The Lawton (Oklahoma) Constitution recently reported on Patty Hutton, a young lady from the area now serving with Samaritan’s Purse in Haiti. Read excerpts from the story below.

Patty Hutton (right, above) knew she was in for an experience like no other when she first stepped off the plane.

“It was very intense,” she told The Constitution. “I've lived in Africa, and I've seen poverty. I've seen the sickness and things people shouldn't have to go through. This is the first time I've ever seen devastation where entire buildings were knocked down and are now rubble.”

She immediately wanted to help when she first saw the damage from the Jan. 12 earthquake on the news. She had worked with Samaritan’s Purse in Africa, and contacted the ministry to see if she could do something. Three weeks later, she was in Haiti helping build shelters and organize relief for the more than one million homeless.

“It was overwhelming at first, because I had to tell these people that we could only move so fast,” Hutton said. “It was definitely a relief to be working so much to do what we could. When you see the devastation like that, even the little things you can do are helpful.”

She has helped build more than 7,500 shelters for the homeless. Hutton said perhaps the hardest part is not being able to help everyone, but if she gets too dejecte, she looks around at what has been done since she arrived.

“People say Haiti is the hardest place to work,” she said. “But when you look back and see all the rubble that was there then, and it’s not now, it helps. It takes a second to think back on what it was like before we arrived, and what it is now. You need to see the progress to endure it. It gets hard, but that helps.”

Samaritan's Purse , Seeing Progress in Haiti

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