Dr. Marie Paul is the founder of the Haitian Nurses Network. She has organized a drive to collect much-needed medical supplies to send to back to her native Haiti after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake devastated the southwestern part of the island over the weekend.

“Things for first aid, that is what we are collecting,” Paul says. “We don’t need any clothing right now. We need things right this moment that we can save limbs and lives,” 

Paul says she hopes to fly down some of her colleagues to help tend to the more than 10,000 people injured. She says they are working on raising money to buy flights, but their priority is transporting the supplies as quickly as possible.

Jordana Hemingway was born in Haiti and still has family there. Fortunately, all of her family is accounted for, but she still wants to help out in anyway she can.

“Haitians always send barrels back home. I just kind of wanted to rally some of my friends to say, you know what, hey, I am sending some barrels if you guys want to come contribute, here is a flyer and let's see what we can do,” Hemingway says.

Hemingway will be accepting donations of baby and medical supplies, non-perishables and household items through Thursday at the event space BK19 in Bushwick at 1465 Myrtle Avenue. Her goal is to ship out at least three barrels by Friday evening.

Carine Jocelyn, the chief executive officer at Diaspora Community Services, is taking a different approach: connecting directly with groups on the ground through the Haitian Women’s Collective and sending them money directly.

“In the last 72 hours, we have made a plan for example to pay the salaries of some teachers in the area of Anse-a-Veau. The school was destroyed. but teachers still need a livelihood,” Jocelyn says.

Over the next several weeks, Jocelyn says groups will send her lists of items to purchase in Haiti because it’s important to source relief locally to keep the Haitian economy going.

“We see it kind of trending on social media not to give to Haiti, free Haiti. I wouldn’t say not to give to Haiti. I would say it is being careful about who you give to," she says.

For people looking to donate, the mayor’s office has published a list of recommended organizations providing relief in Haiti.