When Logansport couple Rick and Carol Greiner heard about the earthquake in Haiti, their thoughts and prayers immediately went out to their friends in Terre-Neuve, a community in the mountains about eight hours from Port-au-Prince.

The couple, along with other members of All Saints Catholic Church, have been traveling to the Haitian town for five years, and plan to return in a few weeks with supplies for the disaster-stricken nation.

Logansport High School senior Kaelyn Schlick is using the others’ trip as an opportunity to fulfill her senior community service project by collecting needed items for Haitians.

Rick Greiner said the relationship between All Saints and Our Lady of the Nativity in Terre-Neuve began about five years ago through a Catholic parish twin program.

“Our parish is way up in the mountains, so there is no way of getting work materials up to them,” Greiner said. “So we don’t really do a lot of work up there. We are allowed two carry-on suitcases, so we fill them completely up with donations like medicine, chewable vitamins, Tylenol, antibiotic ointment and eye drops.”

Greiner said the Logansport group each year also took a special gift such as soccer balls or sock dolls for the school children.

“They know we support them, and they’re just tickled to death to see us,” he said.

He said it was “heart-wrenching” to find out an earthquake had hit the nation they visit annually.

“They are such a poor country, but they are so happy,” Greiner said. “You always hear how dangerous it is, but when we went there, we discovered they are the most friendly people you could ever imagine.”

For three days after the earthquake, Greiner and his wife tried to make contact with the priest at Our Lady of the Nativity, but to no avail.

“Their Internet is always out, so for three days we had no idea,” Greiner said. “Everybody at church was praying for them, and after about the third day, he could write to say they were safe.”

The church suffered virtually no damage because of its location in the mountains.

“It was such a blessing,” Greiner said.

The Logansport man reminisced on his experiences in Terre-Neuve over the past five years.

“They had never seen a white person before and would touch our skin to feel it was like theirs,” he said. “Here’s a story for you: Last year, Carol tripped and fell and skinned her knee. She lifted her dress up to look at her knee and it was bleeding. The translator told us one girl said to another girl, ‘Look, her blood is red like ours.’

“It’s amazing. They had no idea about a white person.”

Greiner said when they travel to Haiti, they commonly stay at Matthew 25 House, a hospitality facility in Port-au-Prince that was established in 2005 by the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas. The house was built to provide a place to stay for those visiting from North America through missionary or humanitarian organizations.

The house provides transportation to and from the international and local airports about 15 miles away and provides visitors with a hotel-style stay with flush toilets, showers and 24-hour security.

Greiner said officials at the Matthew 25 House bought a generator two years ago, and after the earthquake, the house was the only location with electricity.

“Next to the house is a community soccer field, and they have turned it into a triage center,” he said. “The last we heard, they have 1,500 to 2,000 people living on that soccer field that are injured.”

As for the Matthew 25 House, the building is being used for its kitchen and other amenities but the structure has not been cleared as safe to sleep in. The house can accommodate 30 people, and right now those 30 people are mostly doctors and medical professionals to help the injured, Greiner said.

“They are doing operations on the kitchen table at the Matthew House and then being taken over to the soccer field,” he said.

The house has also turned into a gathering place of other sorts because the media has been taking advantage of the electricity and Internet at the facility.

Greiner and others at All Saints are planning a return trip to Haiti Feb. 23.

When Schlick, a high school senior who attended All Saints, heard of the upcoming trip, she got to work to organize a collection.

She traveled to each of the classrooms at All Saints Friday to ask grades to donate specific items as part of her senior community service project.

“Most people here are really fortunate and blessed, and other people who are not deserve to be at least somehow,” Schlick said. “I went to school at All Saints and go to church there now and knew I needed to help out in some way.”

Schlick is asking students to bring in donations of garden seeds, chewable vitamins, rolled bandages, antibiotic ointment, eyedrops and Tums.

“I have been very blessed in my life, and I would like to help those in need,” she said.

Greiner said he was impressed with Schlick’s efforts.

“It is overwhelming for us, because today’s kids are so me, me, me,” he said. “She wants to do something for people she has never even seen before.

“That’s an amazing testament to the people of Logansport.”

• Jennifer Tangeman is a reporter for the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5148 or jennifer.tangeman@pharostribune.com.