{"id":1311708,"date":"2019-06-22T19:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T01:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/parker-column-wings-still-flying-over-haiti\/"},"modified":"2019-06-22T19:40:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T01:40:00","slug":"parker-column-wings-still-flying-over-haiti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/parker-column-wings-still-flying-over-haiti\/","title":{"rendered":"Parker column: Wings still flying over Haiti"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. \u2014 Jonathan Nash Glynn \u2014 artist, pilot and philanthropist \u2014 never envisioned himself as a missionary, but, absent religion, that\u2019s what he has become in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a secular Jew from Jersey,\u201d he laughs, as we catch up by phone on the past eight years. \u201cYou don\u2019t see many of those down there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDown there\u201d is Haiti, where Glynn is building his second school for children who have nothing. He is probably as unlikely as anyone to be a builder of schools, but in 2010, he had one of those Road to Damascus moments (if I may) as he and his dachshund, Lily, were flying toward Miami for a family visit.<\/p>\n

Partway there, he heard of the 7.0 earthquake that had all but destroyed Haiti and decided to change course. Briefly stopping in Miami to drop off Lily, Glynn filled his single-engine Cessna with medical supplies and headed into the heart of darkest despair.<\/p>\n

\u201cI come from a family of doctors, so it was natural for me to take medical supplies,\u201d he explains. Once there, however, Glynn was overwhelmed by the raw human horror \u2014 limbs being amputated with construction saws \u2014 and the immeasurable need. Because of his small plane, Glynn was able to more easily reach people in places that larger planes couldn\u2019t. For about 19 days, he ferried doctors and supplies in and out of Haiti.<\/p>\n

Amid the maelstrom, he wondered what more he could do. But, how do you salvage civilization from scraps of debris and people immobilized by pain and hunger? How do you create a future from an apocalyptic past? Glynn says he knew he couldn\u2019t save Haiti, but he thought he might be able to save one child.<\/p>\n

He would build a school.<\/p>\n

Within three months of the devastating temblor, the first classroom of what is today the Heart School in Port-au-Prince opened to about 25 children. Adding one classroom each year since, the school now boasts 178 students and 25 faculty members. At the current pace, the first graduates should receive their diplomas in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re going to go to college,\u201d says Glynn, with a mixture of pride and awe.<\/p>\n

I previously wrote about Glynn in March 2011 after a chance meeting in Sag Harbor, New York, where he told me of his mission. When I recently received an email about an art auction to raise money for a second school, I decided to give him a call.<\/p>\n

My first question: How do you keep going?<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t hesitate: \u201cI live in a beautiful place and I have wonderful friends. But the real world doesn\u2019t make sense unless I have my finger in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he concedes that sometimes he falters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hot, it\u2019s difficult and it\u2019s not safe \u2014 and I\u2019m getting older,\u201d said the 67-year-old, half seriously. He jokes that when he dies, his body will have to be reduced to some sort of molten material thanks to all his replacement parts.<\/p>\n

If Port-au-Prince posed dangers from vandals and thieves, his new venture is challenging in other ways. Remotely located in the mountains, the town of Ranquitte can\u2019t be reached by road once the rainy season begins. Whatever the season \u2014 and because there are no overnight accommodations \u2014 Glynn has to fly in and out the same day, his tarmac a stretch of grass. The closest school is 30 miles away.<\/p>\n

After three years in Ranquitte, using land donated by a local woman, Glynn and his team have produced four classrooms scheduled to open for school in September. That\u2019s when Glynn reaps his reward \u2014 the beaming faces of children in clean, blue uniforms who can\u2019t wait to get to their school, to hold a book and, best of all, to eat two meals \u2014 all at a cost of just $1.50 per day per child. The school also provides free medical care.<\/p>\n

The un-fun part of Glynn\u2019s nonprofit work is fundraising, hence the upcoming art auction. Glynn has collected a few big-name supporters, including Donna Karan, and hopes that others will lend their support.<\/p>\n

Today must seem a century and a dream ago since that solo flight Glynn and the late Lily took in 2010. How, I ask, did a painter and sculptor know how to do all of that?<\/p>\n

\u201cBy making a million mistakes,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s all sort of a miracle, if you want to know the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kathleen Parker\u2019s email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. \u2014 Jonathan Nash Glynn \u2014 artist, pilot and philanthropist \u2014 never envisioned himself as a missionary, but, absent religion, that\u2019s what he has become in recent years. \u201cI\u2019m a secular Jew from Jersey,\u201d he laughs, as we catch up by phone on the past eight years. \u201cYou don\u2019t see many of those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1311708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 13:25:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}