Ventura County Volunteers Pray for a Safe Sendoff to Haiti

About 17 of the delegation of 40 volunteers bound for Haiti gathered at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village Saturday morning at 8. They were joined by more than 70 friends, family and church members who stood silently, hands on one another's shoulders, and prayed that they remain safe and can do some good for the people of Haiti.

"May they receive peace and comfort in a time when there is no peace and there is no comfort," said Rev. Kirk DeWitt, Calvary's community-world pastor.

The 17 then boarded a bus donated by the United Methodist Church of Westlake Village and were driven to Los Angeles International Airport, where they met the rest of the volunteers going with this team.

The team was organized by the Transformational Development Agency, a global charity organization run by a Westlake Village couple, Ayaode Olatunbosun-Alakija and her husband Rikki Alakija.

Among the volunteers was Calabasas emergency room physician Dr. Jolie Pfahler, who hugged her eight-year-old twin boys and their 10-year-old sister.

"The longest I've ever been away from them is 36 hours," Pfahler said.

Pfahler said she's never done any sort of relief work in a third world country before, but she feels compelled to help because "God has given me the ability. I am blessed and I want to share that blessing."

The 40 volunteers loaded two charter jets with donated medical supplies. They will fly to Fort Pierce, Florida, Saturday. On Sunday one plane will complete the final leg of its journey to Port-au-Prince. Monday, the second plane will follow.

The group of volunteers will stay for a week, setting up a medical clinic in a children's home there. More waves of volunteers from the TDA and Calvary Church will follow over the next 18 months. We will receive regular updates and photos from the volunteers when they land in Haiti.