I am SO PROUD of my family!

I just found out that my uncle who is a captain for Air Canada volunteered his time off the clock to fly a relief jet down to Port-au-Prince filled with supplies and support workers. On the way back they brought home sick and injured Canadians. His flight was the first non-military aircraft allowed to land.

Here is the email I received from my aunt:

Hey guys Uncle was on the CTV news last night!  Uncle took a volunteer group for Disaster relief to Haiti yesterday.  He flew the Air Canada plane out of Montreal at 6:00 am yesterday with armed police guards, nurses, doctors, medical supplies and a bag of $90,000 in his hand just in case they got into trouble and he needed to buy something.

There was no control tower so I am not sure how he landed but he said he was almost hit by a plane while they were sitting on the ramp.  He was way past the legal time to fly but he waited at the airport until they collected as many sick and injured people as possible to take back with them to Canada.

He arrived in Montreal last night close to midnight, absolutely exhausted!  Before he left (we got the call just the night before) so in the morning we contacted various people in our town who needed to get medical supplies to their contacts in Haiti.  He met a lady who ran to the drug store in town and cleaned them out, wrapped up the supplies and gave him this huge box to take with him on the plane.  When he went through security they didn’t want to let him go so he demanded to see the manager and the manager just waved him through without even looking at the box.  No rules apply when you are in the middle of a disaster!

He had to have armed guards to protect him and the plane because of the unrest and violence in the country.  Air Canada wanted that plane back!!

He told me he saw things he couldn’t even put into words.  He should be arriving home any time now and I can’t wait to hear his stories.

It was so cool seeing him interviewed on the CTV news though!  He looked so professional…not the funny Uncle that we know.  But most importantly he made it home safely!!  I just got a call from Air Canada and they want to debrief with him re: the flight.  They are planning another one and they want him to do it again…you know once is enough.  He’s home safe now and it was exciting and everything but I don’t really want him going back again…

We are glad to have him back. I had no idea that he would be doing this! I scooped some photos that he took while there (below). I don’t think they let him leave the airport (or possibly even the plane) for safety reasons. I never realized how valuable and at risk my uncle could be!

I’m going to email him and see if he has any stories to tell.

If you would like to help the Haitians, these are the two major organizations you can donate to:

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS / MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES (MSF) – CANADA

Canadian Red Cross