body mechanics during a transfer.  Oral motor control is a big issue with many of these children.  They are in need of equipment and therapy to prevent aspirating on food items and developing pneumonia and other lung complications associated with aspiration.  These children are currently cared for by a few caregivers and although are well cared for and loved, they do not have the proper equipment to really help these children unlock their potential. It is our goal to train the staff/caregivers and provide them with the proper equipment to help make the children more independent in their feeding skills, mobility, self-care tasks, play, and interaction skills.
 

How your donations will be used:  100% of all donations will go directly to defraying my cost to volunteer. Air travel, translators, food, shelter, and transportation cause these trips to be highly expensive.  All donations exceeding the cost of my travel/stay in Haiti will be used to purchase equipment for the orphanages and will also fund future volunteer trips. Any/all donations are truly appreciated! 

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and your consideration to donate to our service trip to Haiti.  Should you have any questions, or items to donate, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Sincerely,

 Meghan
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Donations 

  • Caitlin bevins
    • $50 
    • 10 yrs
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Organizer

Meghan Kostan
Organizer
Groton, MA

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