By the time a killer earthquake created tens of thousands of orphans in Haiti's capital city in January, Haiti already had its share of kids who had no parents to feed and clothe them.

The United Nations Children's Fund puts the number of pre-earthquake orphans -- created by political violence and natural disasters -- at 380,000.

A new orphanage in Haiti, first envisioned by a Plantation Key midwife who helped earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince in the days after the 7.3 magnitude temblor, will open next month, thanks to fundraising by the Key Largo Rotary Foundation and other Keys givers.

The opening is expected between mid-October and mid-November.

"We have a $45,000 matching pledge through the Rotary International Foundation and another $5,000 from Keys residents. It's almost enough money to get it open," said Bette Brown, a Rotarian and top executive at First State Bank in the Upper Keys. "We're still about $8,000 short of our goal to have enough for a year's operation of the orphanage."

The Haiti Mountain Women's Center was the brainchild of Laura Hagen, who traveled from Port-au-Prince into the countryside to help with rural earthquake victims, including women and children. After finding it too difficult to open a health clinic in the Florida Keys, Hagen realized her longtime dream of opening a health center for women when she found a suitable site for the clinic while traveling in Haiti's mountains.

Hagen's center, to be a combination orphanage, women's health center and birthing facility, is near Kenscoff, a small mountain town on Highway 101, 45 minutes south of the capital. Hagen found the area near an overnight shelter for international workers who'd come to help after the earthquake.

Since then, according to Mark Kohl, the former Monroe County State Attorney and Rotarian, Hagen has gone her own way and the Rotary has decided to open its own clinic.

"She's gone off to try to open her own clinic in Haiti independent of what we've got going on," he said.

One issue was finding a less expensive building to rent.

"The landowner was asking way too much money; he wanted to sell us the property, but we couldn't come up with the money," Kohl said. "We came up with an alternative location in the same area."

The Rotary continues to raise money since Hagen moved on, Kohl said.

"We're getting pledges from other Rotary Clubs, and as they raise the money, Rotary International will match the grant. We'll get there."

Brown said she has traveled to the site in Haiti several times. She said the new center will provide basic medical needs for the remote region and for pregnant women and children in particular.

"I have been over there several times, and we've been getting the proper permission from the Haiti government and other things lined up," Brown said. "When we travel there, we take extra suitcases filled with supplies and leave them there. We have a Haitian teacher in Miami-Dade County helping us to put it together."

Brown hasn't spoken to Hagen or teacher Elsie Craig in a while -- the two may be back in Haiti -- but Brown said the Rotary's project was on track.

"We're going back when we open the clinic," she said. "I had someone donate two garages' full for the clinic. He helped us get extra suitcases, and we just got a donation of a truck."

jguerra@keysnews.com