Fifty-three Haitian orphans from the Bresma Orphanage arrived in Pittsburgh today as part of a rescue mission coordinated by PA Gov. Ed Rendell, who accompanied the plane to Haiti . The plane unloaded much needed medical supplies in the capital city of Port-au-Prince , then reloaded with the orphans from Bresma and their caretaker, Ali McMutrie.

The orphan airlift was initiated by Pennsylvania sisters Jamie and Ali McMutrie, who moved to Haiti to care for children at a Port-au-Prince orphanage four years ago. Unable to reach family and supporters by phone after the earthquake, Jamie and Ali texted the dire circumstances of the orphans in their care, reaching the world through social-networking sites, Facebook and Twitter.

"When the earthquake hit, my sister and I felt absolutely hopeless," Ali McMurie told a news conference in Pittsburgh . She added, "We knew we had to take action."

The orphaned children, most of whom are under the age of 4-years, were immediately transferred to the local Children's Hospital, where they will be evaluated, and then processed through immigration. ALL of the children were already legally adopted, or in process, at the time of the earthquake . This humanitarian airlift has assisted them in reuniting with their adoptive families, all of whom have traveled at least once to visit with their children and process adoption papers in Haiti . The effort to unite these children with their families is the first in a humanitarian visa program that will attempt to bring all children who were currently in the process to be adopted at the time of the earthquake to the US to be united with their adoptive families.

Meanwhile, Catholic Charities in Florida is attempting to begin it's program Pierre Pan , and bring hundreds of Haitian homeless children to the US. So far, 23 patients from the earthquake have been treated at  Jackson Memorial Hospital, with countless more likely to be airlifted from the island for treatment. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson has contacted all the children's hospitals in Florida and requested that they receive critically injured Haitian children in the aftermath of the earthquake. Nelson on Friday said he also plans to introduce a "major Haitian relief bill," though details of this bill have not yet been announced.

"Operation Pierre Pan," as its being called, is an effort to relocate the thousands of children likely orphaned by the natural disaster in Port-au-Prince. Many of the children could already have relatives in Miami and around the U.S. The movement would need the approval of the U.S. government to at the very least grant the orphans temporary status in the country.

A similar effort occurred decades ago when "Operation Pedro Pan" was launched to help the children of Cuba during the political upheaval in that island neighbor. Some 14,000 children were relocated to the United States, many of them settling in South Florida .

Still, agencies in Miami-Dade and Broward are gearing up for the possible influx of children in need of a home, according to the Sun-Sentinel .

"We've already begun to make preparations and are willing to do our part," said Mark Riordan, Broward County spokesman for the state's Department of Children and Families.

Editor's Note: We caution readers, again, to understand that while the US is full of compassionate, loving families that long to ease the suffering of these children, it is imperative to understand that many of these children have families and will need to be re-united with them at some point. Currently there is no legal or moral way to bring children from Haiti who have an undetermined-orphan-status, and place them permanently into US families. We thank you for your loving compassion towards these children and will keep our readers updated as to any policy changes regarding these precious children.