When the January 12th Haitian earthquake occurred, Virginia entrepreneur Allan Harvie was a year into planning a new professional lacrosse league. Living in one of American lacrosse's largest hotbeds, Harvie, the former owner of the Richmond (VA) Renegades of the Southern Professional Hockey League, saw lacrosse as what would define the next steps in his career.
Then he saw media reports of the Haitian earthquake's destruction, and was moved to place his plans for the league temporarily on hold.
"Usually I just would write a check to help a charity, but I was moved to do more," said Harvie in an interview on Wednesday. "I had spent nine years as a physician's assistant in the Air Force, and I knew I could use that knowledge to help on the ground."
Within days of the earthquake, Harvie found himself in Port-au-Prince for what would be the first of his many trips to Haiti in 2010.
"I got a bunch of people together with similar backgrounds, and in six days, we were down there," explained Harvie. "We spent two weeks down there helping, came back to Virginia, tried to raise enough funds to go back and bring aid, and were able to go back only two weeks after that."
To help with fundraising and coordinate his relief efforts, Harvie founded virginians4haiti. They began to find qualified volunteers throughout Virginia who wanted to pay their own way to go to Haiti and assist in relief efforts.
Soon, Harvie's group became involved with saving a town outside of Port-au-Prince that was falling under the radar of other aid groups.
"We found families in a dangerous low lying area. The school and medical center were destroyed. I worked with the government officials to find a more secure piece of land to move the 8,000 people to on higher ground, but the move will cost $7 million."
Once he targeted this area of high need, Harvie's group came back to find an American public whose attention had turned away from Haiti. "Once a tragedy leaves the front pages of the newspaper, people think everything is okay, and it's not. Fundraising became difficult."
That is when Harvie turned back to his plan for the lacrosse league. "I thought there might be a way to fuel bother passions that I have: sports and helping Haiti."
Harvie announced his new Arena Lacrosse League at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon in Richmond. The league will start play in February 2011, and will have teams in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. All league profits will be given towards virginians4haiti, including the entire village Harvie is trying to rebuild.
"If we are good stewards, and run our business well, I hope we will have profits to help significantly," wished Harvie.
Harvie doesn't wish to compete with the National Lacrosse League, who currently is absent in the Maryland and Virginia area, and have stated that they will not be expanding in the coming season. On his to-do list includes a call to the NLL, to see how the two leagues might collaborate.
Tuesday's announcement has fueled the interest of many. Harvie was entertaining interest from cities he hadn't initially targeted the day after his press conference.
"It's still early, but the response thus far has been very positive," he boasted. "From the comments on my Facebook page, to my emails, to the media reaction, it's all been very supportive."
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