A Charlottetown couple anxiously trying to get through to family members in Haiti has received good news.

Don Norman and his wife were thrilled to get good news from Haiti. (CBC)

Ephetas Norman, born in Haiti, moved to Charlottetown after marrying Don Norman. They met while working for the Red Cross in Haiti.

Don Norman told CBC News on Thursday that his wife was finally able to reach her adoptive mother.

"She managed to catch up through a cousin with her adoptive mother, and she and her daughter are all right," he said. "Now she's got a smile on her face. Up to this point she's been doing a lot of worrying and crying."

Norman said given the terrible conditions in the country even before the earthquake, it is impossible to imagine what it must be like now.

"When I was there in the mid-'90s, it was very, very difficult for people," he said. "It's a tough place to live. There's 80 per cent illiteracy, more than 80 per cent unemployment."

The Red Cross office in Charlottetown reported a steady stream of Islanders handing in cheques to help with the crisis on Thursday.