UPDATE, 3/25/24: The last two people in Doodle Cinotti’s group got out of Haiti around 5 p.m. Sunday, her husband Mike said. Cinotti was leaving San Domingo on Monday and is set to get to Orlando around 3:30 p.m. after her flight was delayed.
Original story from 3/24/24 below:
Some locals are closer to coming home after getting stuck in Haiti when violence erupted almost a month ago.
Miriam Cinotti – better known as Doodle – is the owner of Cinotti’s Bakery in Jacksonville Beach. She along with several others traveled to Haiti to do missionary work.
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“It’s not easy,” Cinotti said. “It’s very, very hard. It’s very difficult.”
Getting home has been a challenge. After about two weeks, Cinotti said she finally got out of Haiti. Project Dynamo helped her and another team member get to the Dominican Republic last weekend.
RELATED: Jacksonville bakery owner stuck in Haiti with unknown number of Americans after gangs close airport
“Even though we have the basic necessities, the air conditioner, the food, we still feel trapped here,” Cinotti said.
As of Sunday, she is still waiting for two more team members to join her before she heads home.
“Ms. Lin and I are not leaving until Barry and Natalie are out of Haiti,” Cinotti said. “We’re not leaving them behind.”
RELATED: Rescue effort hits snags while governor promises more migrant flights for Haitians fleeing to FL
Cinotti has been in touch with federal agencies and several local politicians including Congressman Aaron Bean. His office has contacted Cinotti directly.
“It’s heart-wrenching because the world doesn’t value life like we do here in America,” Bean said. So, it’s of the utmost importance that we get them home quickly and safely. Hopefully, that’ll happen very shortly.”
Cinotti said Easter is one of the busiest seasons at Cinotti’s Bakery, so she is hoping she and her team can make it back before the business rush.
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Luckily, others in Doodle’s missionary group are safe. Jill Dolan and her family had been trying to leave the country since February 29.
“We’re scared,” Dolan told Action News Jax’s Annette Gutierrez last week. “Gunfire was right there. We all about running and just sat on the floor in our room in the dark, just hoping that it would stop.”
Dolan had said her goal was to get back before her daughter got married on Saturday. Her kids were able to leave Thursday to make it. But Dolan and her daughter-in-law, Desline, didn’t.
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While they weren’t physically at the wedding on Saturday, they were still able to see it.
On her nonprofit Facebook page – Love A Neighbor, Dolan posted saying, “I will witness the wedding via Facetime, and I am so grateful to do so -- do you know why? Because I am alive and because God made a way for Desline and I and we landed in Cap Haitian, out of the danger zone!”
Cinotti said Saturday night, the rest of the Dolan clan made it back to America.
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