SandRidge brings food, hope to Haitian community

But it wasn't the damage that left Decker dabbing at his eyes. In 2011, he and some colleagues from SandRidge Energy journeyed to Haiti to support rebuilding efforts. They went to Frettas, a valley community along the Montrouis River on the country's west coast.

“The first day that our employees got to go there, the community came out for a celebration at the church,” recalled Decker, 49, SandRidge's director of community relations. “All the students came out and were dressed in their finest clothes. … One by one a line of mothers and women in the community came down the main aisle of the church and began to place gifts there for all of us who'd come to help.

“There were coconuts and all sorts of different fruit and food. There was actually a live chicken. To see a people so appreciative that they'll give what little they have really moved all of us. There wasn't a dry eye in the place.”

Decker recently returned from his second visit to Frettas. He and four other SandRidge employees spent Nov. 8-13 in Haiti.

In all, about 20 SandRidge employees have volunteered in Haiti since summer 2011, when the company organized a way for them to help, said Greg Dewey, 41, vice president of communication and community relations. Additional trips are expected next year and on into the future.

Participants pay their own way, Dewey said, but the company allows them to volunteer without losing any of their vacation time. SandRidge adopted Frettas.

“The goal is to help meet basic needs: food, education,” he said. “Ultimately there may be opportunities to provide them with clean drinking water.”

Tom Ward, SandRidge's chief executive officer, “encourages people to participate because he knows we'll be better employees when we help other people,” Dewey said. “When we see how positive we have it here, we become even better people ourselves.”

Life in Frettas is primitive by most standards.

“The homes are scattered,” Stewart said. “There are a number of homes in the village and a school where the students attend. There's no electricity. No indoor plumbing or clean water in these areas. There are concrete structures, just four walls, that a whole family lives in. … Most of them are single rooms. All of the windows are completely open (holes) to allow for ventilation. It was probably 80 degrees while we were there, and it gets hotter in the summer.”