The tents collected by South Cove resident Susan Sullivan to help the people of Haiti following last month’s earthquake will soon be on their way to Port-Au-Prince, thanks to fellow South Cove resident and Snoqualmie Valley Rotary Club member, Bill Whitacre.

Sullivan came up with the idea to collect tents after hearing that temporary shelter was greatly in need as families begin the extraordinary task of rebuilding their lives in the midst of rubble and ruin. She put out a call to anyone wanting to donate a tent to the cause, and the people of South Cove and Issaquah responded. But the problem of how to get the tents to Haiti was one that Sullivan wasn’t sure how she would tackle.

Then along came Whitacre and Snoqualmie Valley Rotary.

Rotary clubs all over America have been involved in Haiti for many years. At the time of the earthquake, Rotarians from the Midwest were in Haiti undertaking community building projects.

Since than, members of the Disaster Relief Rotarian Action Group (DRRAG) have been central to the relief effort there. One of their tasks has been collecting tents for the millions of newly homeless.

Whitacre has promised to deliver the tents collected in South Cove to the Rotarian-Military Liaison Group this week. They will then be shipped to Haiti, to do just what Sullivan hoped they would.

As her generous community outreach effort reached a happy conclusion this week, Sullivan thanked the many families and individuals who donated to the drive.

“A number of Issaquah and Sammamish families donated new and used tents to this drive,” she said. “Thanks to two Nelson families, the two Smith families, and the Banic, Jarunek, Louise, Leisy, Kern, Endres, Sleeth, Johnson, Wyemura, Mosier, Hall, and Eales-Rogers families for your support. These are the names I was able to track, but there are others who kindly left a tent on our driveway and I thank them too.”

Got a tent you want to donate? It’s not too late – contact Bill Whitacre directly at bwhitacre@comcast.net

All the Rotary Clubs in the region will gather the tents at the Rotary First Harvest warehouse building in Kent later this week.

Air Force personnel will pick them up and deliver them to Florida, where the Navy will take the tents on the final leg of their journey to Haiti. The tents will be distributed by USAID.