Some reports say that 1,000 people have died as a result of Hurricane Matthew slamming into Haiti last week.

In the aftermath of the storm, diseases are spreading, and governmental aid is slow to come because so many already-bad roads were made impassable by the hurricane. Some of the people killed by the storm are being buried in mass graves.

Wade McGuinn, who owns McGuinn Hybrid Homes in West Columbia, was enroute to Jeremie Haiti to help.

“I am leaving on Thursday (Oct. 13) and will arrive in Jeremie (Haiti) at 11 a.m.” McGuinn posted on his www.haitichildrenproject.org website “I will have with me generators, chainsaws, food and tarps. Cholera and malaria have broken out already, so I will be taking lots of medications for that, as well.”

Link – Donate to help the destitute people of Hurricane ravaged Haiti

The situation is dire. Nearly every other home was destroyed in one area of Jeremie, was the report Janet McGuinn, (Wade’s wife) received after the storm- with 145 mph winds- hit Haiti.

There is the need for food and financial aid. Janet was also told prices are on the rise, with bottled water selling for three times the normal price. Any medical personnel on the severely impoverished island nation are working around the clock, but they have little if any medicine.

It’s not the first time Haiti has endured extreme suffering. More than 316,000 were killed there in the 2010 earthquake.

The McGuinn’s have been able to mobilize quickly to respond to the hurricane devastation because they are familiar with the country. They began a mission effort to help in Haiti in 2003. That is when Wade first embarked on a trip to Jeremie, Haiti. He found then that helping the poor is his life’s calling. He has led many mission trips to Cuba, Honduras, Vietnam, and Mexico. In 2005, while in Jeremie, Wade was led to the home of a local Haitian, Jean Renal Alexander, who was caring for eight abandoned children in his home when he was barely able to care for himself. When Wade returned home, he and his wife Janet were compelled to help and the Haiti Children Project was founded. The McGuinns have donated to care for the children of Haiti since, in just about every way possible- from giving their own resources, to taking donations, and travelling to Haiti to work hands-on with the poor.