With Support of Our Friends We'll Get These Needed Supplies to the Much Neglected Yet Beautiful People of Haiti

We were in the process of getting our two ambulances we purchased from the suburbs of Atlanta, from the county, cleaned and up-to-date on preventative maintenance during this harsh winter we were having here in DC.

During the harsh winter we experienced in Washington, DC, we were also in the process of getting the two ambulances we purchased on e-Bay from a suburban county near Atlanta, cleaned, into tip-top mechanical shape, brakes checked, equipped for a tropical climate, and tires readied for a ground surface strewn with broken glass.

After a couple of years and by law, county municipalities have to purchase new vehicles after they reach certain mileage limits even though these emergency trucks are still almost like new and in spectacular condition.

We had plans to use the vehicles as political platforms to inform on current issues around the District of Columbia and across the nation. Jim Goodnow, for decades, had been driving around a peace activist bus, the Yellow Rose of Texas Peace Bus, creating awareness in the political spectrum since the 70s, making friends and allies from coast to coast.

After a weekend in New Hampshire during the last presidential race, Jim pulled into a New Jersey truck stop on January 14, 2008 after the long drive and had just had a bite to eat. Before taking a brief rest in the back of the bus, he decided to quickly check the engine. When he raised the rear door, he suddenly faced a wall of flame which nearly engulfed him. A nearby trucker alerted the local fire department while other truckers ignored the potential danger of an exploding bus courageously using their portable fire-extinguishers, while one of them photographed the fire in progress. Both the fire department and Jim investigated the mysterious fire as a case of arson. But the bus was destroyed.


It was after this incident that Jim and his longtime friend Louis Wolf decided to find a new vehicle and found these two ambulances instead that they felt could be used as political platforms and then donated to a community that had nothing along the lines of medical EMS equipment due to economic and political forces out of their control. They had a few countries on their radar that had severe need of these. Then, the devastating earthquake hit the poorest country in the modern world's western hemisphere.

Jim and Louis suddenly decided they had to somehow get the two emergency emergency vehicles to Haiti.

Here is a letter from our friend Bernard with Perfect Retreat Near Vancouver Island which succinctly pulls together what we are trying to accomplish in his correspondence to the Governor General of Canada:

Dear Governor General

I write to you as a lover of the haitian people and the country that I was fortunate enough to visit on many occasions. I am a relative of the late Quebec Lieutenant Governor Paul Comtois.

I now live on the island of Galiano, between Vancouver and Vancouver island where my wife Line Marie and I own forest land and a small mill as well as Eagles Nest Retreat that we built with our own hands. You can view it at www.perfectretreat.com

We plan to fill two containers of termite resistant red cedar lumber , ship it to Haiti and go ourselves with a small team of volunteer builders for several months next year to build a number of simple houses for those in need.

However, I am writing to you for advise about a different and more urgent venture.

Passing through Miami this week, we met Mr. Jim Goodnow, a very enthusiastic and generous man who obtained at auction a 2006 top of the line and fully equipped and functioning ambulance that he would like to ship to Haiti.

The vehicle is of the highest quality and worth approximately two hundred thousand dollars new.

It is filled with donated equipment such as several wheelchairs,crutches, a dentistry Xray machine and other new or used but modern and fully functioning medical equipment.

However, he is encountering many administrative obstacles in his quest to find a suitable recipient.

The agencies that he contacted are not interested in receiving it as this donation is, incredibly, outside of their working perimeters.

Mr Goodnow has contacted the mayor of Delmas. This person is willing and anxious to receive the equipment but, there is a measure of ambiguity about the arrangement and of course, Mr. Goodnow wants the certitude that the ambulance and it's equipment will reach those most in need of it.

Mr. Goodnow has driven ambulances, buses and other heavy equipment all his life and is prepared to go to Haiti with the vehicle to teach it's new operators how to run and maintain it.

We do not anticipate difficulties in finding the $2700. needed to ship the ambulance to Port au Prince from Miami but would very much appreciate your input to find a reliable recipient, one who would put it to the service of those most in need.

Mr. Goodnow has access to a second ambulance as well as a fire truck that he would also like to donate to the haitian people.

A friend of Mr. Goodnow is launching a web site to help his cause. You can view it at www.dont4gethaiti.org

We will contact you at a later date for suggestions on how to put our own project to the best possible use in Haiti.

We can be reached at 1 888 454 8899 or at info@perfectretreat.com

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Warm regards

Line Marie St Jacques and Bernard Mignault