FORT LEE, Va. (Feb. 11, 2010) -- Fort Lee community members aren't leaving the humanitarian relief to the Soldiers recently deployed to help support Joint Task Force-Haiti.

They have their own ideas of how to help the thousands of devastated Haitian people and they've got an experienced coordinator on their team.

Deb Green has organized other efforts for disasters including Hurricane Katrina and non-disaster efforts. She's well-schooled in how to bring all the moving parts of a relief effort together.

After the earthquake struck the tiny Caribbean country and the news was saturated with reports of the devastation, Green, like many Americans, knew she had to do something. After a few sleepless nights spent wrestling with the responsibility of assuming a task such as this and the current demands on her time, she decided to jump in with both feet and hit the ground running.

From past experiences Green knew that once she got the ball rolling there would be more people dedicated to helping to keep it rolling.

"People want to help, but they don't always know what or how or where to send items," Green said. "Basically what I have done is to provide that for them."

Green's religious denomination, the Church of the Nazarene, operates a world-wide compassionate ministry that provided transportation for donated items from the United States to Haiti for distribution.

Since she had a way to get any items donated across the ocean, the next step was cold-calling trucking companies to find a way to get the items from the greater Richmond area to Norfolk, where they would be shipped to the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries' Theological Seminary in Haiti. The seminary has suspended spring classes to house over 300 displaced victims of the massive quake and act as a distribution center.

Green enlisted the help of her husband Chaplain (Maj.) David Green, U.S. Army Quartermaster School chaplain, and soon the Fort Lee Chapel Community and Fort Lee Garrison joined the movement. Once Green had a green light, she moved ahead with her plans.

Three local residential moving companies, including the Richmond- based Kloke Group, agreed to donate trucks to help move the merchandise. The Fort Lee Commissary and Army and Air Force Exchange Service offered to put a truck in the parking lots.