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Some fresh updates from our denominational work in Haiti Disaster Relief:
The National Committee of Eglise des Freres Haitiens has officially invited Brethren Disaster Ministries to continue working in Haiti, Boshart reported. The invitation was included in the minutes of the group’s February meeting. “It was a statement of affirmation, for sure,” Boshart said, but added that it was a reminder of the fact that the program is working with an independent denomination in Haiti.
“We need to keep those relationships solid,” he told the board as he reviewed the way the earthquake response is being organized and led. The Haitian and US churches are intentionally working together in assessment and planning, he said. Coordination for the effort is coming from Brethren Disaster Ministries in the US, Haitian church leaders are carrying out the on-the-ground relief work, and the Church of the Brethren is providing funding through its Emergency Disaster Fund.
The earthquake response includes support for feeding programs at six locations in Port-au-Prince: a daily hot meal for children at a school in Port-au-Prince, through which about 20,000 meals have been served Winter said; a feeding program through the Kids Club of the Delmas Church of the Brethren; feeding programs for the church communities and neighborhoods around the three Port-au-Prince congregations at Marin, Delmas, and Croix des Bouquets; and a feeding program for children at the Vine Ministry Church, which has Brethren connections.
Another part of the response is the building of temporary shelters primarily for Haitian Brethren families--“effectively a plywood shed with a tin roof” in Winter’s description--with the first families moving in this past weekend. A short-term medical delegation will be offering five clinics in Port-au-Prince next week at the Brethren church sites. There are plans for donations of canned chicken by Southern Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic Districts, with canning to take place in April. Brethren Disaster Ministries is helping support a program to aid Haitian refugees in New York, located at Haitian First Church of New York.
So far, we at Carlisle have sent about 160+ hygiene kits and have completed two of five household kits. Between the concert and regular giving, we have sent over $2300 to the costs of canning chicken. In addition, in the last two months, six people have gone to help pack hygiene kits at the shipment center in New Windsor MD. Thanks to all for all the prayers for our brothers and sisters in Haiit. |
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