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Local woman helps Haiti rebuild

Margaret Przybyla feels thankful that she has a house, her health and that her life is relatively stable. In short, she’s glad that she doesn’t live in Haiti.

Margaret Przybyla feels thankful that she has a house, her health and that her life is relatively stable. In short, she’s glad that she doesn’t live in Haiti.

“We really have an awesome life here and sometimes we forget that there are people that are less fortunate for whatever reason.”

The Caribbean island country is still working hard to bounce back from a devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake in mid-January. It killed more than 230,000 people and left another 1.6 million homeless. In October, a cholera outbreak killed another 2,500 and the United Nations says that the disease threatens another 200,000.

The tragedy touched many people around the world and it hit Przybyla close to home as well.

“One of our co-workers is from Haiti,” she said, referring to the cutlery marketer she works for. “That’s how the whole wave of help started.”

Her business decided to help support Angel Wings International, a non-profit agency dedicated to helping with the medical needs in Haiti since 2007. It’s an aid organization with many humanitarian activities taking place in that country involving teams of medical, logistics and construction professionals. It is currently planning a new clinical facility in the small city of Jacmel.

Even though she hasn’t been able to get down to help with the ground effort, she did recently travel to Miami to help sort supplies and prepare them for shipping. She also helped build some furniture for the new medical clinic scheduled to open in January.

For her work, she was appointed an Angel Wings guardian leader for the clinic’s fundraising. It makes her proud to know she is able to help these people in need.

“Being involved with this cause has really helped me appreciate everything my family has. It’s been very rewarding to know that I am helping to better someone else’s life,” she said, clearly impressed at the resilience and triumph of the Haitian spirit. “I’m really amazed at what they are going through. They are still so happy and they come back with smiles.”

To learn more about the relief effort through Angel Wings, please visit www.angelwingsinternational.org. The website has a feature that allows for online donations.


Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

About the Author: Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ecology and Environment Reporter at the Fitzhugh Newspaper since July 2022 under Local Journalism Initiative funding provided by News Media Canada.
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