From left, Ashley LaRock, Sydney Johnson and Sawyer Goerges of the Crosslake Lutheran Church Youth Group were part of the assembly line Wednesday, Jan. 27, that put together hygiene kits for Church World Services to distribute in Haiti.

Bob Burns of Nisswa, a member of Crosslake Lutheran Church, spoke to the church youth group Wednesday, Jan. 27, about the Haiti orphanage the church helps, as well as his experience in Haiti during and after the earthquake.

The earthquake in Haiti spurred the Crosslake Lutheran Church Youth Group into action. After all, the youth already had a vested interest in an orphanage in Pignon, Haiti.

Late last year, the youth donated half the proceeds from a french toast breakfast, $420, to Haiti Mercy Mission, an orphanage where parishioner Bob Burns has donated time. The youth group then adopted an orphan, Pouchon, age 10, for $240 per year. That money will feed and provide medical care for a year for an orphan.

Burns' neighbors in Nisswa, Frank and Jeanette McLaughlin, created the nonprofit Haiti Mercy Mission to support the orphanage that has 48 children ages 5 to 23. The McLaughlins also were in Haiti when the earthquake struck and plan to be there for several more months.

After the Jan. 12 earthquake, the youth group decided to collect items for the depleted supply of hygiene kits distributed by Church World Service.

On Wednesday, Jan. 27, at the church, youth formed long lines on either side of tables filled with items for the hygiene kits and assembled them.

More than $1,000 was donated to the cause, as well as specific hygiene items for the kits.

After they assembled the kits, Burns spoke to the group.

Four days before the earthquake, Burns took a second trip to Haiti to help at the Haiti Mercy Mission orphanage. He planned to help make picnic tables for the orphans in Pignon, which is 85 air miles north of Port-Au-Prince.

"We were surprised. We were in the middle of an earthquake and didn't know it," Burns said.

He was traveling in an old Toyota Land Cruiser when the earthquake hit, and the roads are incredibly rough in Haiti. So, Burns said, they didn't know there was an earthquake because they were already jostling along on the bumpy road.

There was minimal damage at the orphanage, but they did feel aftershocks that night, he said.

Food and fuel soon were in short supply. "Gas is almost impossible to come by," Burns said, noting prices increased from $3 per gallon before the earthquake to $13 a gallon last week.

The morning after the quake, Burns and a friend bought $4,000 worth of groceries in Pignon, including 20 bags of rice.

"We stocked up as best we could that morning. They ran out of that food last week," Burns said.

Before the earthquake, rice cost $30 for a 50-pound bag. After the quake, he negotiated from $50 to $45 for a bag, and the cost jumped to $90 after a food riot, he said.

After the earthquake, Haiti Mercy Mission picked up an additional 14 orphan refugees, as well as two families, Burns said.

There is no running water or electricity at the orphanage, though a small generator allows for Internet access. They were able to watch CNN for news after the quake, and he corresponds daily with the McLaughlins.

Burns said Haiti is actually more advanced in cell phone use than the United States, and no one has landlines there. Though a major provider's tower was down for four days, a smaller company was able to provide outside communication, "So we could let people know we were well," Burns said.

Burns said there is a lot of poverty in Haiti. "It's only going to get worse before it gets better," he said.

Burns cut short his trip to Haiti for fear he wouldn't be able to leave later. Four days after the quake, he got a flight out of the Dominican Republic. Leaving Pignon at 4 a.m. he traveled just 38 miles in four and a half hours in a pickup truck.

"The roads there are absolutely next to nothing," he said.

After an eight-hour bus ride, he arrived in the Dominican Republic. At the border, Burns told the youth group to imagine the Minnesota State Fair on a busy day, and then multiply that by 100.

"We literally would go an inch at a time," he said, noting people in the Dominican Republic were bringing food back to Haiti, and refugees were swimming through the river with food.

Burns talked about a 23-year-old orphan in her fourth year at Notre Dame School of Nursing in Port-Au-Prince. She miraculously survived the quake after having moved to a new apartment that day. Had she not moved, or had she been on the first or second floor rather than the third floor of her new apartment, she would have died, Burns said.

The $2,700 she paid the landlord for rent was lost when the landlord died in the quake.

Pignon, which is a seven and a half hour car ride from Port-Au-Prince, is a town of 35,000 people in the central highlands of Haiti. As of last week, 12,000 to 15,000 refugees had arrived there, Burns said.

The sad part, Burns said, is that the aid isn't getting to where the people are. He said aid sent to Haiti Mercy Mission will get there, because there is a grass air strip outside the orphanage that Nor-Son built years ago.

He urged people to channel aid and support through credible organizations.

For the McLaughlins' updates on the Haiti Mercy Mission orphanage, go to www.haitimercymission.com.