The first horrific images showed collapsed buildings and dust-caked rescuers pulling the trapped from the rubble.

Tod Landess knew he had to do something; this was, after all, his wife Yanick’s beloved homeland of Haiti, now devastated from a Jan. 12 earthquake.

“I was very concerned for my in-laws, and you can see the devastation and the hopelessness on TV. I was wondering if there was something I can do.”

That something turned out to be Koze Ayiti, a networking website that would help Haiti start to recover.

“When UM held a meeting for Haiti at the Knight Center, it just made sense to me, being that prior to the Haiti earthquake I was already involved with the Haitian community,” Landess said.

Landess, the co-founder of Koze Ayiti’s website, is a University of Miami alumnus and works at the University of Miami as the equipment manager of the university’s School   of Communication.

CYBER COMPASSION: Tod Landess, co-creator of the Koze Ayiti website, works with community groups such as Kombit for Haiti.

“I often find myself talking about the website. Just recently at a party my wife and I attended, my wife had to tell me to relax because I was talking about the website too much,” said Landess, who has spent the past 16 years working in South Florida’s  Haitian community.

“One of the things I found to keep essential was actually keeping the story of Haiti alive in the minds of the international audience – not just appearing in the news when there’s a disaster,” added co-founder Moses Shumow, who is finishing his doctorate in the UM School of Communication.

Both remain passionate about the website helping Haiti rebuild. Landess even passes out flyers to strangers to encourage them to volunteer.

“Tod Landess . . . first approached our club looking for volunteers for Koze Ayiti, so some of us actually decided to volunteer,” said UM’s Gustavo Lang, Jr., who now volunteers for the website

All the volunteers are united in starting conversations – and partnerships – that spark Haiti’s rebuilding.

The website lists, for example, a roundup of conferences and talks about Haiti’s future.

A volunteer recently interviewed Karl Jean-Louis, the project director for Haiti Aid Watchdog, about his efforts to make sure ordinary Haitians know where the money from non-government organizations is going to rebuild the devastated country.

The website uses both English and Creole. Much is on video to ensure that all Haitians – no matter if they are illiterate – will understand.

The website wants to make sure no story goes uncovered – and the articles get worldwide attention.

Kemy Joseph, a former president of UM’s Random Acts of Kindness, is helping make sure the website gets stories to publicize.

Joseph bought 11 Flip cameras from his own fundraisers and distributed eight in Port-au-Prince and three in Jacmel to help people report local stories that major broadcasts would not cover. The stories were then posted on the Koze Ayiti website.

“I raised the money by setting up a tent outside the (Otto G.) Richter Library at the University of Miami and sold personal belongings that I felt could help raise money for the Flip cameras which in total raised about $1, 500,” Joseph said.

The website wants to show how ordinary Haitians are rebuilding.

A video, using one of his Flip cameras, captures the frustration of Estervil Lérilus, who speaks in his native Creole. He complains how relief efforts have overlooked   many Haitians.

“Nobody came to visit us here; this area was not visited at all,” Lérilus said on the video.

Koze Ayiti volunteers such as Lang, a UM junior and president of RAK, a registered student organization at the University of Miami, want to keep expanding their work.

“This goes far beyond the campus,” Lang said. “We are always trying to get more volunteers.”

Grassroots organizations run by Haitian Americans are bringing their hearts along with seeds, tools and money to help their compatriots in Haiti six months after that country’s devastating earthquake.

These grassroots organizations, small compared with the huge international agencies there now – the United Nations, Food for the Poor, CARE, Save the Children — are striving to improve the quality of life for Haitians at the local level.

As thousands of people flee the cities directly hit, they are taking refuge with families and friends in rural areas, putting further stress on poor communities. Many farmers have had to use seeds put aside for next season’s planting as food. At the same time, more stress is being put on the environment as farmers cut down more trees for fuel.

These small Haitian organizations are trying to slow that trend, investing in food production, protecting the environment and providing credit to mom-and-pop businesses that do not get access to banks.  Unlike the big agencies, they have to struggle for funds as countries and donors focus on the organizations that are familiar to them. That leaves a huge gap that the smaller organizations try to fill.

The Lambi Fund of Haiti provides Haitians with money, tools and skills to support themselves. Lambi Fund staff and volunteers also dedicate time, often years, to teach the people how to operate certain tools, how to grow crops effectively and how to function after the organization packs up and leaves.

CULTURAL PRIDE: Leonie Hermantin, deputy director of The Lambi Fund, says rebuilding Haiti is a personal mission.

Leonie Hermantin serves as deputy director of The Lambi Fund, which is based in Washington, D.C., and invests in agricultural projects. Since the earthquake, Hermantin has made several trips between Haiti and her home in South Florida, visiting projects in rural areas outside Port-au-Prince, where the organization operates and where most of Haiti’s people live.

“To them [Haitians], education is the key to everything,” said Hermantin, who has worked for many years with social service programs and agencies in the Little Haiti community of Miami.  “They just don’t have the resources.”

Like other grassroots organizations, Lambi is working with several partners, including The SG Foundation, an organization that provides relief grants to “the poorest of the poor to help themselves.”  SG has promised to match every dollar donated to Lambi, up to $20,000.

Grassroots organizations have also influenced residents of South Florida to get more involved with the Haitian relief efforts.

The Lambi Fund, Hermantin said, has “given me something that no one can take away from me – the challenge to make me give to Haiti and be proud of my culture.”

Fonkoze, yet another grassroots organization, is considered “Haiti’s Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor,” teaching low-income women how to borrow, handle and make money.

Fonkoze teaches women about a four-step staircase out of poverty. The steps range from Chemen Lavi Miyò, or Road to a Better Life, which simply gives the women of Haiti the mindset that they can better themselves and their families.

The last step, “Business Development,” gives the participants a chance to take out long-term loans. The staircase gives the rural market women of Haiti, the ti machann, a chance to set a long-term goal and the ability to improve themselves in an economy whose population primarily survives on less than two dollars a day.

“They [Haitians] are constantly struggling against forces and trying to overcome them any way they can,” said Lyla Leigh, Fonkoze administrator.

Operation Green Leaves is a South Florida-based grassroots organization that works with Haitians in rural and urban areas to improve the environment.

For the past two decades, the organization has been working to slow and reverse the ecological damage caused by harvesting trees to produce charcoal.  The organization believes that re-planting the once green hills will stop flash floods and mudslides that occur during torrential storms.

The organization raised funds through memberships and private foundations to set up an environmental center, Arcahaie, about 45 miles outside of Port-au-Prince.

They are also working on setting up a model city with sustainable plant nurseries.

“My ultimate goal is to see Haiti green where the environment and the standard of living can be much better,” said Nadine Patrice, Green Leaves’ founder and president. “Sometimes the resources are there, but the will is not there. Most of the funding goes to the bigger organizations.’’

In addition to its work with reforestation, Operation Green Leaves has been encouraging Haitians to use alternative cooking methods, and educating them about the causes behind deforestation.

Since the quake, Operation Green Leaves also has partnered with several environmental organizations to help rebuild schools and provide school supplies to students.

Michael Lubin is just 24, but when the Haitian earthquake killed many of his family, the North Miami resident began caring long-distance for 25 children.

In Fort Pierce, the Rev. Marie Bernadette Etienne has faced the same daunting challenges after losing 26 relatives. She has sold her personal possessions to help out.

Hundreds of thousands of Haitian Americans are sacrificing to help their families and other victims from the Jan. 12 earthquake. They are stretched thin as they send money home – precious dollars they can ill afford. Still, they give. They say there is no alternative.

Lubin, for instance, is looking for a second job so he can send more money home. At least for now, he has given up saving money so he can go to school to become an electrician.

“I had about $7,000 saved and now I practically have nothing,” he said.

Instead, he is concentrating on helping his family, which now consists mostly of children.

“When I was coming to the United States, I promised them I wouldn’t forget them,” said Lubin, who emigrated from Haiti when he was 16. “I dedicate my life to them.”

His mother is concerned that he is spending too much on the kids instead of worrying about his future. Lubin says that he prefers to help the children rather than have the money for himself.

“She wants me to worry about my life instead of taking care of those kids,” Lubin said. “What is the point of saving the money when all these people need help?”

Immediately after he heard of the earthquake, he traveled to Haiti. There, he saw children left homeless and orphaned while hordes of hungry people searched for food.

“I won’t let that happen to my family,” he said.

Damage from the earthquake forced his extended family to move from a ravaged Port-au-Prince back to their unaffected hometown of La-Tortue, an island off the northwest coast of the country. There, the family owned a three-bedroom house that 40 now call home.

“You had to see how hard it was to cook with over 40 people living in the same house,” Lubin said.

FAMILY SUPPORT: Michael Lubin, inside the store in North Miami, where he works extra hours to help support family members, mostly children, back home in Haiti.

He knows what it is like to be abandoned. He was left by his mother when he was only 6 months old. His 10-year-old sister cared for him. Lubin won’t let his young cousins and other relatives be left destitute.

“We dedicate our lives to take care of each other,” Lubin said.

A strong believer, Lubin said that he has no doubt that God gave him the chance to be in a better position to help his family. He is even helping his mother who reappeared in his life one year before he came to the United States. Now disabled, she lives in Miami with Lubin.

“Everything that happens in life happens for a reason,” he said. “I just thank God for the opportunity of having a job.”

Up north in Fort Pierce, Etienne is also helping out.

She said she has sold all her personal possessions to help Haitians suffering after the earthquake.

“Until I do something I won’t be able to sleep,” Etienne said.

Until last year, she went to orphanages in Haiti each Christmas to give toys to children. In December, though, her doctor ordered her not to go because at the time she was blinded by cataracts. Since then, her condition has improved with surgery.

Her 65-year-old sister took her place on last year’s Christmas sojourn, along with her three children and a grandchild.

They still were in Haiti when the earthquake hit. They were killed along with the rest of her family.

Now her deep grief compels her to dedicate her life to helping the destitute in Haiti.

“I truly know that God put me on this earth to do good things and to serve my community,” she said.

Even though selling everything was hard, Etienne does not regret her decision.

“I was happy to do it and I am still happy,” Etienne said. “I forget myself to help others.”

Thierry Pierre-Charles is grateful that Etienne and others are helping Haitians. He is now in South Florida because of the kindness of others.

A family friend took the 16 year-old in while his parents remained in Haiti after the earthquake.

“Haitian parents, despite all the things going on, don’t want to leave Haiti,” he said, adding, “It was unexpected. One day you’re sitting down (and) living your life and the next you’re leaving your family.”

Though leaving Haiti was difficult, he now has decided he doesn’t want to go back.

“There’s no future in Haiti,” he said. “It’s an improvement coming to America.”

He is going to school and feels safer in South Florida. He is grateful for the family friend taking him in.

“I feel as much at home with her as I did living in my own house in Haiti,” Pierre-Charles said.

Pierre-Charles is grateful, though he knows that people like Etienne and Lubin don’t have vast resources.

“Those kids love me,” Lubin said. “I don’t have much to offer but the little that I have I use to help.”