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Special to the Daily Journal/Messenger

Ernie Vaughn, his son, Adam, (left) of Six Mile work for Fibertech Corporation in Pendleton. They recently returned from Haiti, where they trained local workers in fiberglass technology.

SIX MILE — When you buy a hot dog, chips and drink at the Issaqueena Festival this Saturday you will be helping the people of Haiti.

Every penny that is made at the Six Mile Baptist Church Activities Center, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. will be used to help rural Haitians. Besides enjoying the food there will be handout information and a short slide show.

Ernie Vaughn, his son Adam, and Jim Swink, all Six Mile residents, returned in February from the small Haitian village of Cange. The purpose of the trip was to help local people continue having clean drinking water, improve sanitation conditions and start creating new jobs.

Ernie and Adam, of Fibertech Corporation in Pendleton, trained local Cange workers in fiberglass technology. This has never been done in the central plateau of Haiti. The goal is to start a fiberglass production business building fiberglass thrones or squat plates to be used in new Dry Latrines. Without improved latrines, fecal contamination will pollute the drinking water, which is a major cause of infant mortality and other diseases.

Over 78 percent of Haitians live on less than $2 a day and more than half live on less than $1 a day.

“We want to train local workers how to build a product that can help them make money plus help solve the terrible sanitation problems,” explained Ernie.