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WACONIA, Minn. (DTN) -- On Thursday morning, if you knew what to look for, you could track pilot Jon Fussle's flight from Port-au-Prince International Airport to Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He landed shortly after noon, CST, marking the end of his fourth roundtrip flight to Haiti with supplies and medical personnel in the Silveus Insurance Group's corporate plane -- a 1977 Piper Saratoga. Meanwhile, Tyler Silveus, vice-president of the Warsaw, Ind.-based crop insurance company, was pricing charter flights for cargo planes. From what he can tell, it'll cost between $30,000 and $80,000. "But we need to move in some big equipment -- generators, tents -- things we simply can't carry in on our plane; so we're going to have to pay the dollars to get it down there, so we can start providing shelter," he said. The agriculture industry has been pledging funds and support to disaster relief efforts in Haiti: Mosaic pledged $125,000, each, to the American Red Cross, the Canadian Red Cross, the International Red Cross and the American Refugee Committee. The peanut industry collected more than $100,000 in donations and shipped four truckloads of peanut butter. The Dairy Farmers of America is donating more than 4,500 cases of Sport Shake and a monetary contribution as well. Even the virtual farmers over at Farmville on Facebook have contributed more than $1 million to the UN World Food Program. (See sidebar below for a partial list of agricultural donors to Haiti relief effort). That's just the beginning. People are doing what they can to help. That's how the Silveus Group's plane, which is owned in partnership with another Warsaw local man, ended up en route to Haiti. Tyler Silveus and his family grew up next door to Frank Courtois, who moved to the United States from Haiti in 1985. After January 12's earthquake, Courtois wasn't able to contact his brothers and sisters still living there. Silveus' pilot, Fussle, knew a family with connections to a missionary in Carrefour, a suburb about 10 miles southwest of the airport in Port-au-Prince. Courtois and that family wanted to go down, Silveus said, "so we just loaded them up in the plane and sent them off. That was last Friday." Since then, Silveus has coordinated supplies and volunteers with two churches in New York and Pennsylvania at a base in Fort Lauderdale. Fussle has flown down doctors, nurses and medical supplies. The group of medical personnel has set up camp in Correfour where the missionary's house stood and has been doing medical and clean-up work. DIFFICULT LOGISTICS IN HAITI While the airport in Port-au-Prince is a "well-oiled machine," logistics are difficult. "It's just a matter of getting roads cleared, getting vehicles in to get (the supplies) out and, obviously, the closer you are to the airport, the better off you are initially," Silveus said. He said his medical group is about 10 miles away from the airport and they haven't seen any military, Red Cross or UN help there yet. The only support they're getting is what can be trucked in from a mission in Jeremie, about 150 miles away, or flown in from the group's base in Fort Lauderdale, he said. The group doesn't have a designated vehicle, so they barter with food and medicine to use one of the neighbor's vehicles to pick up supplies at the airport. "Frank told me last night that everything you're seeing good on the news isn't happening here," said Silveus. There have been some bright spots, though. "Two doctors from Phoenix showed up in the neighborhood, and they're treating about 75 to 100 people right now with the medical supplies we had in there. "We had gotten a lot of medical supplies in that really were only going to be useful to a MD or a trauma surgeon -- a lot of sterile surgery packs and tools, for example, self-contained staple guns to staple up wounds and all sorts of stuff like that that the nurses ... aren't schooled in how to use," Silveus said. MORPHINE NEEDED One doctor in the neighborhood requested a reciprocating saw and battery pack for amputations. But now they need morphine. "I've been told there are people just sitting with terrible breaks and infections and ... if we didn't get some way to get those limbs amputated, they were just going to die," Silveus said. "They're amputating right now on about 10 minutes of general anesthesia," he said. "The doctor that we're supposed to be flying in today is supposed to have, I believe, about 40 vials of morphine. So, that would just be a tremendous help." Silveus Insurance Group is working on a coordinated long-term effort in partnership with the Warsaw-based World Compassion Network. But for now, Silveus said they're committed to keeping the operation in Florida running until there's an easier way to provide assistance. "Unless you're military or government, there's no way to get into that country unless someone with a private plane is willing to get you (there). As long as that's the case, we're going to keep doing what we're doing," he said. "We're thrilled that we can help in any way at all, even if it's just a little bit with a few people. It's well worth it." Susanne Stahl can be reached at susanne.stahl@telventdtn.com ------------ There are many agricultural businesses, groups and advocates that have contributed relief aid in various ways to Haiti. Included below are just some examples. -- American Veterinarian Medical Association and American Veterinarian Medical Foundation joined the Animal Relief Coalition of Haiti and will provide monetary donations to care for Haiti's livestock. -- Archer Daniels Midland will donate 700 tonnes of rice, or 12 million servings, to Friends of the World Food Program and will also match donations made by its employees to the American Red Cross International Response Fund. -- Cargill is donating $50,000 to CARE and the World Food Programme as well as packaging 50,000 meals over the next month for earthquake survivors. -- Caterpillar is donating $200,000 to International Red Cross and Red Crescent relief efforts and are matching employee, retiree and dealer donations up to $100,000. -- ConAgra Foods Foundation is donating $100,000 to the International Red Cross Relief Fund for Haiti. -- Dairy Farmers of America donated 4,500 cases of Sport Shake to relief efforts through Convoy of Hope. -- Dow Chemical Company is giving $500,000 to the American Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund and matching employee donations up to $250,000 to benefit the World Food Programme and CARE. -- DuPont donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief & Development Fund. -- General Mills gave $250,000: $100,000 to the American Red Cross International Relief Fund and $150,000 to CARE. -- Hormel Foods is matching employee donations up to $25,000 with donations going to the Red Cross. -- John Deere Foundation has given $250,000 toward aid recovery efforts in Haiti. -- Kellogg Company gave $250,000 to the American Red Cross. -- Kraft Foods gave $25,000 to the American Red Cross. -- McDonald's Corp., will donate $500,000 to the Red Cross. Arcos Dorados, a McDonalds franchisee who operates 1,700 restaurants in Latin America, will also donate $500,000. His restaurants will also donate 50 cents from each Big Mac sold. -- Monsanto donated $50,000 to the Red Cross. -- Mosaic donated a total of $500,000, giving $125,000 each to the American Red Cross, the Canadian Red Cross and the American Refugee Committee. -- National Milk Producer Federation and Cooperatives Working Together donated $100,000 to the Red Cross. -- Tyson Fresh Meats is matching employee donations up to $100,000 and will donate that to the Salvation Army. For a more complete list of agricultural and other donors, see the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website: The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also has a thorough list: http://ocha.unog.ch/… (ES/KM)

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