On Thursday, an Old Saybrook hospitality company will be working to collect items and money for a Norwich-based nonprofit organization that operates in Haiti.

Like many partnerships, this one began through a mutual friend.

In this case, it was Dr. Nels DeAlmeida, a Danbury dentist who’s a longtime volunteer and benefactor of Haitian Health Foundation and who also happens to use Saybrook Point Marina from time to time.

Not long after Hurricane Matthew wreaked havoc on Haiti in early October, DeAlmeida called up Dr. Jeremiah J. Lowney, the orthodontist who founded Haitian Health Foundation. The foundation brings health care services, education and sustainable development to 225,000 people in the city Jérémie and more than 100 rural mountain villages.

“He said (Saybrook Point Inn and Spa General Manager John Lombardo) has quite a few Haitians that work there,” Lowney recalled. “He said, give (Lombardo) a call and he’ll tell you what he plans to do.”

Lowney obliged, and detailed to Lombardo what citizens of Haiti continue to need almost two months after Hurricane Matthew made landfall in the country, killing at least 546 people, though some unofficial estimates indicate possibly more than 1,000 people died.

“When the earthquake hit in 2010, it affected Jérémie a little bit ... but it was nothing compared to the destruction this storm brought upon us,” Lowney said.

Winds swept away hundreds of homes — including those of about 130 of Haitian Health Foundation’s 185 on-site employees — taking with them the clothing, sheets and other items that were inside.

Blown away, too, were mango, banana and other trees, as well as dozens of the solar panels Haitian Health Foundation had installed at its two sites to become energy independent in 2014 and 2015. Lowney estimated the latter is a loss of at least $25,000.

“We’ve had damage, but it didn’t put us out of business,” Lowney said. “We have been providing medical care and food since the day after the hurricane. Even the employees who lost their homes ... they’ve been working long hours, long days, trying to keep up with things.”

Members of the foundation are serving hundreds of people at stationary and mobile clinics daily, according to the most recent update posted on its website.

With the majority of goats, pigs, chickens and other livestock essential to the local economy dead, as well as most small, supplemental vegetable gardens washed away, food is a major need.

Cholera, too, is a concern. The waterborne disease, which first broke out about nine months after the 2010 earthquake, has killed more 9,000 people in Haiti. According to the World Health Organization, hundreds of new cases have popped up since the hurricane.

“That’s what we’re dealing with,” Lowney said. “We need all the help we can get.”

On Thursday, Saybrook Point will do its part.

From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the inn will be collecting blankets, toiletries, small toys, baby clothes and nonperishable food to ship to Haiti through the Haitian Health Foundation.

In addition, Saybrook Point also is encouraging its employees to give monetary donations, which will be matched up to $5,000 by the Mary and Louis Tagliatela Foundation.

"We have many employees from Haiti with family and friends affected by this devastating storm, and we're honored to be able to help bring relief to their nation and ease the suffering of their residents," said Stephen Tagliatela, managing partner of Saybrook Point, in a news release.

Lowney, who said he recently sent Lombardo a thank-you note, said it's thanks to benefactors like Saybrook Point that Haitian Health Foundation can continue to do its work.

"The poor in this area have been so terribly damaged," he said, adding that cash donations are the most beneficial at the moment. "Because we and others are still there, they don’t feel they’ve been abandoned. They know there are people who care for them and are willing to help them.

"The best gift that we can give is to give them hope."

To donate, visit Haitian Health Foundation at haitianhealthfoundation.org or send your tax-deductible donation to the foundation at 97 Sherman St., Norwich, CT 06360.

l.boyle@theday.com