Hawaii resident Deborah Quigley is headed to Haiti for a week, her second trip in eight days, to bring medical supplies to earthquake victims.

Quigley, 55, a recently retired United Airlines customer service representative, has been volunteering for years on missions around the world with Airline Ambassadors International.

She said she was struck not only by the death and devastation she saw in Haiti, but by the gratitude and grace of the people whose bodies and lives have been broken by the disaster.

Quigley said she was particularly touched by a man, whose wife and 5-year-old daughter were killed in the quake, at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince.

Ernst Leo was at the hospital with his only surviving family member, his 7-year-old daughter, Christine, who lost part of her right arm.

After chatting with him for a bit, “;he was thanking me for coming and appreciated us for coming,”; Quigley said.

After telling him that her husband wasn't really excited about her going to Haiti since he thought it was dangerous, Leo said, “;You mean you sacrificed your marriage to come and help me and our people?”;

“;I said, 'I hope not, but possibly,' and we continued to chat and then I left,”; she said.

Leo came to her a few minutes later with a handwritten letter addressed to her husband, thanking him for allowing his wife to help.

Quigley receives as much as she gives from her volunteerism.

“;It's been my salvation,”; she said. “;I can't get enough.”;

It's given her “;a really important purpose in life,”; she explained.

“;To see this man holding a letter to my husband—that is worth a million dollars,”; Quigley said.

She remarked how “;50 percent of the Haitian people are either missing a hand, a foot, an arm or a leg.”;

“;These people's lives are already tough,”; Quigley said. “;It's the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.”;

Quigley flew in to Port-au-Prince on Jan. 20. Along with other volunteers, she delivered to the hospital IV fluid and tubing, syringes, ibuprofen, sterile wipes, sodium chloride, casting supplies to set bones and other medical supplies.

She said there was no water, so hospital personnel substituted IV fluid for water.

She wondered how the people could survive because the volunteers “;never stopped drinking water”; due to the heat, and “;you felt bad for eating anything,”; she said.

On her return trip last week, Quigley escorted four documented, pre-earthquake Haitian orphans to their adoptive American parents, who met them in Chicago.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials boarded the plane a half-hour before departure asking who the Airline Ambassadors representative was, and asked her whether she would take responsibility for them, to which she agreed.

Quigley's voice was filled with joy as she named them: Bernardin, 17, “;an eloquent, bright 11th-grader,”; the eldest of six, who was going to Spokane, Wash.; a set of 18-month-old twin girls, Francline and Frantzie, heading for Minneapolis; and 11-month-old Darjeau, a boy who was going to Denver.

Airline Ambassadors, started by a flight attendant, is appealing to members to work in Haiti for one- to two-week intervals for the next two years. Members use their travel benefit to hand-deliver and distribute aid.

The group has flown in more than 160 doctors and nurses, among them 60 Haitian-Americans, to Haiti after the quake.

For more information, go to www.airlineamb.org.