On January 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake—the worst natural disaster to hit the Western Hemisphere in two centuries—struck Haiti, killing approximately 300,000 people and leaving as many as one million homeless. Within 48 hours, AJWS sent funding to our grantees in the region who were providing aid on the ground—distributing food, water purification systems, temporary shelter and medicine. These grassroots groups were among the first responders to the earthquake, and in some cases have provided the only help that people in outlying towns have received at all.