October 1st 2021
Suffolk Freemasons provide emergency funding
to support K1 Britannia Foundations relief efforts in Haiti after major earthquake
K1 Britannia Foundation’s disaster relief and crisis team has successfully completed its relief efforts in Haiti after the tragic 7.2 earthquake on August 14. Suffolk Freemasons working together with the Masonic Charitable Foundation donated £2000 to enable the K1 team to respond within 48 hours of the crisis developing.
The team’s relief efforts took place within the main areas of emergency logistics and the provision of personnel to load and offload much-needed supplies and equipment to affected areas. Based in Port-au-Prince, the team was able to help streamline and assist with managing emergency logistics at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport. This meant helping to manage flights carrying relief aid, supplies and personnel back and forth between the affected areas in the South and Port-au-Prince.
Due to the volatile situation on ground in the affected areas, travel by air was the safest way to move humanitarian aid, workers and equipment. On the ground, K1 worked closely with World Hope International, Global Support and Development (GSD), World Food Programme (WFP), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Mission of Hope Haiti, the United States Southern Command and others. The K1 team assisted with much-needed medical evacuations via helicopter from remote areas not reachable by road or larger planes. K1 also flew to the South to assess the damage and needs in various villages. K1 Direct’s Head of Operations said: “The deployment was a unique and challenging situation. It was unique because of the tasks we were entrusted with at the airport, and challenging because there were so many people in need and various circumstances made it hard to reach them”.
Rick Orme of Suffolk Freemasons commented “We were very pleased to be able provide emergency funding at extremely short notice to help fund the K1 Foundation’s relief operation in Haiti and we must thank the Masonic Charitable Foundation for assisting us in this donation”.
For more information about the charity visit www.k1britanniafoundation.org/projects/