Brothers Roger and Terry Esbenshade stand in front of a hut that they built with the help of volunteers at their garden center in Brickerville.
The inside of one of the huts is shown.
Volunteers bundle the metal bows that will support the Haiti-bound huts.
Life for survivors of the catastrophic earthquake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12 is difficult enough.
With seasonal rains looming and with most buildings severely damaged or destroyed in the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, things are certain to get worse.
A family run business in Brickerville is offering some relief in the form of 200 huts it purchased and is sending to the beleaguered country.
Roger Esbenshade was moved by the disaster and came up with the idea, with the support of his brothers Scott, Terry and Fred.
The brothers own Esbenshade's Garden Center & Greenhouses.
The Esbenshades paid $60,000 to purchase the huts — some of the material was donated — and have them sent to Haiti.
According to Roger Esbenshade, each hut costs about $300.
"To that we add $50 for shipping for each structure," Scott Esbenshade said.
The huts are made of galvanized steel tubing and are covered with plastic. They measure 14 feet by 16 feet with a center height of seven feet.
"I guess they could possibly accommodate five to 10 people," Scott Esbenshade said.
A group of volunteers is working around the clock at the garden center to partially assemble the structures. Scott Esbenshade said a couple of workers could erect one in about one hour.
The brothers plan to have the huts trucked to a port in Miami tonight. The cargo is tentatively scheduled to be sent Monday by ship to Saint-Marc, Haiti, where it is expected to arrive three days later.
"We are working in partnership with Youth With a Mission, and they will handle the distribution of the huts in Haiti once they arrive," Scott Esbenshade said.
Roger Esbenshade said the brothers have supported YWAM in the past. He said a group of local YWAM personnel and a team of construction volunteers from the Ephrata area will receive the huts when they arrive in Haiti.
He said right now there are eight people in the group, but that number could increase once the group leaves for Haiti.
Once in Haiti, Roger Esbenshade said the group will gather more volunteers there and finish assembling the huts, which will be placed in a designated area outside the Port-au-Prince disaster area, providing homes for more than 1,000 homeless Haitians.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to help the Esbenshades defray the cost of purchasing the huts and shipping can visit www.esbenshades.com/haiti.
The group that will travel to Haiti to receive the huts will pay for the trip on their own.
Huber's Animal Health in Myerstown, Beiler's Greenhouse Structures in Paradise, Griffin Greenhouse Supplies in Morgantown and Paul B. Zimmerman Hardware in Lititz all donated materials for the project.
Several other Haiti relief efforts are under way in the county.
• Holy Trinity Lutheran Church , 31 S. Duke St., will present an evening of multicultural foods, music and art on Friday. Donations of food and canned goods will be accepted for the "People in Haiti" relief effort. The First Friday event begins at 5 p.m. For information call, Kevin DePrefontaine at 397-2734.
• Tropical Smoothie Café will host a fundraising event Friday and will donate 10 percent from the day's total sales to the American Red Cross for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.
The event will be held at 15 E. King St. and at 235 Bloomfield Drive, Suite 105, Lititz.
Customers visiting these locations during the event will receive a free 12-ounce Paradise Point smoothie with their meal.
For information, call Tropical Smoothie Café of Lititz at 560-1490, or in Lancaster call 397-1827.
• Isaac's Restaurant & Deli will host a community night fundraiser from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday.
Twenty-five percent of all food and beverage sales at all 20 Isaac's locations will be donated to Haiti relief efforts.
Isaac's seven Lancaster County restaurants will donate their proceeds to Mennonite Central Committee of Akron. Other central Pennsylvania locations will donate to the American Red Cross.
• Millersville University's Haiti Relief Project will host a rally for Haiti from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 16 in the multipurpose room at the Student Memorial Center.
The free event is an opportunity to reflect on the Haitian culture through dialogue, film and music.
Donations for the Haiti Relief Project will be accepted. For more information, contact 872-3774 or volunteer.central@millersville.edu.