By:  Jim Cline

SPRINGFIELD, Mass (abc40) -- There are two organizations with local ties that have been providing aid to Haiti for a couple of decades.  One is Hands Together which was founded in 1986 by Father Tom Hagan.  Hagan lives in Haiti.  The executive director of the organization is Douglas Campbell, who has an office in Springfield.  He was in Haiti overseeing a project when the quake hit.  His daughter, Kaitlin, was in the office.  "That's when the phones started ringing,  she says, "and it hasn't really stopped."  

Kaitlin says she spent 6 hours making phone calls trying to get through to her father.  She finally managed to do that around midnight.  He just said it was really bad and it was dark and he didn't know where they were going to stay." she says, "He seemed really shook up.  Father Tom and him are okay and that was just the main thing we wanted to know, but we don't know about any of their projects or the schools yet.  We're still waiting to hear from him today."  The Campbells were finally notified by a State Department e-mail in the afternoon.  Douglas said he was okay.  He would contact them later.

Kathy Grey manages Vodouaid.org which has it's U-S headquarters in Easthampton. She lives in Haiti for 25 years and she managed to get in touch with her companion, Jean-Louis Prince, who lives in Jacmel.  That's 80 miles south of Port Au Prince.  "He told me this morning that all houses over one story high that he saw were flattened.  His own house is in ruins," she says. "He survived because he was outdoors taking care of his animals."  Grey says he's bruised and banged up, but there are no broken bones and that's good because the hospital is also severely damaged.  She says there's very little available in the way of medical care.