ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In the five
months since a major earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation of Haiti, InterVol and its partners Rochester
General Health System, World Wide Village and the University of Notre Dame have continued to send new
teams of medical and surgical personnel to Leogane, Haiti every week, along with more than 10 tons
of medical supplies and equipment, food, and shelter.
During one of the organization's missions to Haiti, InterVol volunteers founded the Leogane
Track Club, which provides daily exercise for several hundred local
children who range in age from seven to their early teens.
Club members depart from the St. Croix field hospital, in
which volunteers are based, at 4:30 each afternoon for a run
through the local countryside, winding their way through farmland
and sugarcane fields to the ocean for a swim, and back. This
group has become quite popular with the local children, who line up
eagerly waiting for the adults to lead them, as well as with local
community members, who routinely offer encouragement as the group
runs along. However, only a small percentage of the children
actually have running shoes, with most running in worn out sandals
and some in bare feet.
InterVol is partnering with Constellation Brands and Rochester
General Health System (RGHS) once again to help the children of
Haiti, this time to collect
running shoes to benefit members of the Leogane Track Club, as well
as the larger community. Both companies are hosting collection
drives for employees to support this important cause. Constellation
Brands is also donating chartered jet services to bring healthcare
professionals, Constellation representatives and the donated shoes
for distribution to the children of Leogane on Sunday, June 20, 2010. And local graphics
company, KB Graphics, has agreed to donate 200 t-shirts to the
Track Club.
If you would like to contribute to the purchase of track shirts,
running shoes and socks for the children, please call InterVol at
(585) 922-5810 or visit our website at www.intervol.org.
Please indicate that your donation is for the Leogane Track
Club.
InterVol's work has focused on Leogane, a town located 18 miles
west of Port-au-Prince and even
closer to the epicenter of the earthquake. The quake resulted
in the destruction of 80-90% of the town's structures. As of
March 18th, the St. Croix Field
Hospital had registered over 15,000 patient visits and performed
more than 500 surgical procedures.
Since January 12, the entire
Rochester community has served as
the foundation of the support InterVol has been able to offer in
response to the earthquake. Constellation Brands provided
charter jet services for four trips to Haiti, RGHS contributed thousands of pounds of
medical supplies, local vendors donated food and other supplies,
and hundreds of volunteers gave their time to get the materials
ready to ship – with some even traveling to Haiti themselves. Other Rochester groups
such as The Pike Company, Ultrafab, The Rochester General
Physician's Organization, The Stonisch Foundation and many others
made generous financial gifts to purchase medical supplies and
equipment to bring to Leogane.
As InterVol works to sustain the field hospital and transition
the facility to Haitian administration, the organization is also
extending its efforts into the Leogane community. Volunteers
are providing support to the Lamb Center, a local orphanage
destroyed by the earthquake which housed, educated and fed 70
children.
About InterVol:
InterVol is a Rochester-based nonprofit whose volunteers'
actions impact our community, nation and the world. We are
dedicated to serving others through three programs: (1) Recovery of
Unused Medical Supplies, collecting supplies and equipment
throughout Western New York; (2)
Volunteer Medical Professionals, participate in mission trips to
Haiti and Belize working with the local healthcare
personnel and offer ongoing resources via telemedicine; (3) Friends
Across Borders, provides opportunities in service-learning and
civic engagement for local students.
For more information about InterVol visit
www.intervol.org.
About RGHS:
Rochester General Health System (RGHS) has been serving the
community of Greater Rochester and
beyond for more than 160 years. Rochester General Hospital,
the flagship of the system, is a 528-bed tertiary care facility
that treats more Monroe County
patients than any other hospital in the area. RGHS also
includes Newark-Wayne Community Hospital, a 120-bed facility
primarily serving Wayne County;
two long-term care facilities – Hill Haven and DeMay Living Center;
a Medical Group consisting of more than 40 practices spread
throughout Monroe and Wayne Counties; a Behavioral Health Network
that provides adult and pediatric care; and Independent Living for
Seniors (ILS), a program for seniors designed to enable the frail
elderly to live in their own home, served by a network of
supportive services. For more information about RGHS visit
www.rochestergeneral.org.
About Constellation Brands:
Constellation Brands is the world's leading wine company that
achieves success through an unmatched knowledge of wine consumers,
storied brands that suit varied lives and tastes and talented
employees world-wide. With a broad portfolio of widely admired
premium products across the wine, beer and spirits categories,
Constellation's brand portfolio includes Robert Mondavi, Hardys, Clos du Bois,
Blackstone, Arbor Mist, Estancia, Ravenswood, Jackson-Triggs,
Kim Crawford, Corona Extra, Black
Velvet Canadian Whisky and SVEDKA Vodka.
Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ and STZ.B; ASX: CBR) is an
S&P 500 Index and Fortune 1000® company with more than 100
total brands in our portfolio, sales in about 150 countries and
operations in approximately 45 facilities. The company believes
that industry leadership involves a commitment to our brands, to
the trade, to the land, to investors and to different people around
the world who turn to our products when celebrating big moments or
enjoying quiet ones. We express this commitment through our vision:
to elevate life with every glass raised. To learn more about
Constellation visit the company's web site at
www.cbrands.com.
SOURCE Constellation Brands