Drive Sets Goal of 50,000 Survival Kits for Women of Haiti
Friday June 18, 2010 . 3:23 PM

Members, volunteers and staff from 1199SEIU and the 1199SEIU Child Care Corporation gathered on June 4 at the union’s Manhattan headquarters for the first in a series of gatherings where members will help make 50,000 Survival Kits for the women of Haiti.

The kits are scheduled to be completed by August 13, and will include basic healthcare items such as toothpaste, a tooth brush, soap and deodorant as well as clean undergarments and energy bars. Millions of women and children were displaced by the earthquake and left without access to basic health and sanitary supplies.

Elaine Pascall, a retiree from Marcus Garvey Nursing Home in Brooklyn attended the event. “The pictures from Haiti are very disturbing,” she said. “Women have to help women. Sometimes men think all we have to do is work, but women know that we have to stop and take care of each other. We need to do things like send doctors and provide medicine.”

The kits will be assembled at 1199SEIU headquarters on several Fridays and Saturdays throughout June and July. Members are welcome to participate, and encouraged to donate supplies for kits through their churches, community organizations and worksites.

Supplies can be dropped off Monday to Friday from 9:00 am and 5:00 p.m. at the following 1199SEIU headquarters:

• Manhattan, 330 W.42nd Street


• Long Island, 100 Duffy Avenue, 7th Fl, Hicksville


• Westchester, 99 Church Street, White Plains


• New Jersey, 555 Route One South, Iselin

Kits and supplies may be dropped off until August 13. For more information contact your organizer or call the We Care for Haiti office at 212-603-0047/0048.