CAN-DO has been closely monitoring the aftermath of the earthquake in Nepal. We are coordinating with our local partners on the ground during this acute rescue phase of the global response. Sometimes being “the first one in” proves to be more of a photo-op than providing the aid and relief these survivors need.

Government officials tell us the roads are closed to many of the villages outside of the city that were impacted. The immediate focus right now is on search/rescue and medical relief. Our contacts in Kathmandu tell us the greatest need for distributing supplies and clean-up/rebuild will be in the weeks/months ahead.

The CAN-DO team always deploys when we know we can make the greatest impact and use resources efficiently. The survivors in Nepal have a long road ahead of them. We will continue to be on standby and keep you updated on our relief response in the weeks ahead.

– EK

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author, Eric Klein. Klein is the CEO of CAN-DO.ORG, a disaster relief and community revitalization 501c3 organization.

(CAN-DO.ORG) – Those who know me know that I’m not one to keep my mouth shut or give people a pass. Not when it comes to this.

Fourteen. That is the amount of newsletters I received this week from groups begging for more money to help the people in Haiti. Timely, as you know, because Monday marked the 5th anniversary since the Haiti earthquake.

Every time one of these newsletters popped up in my inbox or Facebook feed, my stomach turned.

It’s not only irresponsible, but I believe criminal, for any non-profit organization to continue to solicit money for a country if they failed to show results the first time around.

More than 13 billion dollars — billion with a B — was donated 5 years ago for Haiti and the overwhelming majority of that money was not used to better the people since the earthquake. It did not provide a better life for them. It was not used efficiently.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth that no one likes to talk about: most of the money donated was wasted or remains unaccounted for. That is an undisputed fact.

Before I go on, I want you to understand that my words today are coming from years of frustration watching a lot of charities take in ridiculous amounts of money while tugging on the heartstrings of donors, yet fail to be transparent about how they use the money, or publicly document their results. This frustration is the very reason I got into this line of work more than 10 years ago. And not much has changed.

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Naval Admiral William H. McRaven returned to his alma mater last week and spoke to the graduates with lessons he learned from his basic SEAL training. Here’s his amazing Commencement Address at University of Texas at Austin 2014.

The University’s slogan is,

“What starts here changes the world.”

I have to admit—I kinda like it.

“What starts here changes the world.”

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The CAN-DO team recently returned to Haiti to build a bridge for a community in need.  As you’ll see in the donor completion video, this 1 bridge dramatically improved the quality of life for an entire community. Thank you to all our donors who made it possible!  More than 75% of the funding for this project was raised through social media. Within 3 weeks of flagging the needs of this community on Facebook, the funds had been raised and the CAN-DO team deployed for Haiti. The project was complete in less than a week!

What we did:
 – Cleaned garbage and rubble from ravine
– Built new retaining walls to funnel water away from sidewalls during storms
– Built new supporting walls for the bridge – Reattached the steel bridge over the ravine
– Reinforced surface of bridge with new wood and cement
– Added new steel hand railings to the bridge
– Built a new community water well

Who we hired:
 – 5 CAN-DO team members working on the ground
– 1 local Haitian “fixer” who worked as a translator and negotiator
– 60 local Haitians hired as masons, laborers
– 4 local Haitians hired to cook daily meals for the local crew
– All supplies/material purchased in Haiti to support local businesses

Read more about the Haiti Bridge Project and see more photos, videos here!