Local Charity Works with CMH Physician to Bring Aid to Impoverished Haiti
Special to the Chronicle
In July, volunteers with Relief Share, a Citrus County-based charity, drove 500 lbs. of medical and first aid supplies and meal kits to South Florida for shipment to a clinic and orphanage in a remote part of Haiti. Dr. Linda Klumpp, internal medicine resident at Citrus Memorial Hospital, who has traveled to Bayonnais, Haiti on medical mission trips, worked with Relief Share, her fellow residents, and cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Peter Kim to collect the supplies, which also included dental health and personal hygiene kits.
Dr. Klumpp volunteers with International Christian Development Ministry (ICDM), which started the orphanage in Bayonnais, a region in the mountains with no electricity. She traveled to the area in 2018 for the grand opening of a medical clinic and has worked since then to get much-needed medical supplies to the area. A 30-year-old faith-based organization, ICDM (https://icdm.us/) works to help impoverished people become self-supporting and to educate and motivate children, youth and adults.
Since 2003, Relief Share (https://relief-shareflorida.org/) has processed and transported several million dollars’ worth of medical surplus donated by area healthcare facilities, which have been used to benefit hospitals and clinics serving some of the world’s most vulnerable children and families. Through its student service-learning arm, high school and college students earn service hours and receive mentoring from local medical professionals, including Dr. Klumpp. Students help to sort and inventory donated surplus, and spearheaded two projects – family first aid kits and meal kits – for communities in need.
Pictured, left, the ICDM health clinic in Bayonnais, Haiti, which opened in 2018. Below Dr. Klumpp with children and clinic volunteers with supplies collected and delivered by Relief Share for air transport to Haiti.
