Email History: Today's Update

All,Here are the recap from today:

1.  We were thrilled to see that nearly all the children have been rounded up and arrived at Fontamara.  For those of you not familiar with that location, it's one of the three branches of Foyer de Sion.  Guesno Mardy has taken all the kids in and they're basically living in the yard.   They are still getting aftershocks and people are very wary about staying INSIDE the buildings after what they experienced in the last 12 days.

2.  We're still working on the specifics of a plane.  We have found a benefactor who has the capacity to get over 100 people to a destination and his group is working to see which plane, which pilot, which destination, etc, etc are best going to meet the needs. 

3.  You should be aware that you can't land a plane in PAP unless it's filled with humanitarian supplies on the way into PAP.   We've been working with the LDS Church Humanitarian Services and it looks like they will be able to fill the cargo hold for us.
 

4.  Coordinating these things leaves us with a few loose ends still.  It may possibly be WEDNESDAY before they can leave because we have to get the plane to where it can be loaded with humanitarian cargo and we have to make sure all the children have Humanitarian Parole.  My contacts tell me it may be tomorrow morning before they can give me specifics.  I promise you I will get the information out as soon as I have something you can book tickets against.
 

5.  Because so many of our group have not heard from DHS, we have escalated to someone who is helping us on this end (Utah end) of the Department of Homeland Security and they are looking into each of the files that have not received "the phone call" yet.  We just want to make sure we have as much notice as possible that all the paperwork is in order so that if there is an issue we can fix it as expeditiously as possible.
 

6.  We have raised a little over $6000K TODAY for the "jet fuel" fund.  I can't tell you how different the "can we use your plane" conversation is when you tell them that you've been gathering money for fuel.  Obviously, until we know a) exactly which type of plane we're going to be using and b) exactly where they will be flying us, we won't know the full fuel costs.  But it's coming together.  Thank you for getting the word out and for your own donations as well.

Please let me know if you have questions and I"ll do my best to answer them.

Thank you for all your prayers.

L