Hendrick, Gibbs honored for Haiti relief efforts

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In the aftermath of the catastrophic, 7.0 earthquake in January which destroyed the capital of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, two renowned NASCAR teams shuttled relief workers and supplies into Haiti and transported evacuees, rotating workers and quake victims to the United States.

This week at their respective shops in North Carolina, Missionary Aviation Fellowship president John Boyd presented Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing with special service awards for their work in Haiti.

MAF's John Boyd addresses more than 550 employees of Hendrick Motorsports at a recent luncheon.

In the crucial days following one of the world's greatest disasters, the teams generously provided aircraft from their fleets. The Hendrick and Gibbs crews worked with Missionary Flights International and the MAF to shuttle planes between Fort Pierce, Fla., and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, enabling the rotation of high-impact volunteer medical teams and humanitarian workers. The planes also evacuated adopted orphans to their American homes. In addition, the aviation crews offered care, personal concern and warm fellowship to the MAF missionary pilots and ground workers as they toiled amid heat, chaos, suffering and death.

"With these awards, we at MAF want to express our sincere gratitude to Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing for their support of the MAF team in Haiti," Boyd said. "We honor two fine motorsports teams for their selfless actions, and for the special blessing they were to us during a very trying time."

Boyd also invited the two teams' aviation staffs to participate in one of the MAF advanced mountain training workshops at the ministry's headquarters in Nampa, Idaho.

MAF has served the missionary community and the people of Haiti since 1986. Eight MAF missionary families and seven Haitian staff members provide air service with three bush aircraft that fly to 16 remote airstrips from Port-au-Prince.

Within the first three months of its disaster relief efforts, MAF had partnered with dozens of relief agencies, including the United Nations. In addition to having coordinated the flights of 3,500 international passengers and 1.5 million pounds of cargo between Florida and Port-au-Prince, MAF logged 1,037 flights within Haiti, transported 1,801 relief workers, missionaries, patients and medical staff in and out of inland towns and villages urgently needing help, and delivered 315,498 pounds of urgent relief and medical cargo.

MAF continues its disaster response work in Haiti, having now shifted from the crisis-relief phase to a rebuilding stage that is expected to last several years.

Related:
• Hendrick transports precious cargo from Haiti | Video
• NASCAR Foundation gives $250K to Haiti relief effort