EAGLE GROVE – GoServ Global, headquartered in Eagle Grove at 310 E. Broadway St., is seeking donations to help those who are suffering from the widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Matthew in Les Cayes, Haiti.

The storm swept through the southern part of the country Tuesday. More than 250 people have been killed by the storm, according to published news reports.

“The fact of the matter is people need the basics right now,” said Paul van Gorkom, executive director of GoServ Global. “People will start dying if we do not get supplies down there. That’s what we need right now.”

GoServ Global, a faith-based nonprofit organization, has built two villages, a school, medical and dental clinic, three orphanages, a widows and infants village, and two churches in Haiti, according to van Gorkom.

“The eye of the hurricane went just west of where our operations are,” van Gorkom said. “We took a direct hit. We are right on the southern coast.”

Eddie Constant, the organization’s Haitian director, reported wind gusts of 145 mph in that area.

GoServ is most commonly known for their Sukup Safe T Homes.

The homes are converted grain bins produced by Sukup Manufacturing Co., of Sheffield. They are designed to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes, van Gorkom said.

One of the villages where GoServ operates has 60 such homes. Another village has 18, van Gorkom reported.

He said those homes are sheltering hundreds of people after the storm knocked out a majority of other structures.

“I have been told that every single one of our safety homes survived this storm,” he said. “They are all standing.”

“In fact, in one village, all the homes were destroyed and people were making their way into the 18 safety homes that we had,” he added. “They were just crammed full of people. They sought shelter in our safety homes. So we are really happy that those homes did what they were designed to do.”

Still, van Gorkom reported significant property damage.

“There’s a lot of trees down,” he said. “The ones that are standing are snapped half way up. Buildings – anything that had a metal roof is pretty much gone and damaged. Our concrete structures withstood the storm, but anything above concrete was ripped up by the storms.”

GoServ, formerly known as Global Compassion Network, was started in 2011 by Iowans Ken DeYoung, of Laurens, and Rep. Terry Baxter, R-Garner, in response to the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti in 2010.

“We started as an organization to raise money to support orphans and things have just exploded ever since,” van Gorkom said.

GoServ employs five people at its Eagle Grove location. The organization relies heavily on volunteers and other groups for its projects.

GoServ has sent mission teams to India, Peru, and Guatemala, as well as in the United States.

In July, GoServ provided relief to homeowners in Eagle Grove after powerful storms hit the town.

“By 2 p.m. (July 17), we had a team here with skid loaders, dump trucks and chainsaw crews,” he said. “We spent five straight days from Sunday through Thursday helping out.”

“We were taking trees off houses, cleaning up yards,” van Gorkom said. “It was a mess here.”

Powerful straight-line winds reached speeds in excess of 70 mph during that storm.

Van Gorkom said the focus of the organization is those who need support the most.

“Our aim is the find the most vulnerable people,” he said.

He hopes Haiti is cleared up in about a month.

“We have a dental team that is supposed to be going down there at that time,” he said.

Financial help and making connections with major corporations are two areas in which GoServ could use help, according to van Gorkom.

“We need pallets of food, pallets of water, pallets of tarps, chainsaws – things like that,” he said. “We are just struggling a little bit to make contact with major corporations that might see this as something they would like to do.”

Business representatives who wish to help in that regard can call (515) 448-3131.

To donate to the Hurricane Matthew Relief Fund, go online at goservglobal.org/give.

Donations can also be sent to GoServ Global, P.O. Box 193, Eagle Grove, IA 50533. Use “Hurricane Relief” in the memo line.