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As we approach Martin Luther King Day lets be inspired to do something. One woman inspired by the call to action decided that she would no longer watch from the sidelines.

When Marie-Yolaine Eusebe visited her native Haiti five months after the earthquake, she couldn’t believe the country was still so devastated.

The Brooklyn resident saw hundreds of rescue workers, talked to dozens of aid groups and knew about the millions of dollars do-gooders had donated – but she couldn’t see any improvements.

“People kept saying, ‘We’re not getting any aid. Why doesn’t anyone do something about this?'” said Eusebe, who was born in Port-au- Prince and moved to the U.S.  when she was 5 years old.

“I was just inspired … and decided I would see where I could help,” she said

So Eusebe quit her high-paying marketing job at  American Express and founded her own organization, Community2Community, to connect Haitians with specific needs to Americans with certain skills.

“If people come to me and say, ‘This is what I can do,’ then I can match them up with Haitians who need that help,” said Eusebe.

Eusebe’s first project is to rebuild the water supply system in Petit Goave, a coastal town just south of Port-au-Prince that was decimated by January’s earthquake.

In June of last year, she met with engineers from Petit Goave and read their plan to rebuild a reservoir that collects water from a freshwater spring – a plan a dozen other volunteer groups looked at without following through.

Back in home in Brooklyn New York, Eusebe connected with architect Charles Newman, who agreed to review the plan and take a trip to Haiti to see it in person.

“It was incredible,” said Newman, 28, who volunteered with another engineer and the Haitians in Petit Goave to come up with a new piping, water storage and pumping system for the village.

Eusebe’s group paid for Newman’s flight and lodging, and also supported an employee in Haiti who managed the project, keeping track of supplies, construction and budget.

She hopes to  enable her charity  to branch out to help other places in need of help in 2011.

You Can help Eusebe by visting her page  here.

{For more from Oretha Winston follow her on Twitter}

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