GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Months after a missing shipment of Haiti-bound relief supplies was discovered in south Florida, the shipyard where it still sits is refusing to release it.
That’s despite pleas from the Grand Rapids-based charity that shipped the container, which included $150,000 worth of medical and other supplies donated by more than a dozen West Michigan agencies.
“We need it to come here,” said Kim Sorrelle, executive director of Rays of Hope International, a charity that helps other agencies send relief around the world. “There are items that can be expired. A lot if it is medical supplies.”
Additionally, some of the charities that donated supplies for the shipment already sent replacements to Haiti and want to try to recoup some of their losses.
But River Terminal Services, the Miami shipyard that has the container, says the man who dropped it off there in 2013 is now telling them not to release it.
That man – Moise Garcon – managed Synergy Forwarding, the company Rays of Hope hired to ship the container. It was Rays first time using Synergy, which was recommended by a Haitian organization. But Synergy Forwarding went out of business, and the container never made it to Haiti.
“Every time I talked to (Garcon), every time I emailed, he’d say, ‘Oh, the container’s in Haiti,'” said Sorrelle. “It’s at the port. The problem is customs. The problem is not him.”
As Target 8 reported last month, it wasn’t until October 2015 that a man from Haitian Consulate in Chicago discovered the container at the Miami shipyard, where it had been delivered two years before.
Munir Mourra, who owns the shipyard where the container is located, says he can’t release the shipment without the approval of the man who delivered it, Garcon. Mourra told Miami’s NBC affiliate that Garcon claims Rays of Hope still owes him money. Therefore, he’s refusing to approve the container’s release.
“Wow. Wow,” Sorrelle said when Target 8 told her about Garcon’s claim. “That’s craziness. That’s craziness… We sent him so much money, as you know. Thousands of dollars, and he never shipped the container. For two years, he lied to us.”
Sorrelle says Rays of Hope paid Garcon nearly $20,000 to ship the container to Haiti.
“I don’t know how he can think we owe him any money when he never spent any money to ship the container,” said Sorrelle.
Target 8 has tried to reach Garcon for comment, but he has not responded to inquiries.
The shipyard told WTVJ in Miami that the case would probably end up in court. Sorrelle said Rays of Hope doesn’t have the money to hire an attorney for a court battle.
But the agency will not give up on its fight to get the container back.
“I know that there are people that get disheartened when things like this happen and they just want to pull out and say forget it,” Sorrelle said. “Please, please continue to help. Please. There’s so much good going on in Haiti, and so much need.”
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