Hoosier men prepare for tough trip to Haiti

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Three local Salvation Army members left Indianapolis Monday afternoon on the first leg of their trip to Haiti. All three of them have extensive disaster service experience and training, but all three say the trip will be among their toughest.

It is a two week trip to provide the kind of expertise needed in Haiti right now.

"We'll do it a day at a time and a person at a time," said Jerry Larsen, the Indianapolis Salvation Army Service Director.

He and captains Marco Ramirez and Geff Crowell are experienced in disaster response.

Larsen saw action in New York during 9/11 and also in Iraq and Sri Lanka.

"The Salvation Army has medical clinics there, so we can be assisting in the medical clinics. We also have some orphanages there. So I'm sure we'll be dealing with the children some and help them to get through this trauma," said Larsen.

The Salvation Army's other facilities in Haiti were destroyed in the earthquake said Captain Crowell.

"We're going to be staying in tents, it's going to be very primitive and we don't know. We've been called to minister and we're going to minister to these people," he said.

The local men are part of an international Salvation Army response team that will rotate on two week tours for as long as they are needed.

"We don't know exactly what we're going to be facing when we get there. We don't know what the conditions are on the ground. We've brought some supplies with us and we're going to do whatever is that's needed when we get there,” said Crowell.

The three men will be helping get food and water to the people of Haiti. But they say the most meaningful part of their mission goes well beyond that.

"If we can minister to their immediate physical needs and get them out of immediate harm's way, that's one thing. But the thing that I want to leave behind, or the thing that will stay there, is the hope that we give people," said Captain Ramirez. "We just need to get down there and start working and stop talking about it."

To get more information on how you can help in the recovery efforts in Haiti. Go to hoosiershelpinghoosiers.org .