Cardwell's syndicated radio broadcast, "People Helping People," has been on the air since 2005 on behalf of victims of natural disasters. Cardwell is out to marshal help not from the big-name nongovernmental organizations, but from local benevolent associations, health workers and other helping professions.
Each Thursday at 9 a.m., Cardwell invites local guests to join him, and the resulting shows are aired Saturday mornings on several central Indiana stations. For the last two weeks, efforts like his directly connect local communities to the specific needs of Haitians, in a way that national appeals cannot.
AJ Mast for AOL
From left, host Jeff Cardwell interviews guests Frank Williams of Sunbouloi Ministries and Shane Whybrew and Bruce Geoffrion of FAME from his hardware store studio.
Cardwell's experience as a first responder to natural disasters dates back to volunteer work he did after two major earthquakes struck El Salvador in early 2001, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving more than a million homeless. The devastation and the resilience of the people so affected him, Cardwell said, that he vowed to get immediately involved with global disaster relief in a big way.
A couple of months after returning to Indiana, Cardwell made good on that goal. He and four other men founded a nonprofit organization, World In Need, specifically to raise funds for natural disaster relief. Through World In Need, Cardwell's passion for networking resulted in gathering $2 million in emergency relief supplies for El Salvador's earthquake victims.
Nearly a year later, still mulling over the goal to bring volunteers and organizations together in a fast, global manner in times of crisis, Cardwell eyed the back aisle of his store for something other than hardware displays.
Cardwell started his own radio broadcast, People Helping People, in a small space behind the shelves lined with tools and building materials. Every week, he invited various guests to introduce their agencies and build relationships with listeners.
When Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans in August 2005, Cardwell's radio idea was put to the test. Networking weekly on the air with various Indiana-based agencies and big-hearted Hoosiers resulted in 2 million pounds of donated relief items. A team of volunteers hauled the supplies to Louisiana.
And now comes Haiti, a tragedy that dwarfs both those disasters in terms of deadly impact, with "nearly 170,000" dead, according to an estimate of President René Préval. Cardwell is again rallying Indiana do-gooders in fast, impressive numbers. "We have to establish communication quickly with people on the ground," Cardwell said
His guests today were from the Indianapolis organization FAME, which practices what it calls "medical evangelism."
FAME has been active in Haiti for 35 years, providing clinics and hospitals, medical staff and medical supplies, said Shane Whybrew, director of development for the nonprofit organization.
"We are not first responders," Whybrew said. "We don't fancy ourselves as first relief. FAME is a medical mission. We will go in and help for the long haul – for the next one to three years."
Securing accurate information is key to launching a solid relief plan, Whybrew said. He has received on-the-ground reports, he said, that "cranes used to offload sea containers were toppled in the quake, so there's a backlog at the port."
As a result, FAME has delayed the shipment of its sea containers filled with supplies until further notice. In the meantime, Whybrew drums up funds as a guest on Cardwell's radio show.
Cardwell plans to be one of several Hoosier volunteers to go to Haiti in March to build clinics in Port-au-Prince.
Cardwell says he is also calling on churches across the United States to make commitments to provide relief to Haiti.
"There are 400,000 churches in America," Cardwell said. "We're asking every church to sponsor the construction of at least one house as we go in and rebuild a nation."
