July’s Man of the Month

We are proud to announce Nicholas Kreider as the first Evostyle Man of the Month. Nick is a good friend of ours who we joke is the second most interesting man in the world behind the dos equis man. In all reality there are very few people like Nick in this world who actually donate their time and even his vacation to help others. Nick recently returned from Haiti which 6 months after the earthquake is just the same as 6 days after. Hopefully reading Nick's recap of his nearly 2 weeks in Haiti will inspire you to do something more than just donate money.



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I have spent a fair amount of time trying to help others that are in need. I have worked domestically as well as abroad in places like Sri Lanka post tsunami, Kenya, India, and more. It was my profession a few years ago, however with two business degrees and the desire to start my own non-profit one day, I decided to shift my career to the for profit sector where I could earn more and subsequently save more to help others the way I wanted to. Once in a while I’ll get the urge to jump on a plane and seek out the latest disaster, because truth be told I’ve never felt more alive than when I’m helping someone else in their darkest of times. So when I was watching the news on January 12th and the damage was being reported of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti that urge rushed back to me like never before. I walked into my boss’s office and told her that I would be going to Haiti as soon as I can.



I understand the recovery process and its phases, so I wasn’t demanding that I leave right away. I knew the process was going to be slow and the need for experienced people would be longstanding. I also recognized that in my current situation I would have to take some vacation time in order to be satisfied with my contributions down there. Considering these factors I took my time and booked a flight for the end of April.



In Haiti, I lived in an IDP (internally displaced person) camp on a golf courses in Petionville, a very well-to-do area of Haiti. The golf course was a natural place to set up camp for several reasons. Firstly, it is where almost 65,000 survivors migrated right after the earthquake because there was nothing there that could fall on them. Secondly, the primary location was situated on a hillside so a base camp could easily be established in an elevated position. The camp was first managed by the UN, but soon after Sean Penn and his organization, J/P HRO, took the lead. We all slept in tents, including Sean, and we all had our responsibilities. Living in an IDP camp is the same as living in a village, it’s a community and anything can happen at any time. In terms of aid, while I was there the camp provided medical and psychological assistance, food, shelter, education and security- everything that was needed to set a strong foundation to rebuild.



On my own I was able to break away from the camp to explore the city - this took some skill as we were locked down on several ocassions due to kidnappings, shootings or disease outbreaks. I worked with Jon Rose, a professional surfer who, with his father, started a water purification organization – Waves For Water. We spent a day distributing water filtration systems that were so easy to use and honestly curing common illnesses caused by unsafe drinking water. I also stumbled onto an orphanage that was in desperate need of help. Within four days we were able to get them approximately $1,000 in food, mosquito nets for every child, and about $2,000 in basic medical supplies. The rest of my time was spent relocating families, food or shelter distributions, and working on odd projects throughout the Petionville Camp.



The experience was one I needed and one that I was familiar with…….. However, what I wasn’t prepared for was the amount of devastation this earthquake brought Haiti. As I mentioned before I’ve been in different parts of the world post-disaster and when you are in the middle of it, devastation looks, smells and feels the same. A dead child, a fatherless son, a destroyed house or a disrupted culture are the same no matter what caused the destruction or where. The difference for Haiti is the magnitude.


The area that this earthquake severely affected was populated by 3.5 million people, that is more than a third of Haiti’s population. The destruction is so widespread that it will take decades to rebuild. True casualty counts are unknown, many report a figure of 230,000 people dead, but I’ve heard numbers on the ground closer to 500,000. I think the most profound concept to understand is something I realized when seeing majority of the government buildings crumbled. And that is the earthquake occurred just before 5pm on a Tuesday, if you were motivated, educated enough to work you were most likely under a roof. The few universities in Haiti were having classes at this time and many of them crumbled. My point is that a large portion of the thought-leaders in this country are no longer alive. This concept along with the sheer devastation on both the infrastructure and people, the crony government, the uncertainty of the hurricane season and the lack of international attention all help to paint a horrific future for Haiti. With that said, the people of Haiti are resilient and there are several organizations and communities around the world that continue to support the rebuilding efforts. One can only hope that we, as an international community, do not miss the opportunity to build Haiti back better.



For more information you can email Nick at