[~ indicates a Communion Sunday or Service]

THREE SPECIAL OFFERINGS  RECEIVED FOR HAITI EARTHQUAKE NEEDS : $900+ to date...Praise God! 

*MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO FBC AND Forwarded or PAYABLE TO CONVERGE WORLDWIDE AND WE WILL FORWARD IMMEDIATELY.

THANK YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS FOR CARING AND SHARING!

After the January 12th 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Port-au-Prince and southern Haiti, the question everyone is asking relief agencies is, “What are you doing and how will my dollars be used?”

The Converge World Relief team has approved three initial projects, knowing there will be many long-term needs:

1. Temporary shelter (housing) and food for the families of five pastors who perished in the quake. These men were well-known by our Haiti ministries director (and Brooklyn, N.Y. pastor) Withny Pierre. Housing will be a critical matter in Port-au-Prince since a number of houses were destroyed last week.
   
   
2. Help families relocate to their home towns. Some are making it back to their villages and towns in the unaffected parts of Haiti at some distance from Port-au-Prince. Others have little resources to be able to extract themselves from the city.
   
   
3. Partner with a Christian clinic that is assisting victims of the quake.
   

Converge World relief has wired an initial $14,500 to our Haiti ministry partners to launch these projects. Additional projects will be funded as gift income provides.

In Haiti, a temporary team of Rev. Emmanuel Pierre (no relation to Withny), the general secretary of the Baptist Convention, Withny Pierre (pictured left) and 1by1 child sponsorship staff member Mireille Joseph (pictured right) will make decisions about who receives the funds and how they are applied. In the USA, the Haitian Leadership Team will review the actions of the in-Haiti team and the results of the relief ministry: Paul François, Mullery Jean Pierre, Amos Eugene, Robert Chery and Withny Pierre.

To donate funds to assist this effort, please make your check payable to:

Converge World Relief

Mail to:
Converge Worldwide
2002 S. Arlington Heights Rd.
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

Please note in the memo section of your check: “Haiti Earthquake Relief,” account #10537.

To make a donation on line click here and choose “Haiti Earthquake Relief #10537" from the drop down listing.

Click here to download a pdf file of suggestions for serving in Haiti. This information was compiled by Crisis Consulting International (www.cricon.org).

The devastating earthquake in Haiti resulted in tremendous death and destruction.  This video briefly outlines how Converge Worldwide is engaged in the relief efforts in Haiti.  Learn more about our staff, the conditions of our ministries and how you can be involved.  Please be praying for our Haitian leaders here in the USA, and in Haiti, as they serve the people of Haiti.

Stephen Doggett Executive Director Converge International Ministries

Withny Pierre is back home in New York. He flew to Miami on Friday via military transport from Port-au-Prince.

Estimates of quake-related deaths vary from 50,000 to more than 200,000.

Authorities attempted to set up a curfew for 6:00 p.m. on Sunday; all people had to be off the streets. One can guess it made little sense to those folks living in the streets because their homes were destroyed or out of fear of aftershocks.

Despite some notable incidents, authorities report the level of violence in the city now is less than before the quake.


Logistics and support

Port-au-Prince Airport is open around the clock and now has a capacity of handling 100 flights per day, up from 60 on Saturday. There are so many arriving flights that some have been diverted to the Dominican Republic.

Thirty military helicopters at work.

7,500 additional U.S. military personnel are expected today.

U.S. Navy ship Comfort is scheduled to arrive on the 20th, bringing 600 medical personnel.


Food and water – a daunting challenge to get food and water to people in need

Three water purification systems are in action, each capable of supplying drinking water for 10,000 people (1 million liters per day per system). Six other systems are on the way.

A water team at work with the Baptist Hospital is trying to get drinking water into the city but struggles to find safe ways to deliver it. Large water bladders were ruled out because they might generate a mobbing situation. Jerry cans or other smaller containers may be their solution.

A shipment of 600,000 “humanitarian daily rations” was supposed to have been delivered to the airport on Saturday evening.

More food and water is getting to the people, but the distribution challenges are daunting with rubble in the streets and some blockades. A few of those blockades were set up to prevent dumping of corpses from other neighborhoods.


Medical and Rescue

Kings Hospital (World Relief) and the Haiti Baptist Hospital are running strong, setting fractures and treating other injuries, all the while dealing with shortages of fuel, oxygen, IV and general supplies. Leadership at the Haiti Baptist Hospital refer to the supply situation as similar to the widow’s flask of cooking oil: never a surplus but God always supplying the need of the moment.

There are now 27 international search and rescue teams (SAR) in Haiti, six from the USA. Most teams would have 70 people. Texas Task Force One, which was on standby, was told they will not be needed in Haiti because there were sufficient rescue teams on site.


Contacts

For people seeking information about family members in Haiti, the U.S. State Department has a special number: 1-888-407-4747.

 

Converge work in Haiti

Among the immediate projects we’re considering are:

1. Assisting the families of five pastors who perished in the quake, all well-known by our Haitian ministries director Withny Pierre.
2. Providing food and a place to stay for Christians sleeping on the streets with nowhere to go. Because of their commitment to Christ, these people do not fight or join in on the looting.
   

This work would be coordinated with Baptist leaders, a temporary team formed of the General Secretary of the Haitian Baptist Convention, affected pastors and our 1by1 staff in Port-au-Prince.


Pray for Haitians

• That the Haitian church would shine even in the midst of brokenness, pain and shortages.
• That many would experience the love and light of Christ, and commit to him.
• That peacemakers would prevail in the toughest of neighborhoods and fear be conquered.
• That lives be rebuilt.
• That Port-au-Prince become a place of health and joy for all its inhabitants.
  

Photograph by Getty Images