February 2010 -- Although he's like many other teaching pros who often respond in times of need, Ian Griffin did not take part in the relief effort for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
And a few weeks after Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005, Hurricane Rita damaged two of his four rental houses in Beaumont, Texas, so he was not in a position to help others affected by that natural disaster either.
Then came the Haiti earthquake this January. "This one hit closer to home in a different way," he said.
Griffin, who has traveled extensively in the developing world, visited Haiti a couple of times in the early 1980s "just to look around," he said. "This is one of a tiny number of places where I have been that the need absolutely jumps at you.
"I have been to 17 countries in Africa and also Central America and I have not ever seen the horrible poverty like in Haiti - absolutely never," Griffin said. "So many of the people are crowded into urban slums."
This Pro 1 and 31-year member of the United States Professional Tennis Association said he developed a love of travel while playing satellite tournaments in East Africa in 1975.
But Griffin, who was born in Canada and has spent much of his adult life in Beaumont, doesn't travel as much now that he has school-age children. He spends his off-season (winter) in Ontario, Canada, where his former wife lives, to be near his three children. "During winter more of my life is spent child-raising and taking care of investment properties," he said. His daughters attend French middle schools in Ontario, and two of their teachers are from Haiti.
Griffin had been wanting to return to Haiti and planned to visit there this coming October anyway. Now he has more reason than ever.
"What I really intend to do is go down and do something on a daily basis," he said. "I think the place needs long-term, regular help, not just disaster relief."
His fall trip will allow him to "scout an opportunity to help." He said he also plans to deliver vitamins, water purification tablets, pencils and sharpeners (he said kids are sharpening pencils with knives).
In addition, "One of the reasons for my going is that I will physically see the people who are getting the aid," he explained.
Griffin plans to return to Haiti a year after his October trip with his two young daughters, who would also volunteer. He would like to lend a hand at a Haitian school or orphanage. In fact, he already has identified a desperately overcrowded orphanage supported by a Texas church.
Griffin already had a strong desire to help when he saw an e-mail that the USPTA World Headquarters sent to the membership a few days after the Jan. 12 earthquake.
USPTA's e-mail suggested that interested pros donate lesson fees from one hour on court to any of several nonprofit organizations benefiting the earthquake victims, including the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Oxfam International and Doctors Without Borders.
This appeal echoed an e-mail that USPTA Professional Radka Lacjak sent to some of her fellow Intermountain pros the day before. The Colorado pro urged other members to consider donating the fees from one lesson.
Lacjak wrote: "I know it's not easy with everyone's busy schedule, but even if each Intermountain USPTA member donates 'just' one hour of his or her time in the next two weeks, it will make a difference! And I am sure your clients will respect you for that!"
Over a thousand miles away, Griffin had made a contribution to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) through his daughters' school the very afternoon that he received the e-mail from the USPTA national office.
"I was like everybody else," he said. "There was an earthquake and I was asking, 'What can I do?' " Even though he had written a check, he was still asking, 'What more can I do?'
"I hadn't even thought about doing a tennis thing," Griffin said. The e-mail about donating lesson fees was all the inspiration he needed.
"We're adding a fourth day of cardio this coming season," said Griffin, whose summer position is head professional at La Crosse Country Club in Onalaska, Wis. All lesson fees from cardio classes one night a week - all summer long - will go to Doctors Without Borders.
"It should attract some extra interest," Griffin said. "It will let the players and me feel good about ourselves; and without a doubt it will do good. If we get $1,200 I'll be thrilled, but I know we'll get $800. I know firsthand from my travels that even $1 makes a difference.
"Here is a way I can do something that's an extension of my regular life by teaching lessons to help people in their regular lives," he noted. "This can be done without having to make a big production of it.
"I don't think my doing this is anything fantastic," he said. "It's the kind of thing a lot of people who teach tennis do."
