One church goes beyond funding hurricane relief!

Several of the U.S. sister churches came to the aid of their Haitian counterparts after the onslaught of 4 hurricanes that hit Haiti in the fall of 2008.

Les Anglais' U.S. sister church is Our Saviors Lutheran Church. OSLC answered the call and sent in funds to their sister church. However they also did something else.

OSLC also sent in funds with instructions for RMI to purchase rice, beans, and oil to be distributed in the Les Anglais area. So after purchasing these food staples, our staff loaded up 2 of our trucks and headed out to distribute some food.

They arrived in Les Anglais and gave half of the food to the church  to be distributed by Pastor Dieusseul.

There is another little community that is the poorest of the poor that has been brought to the U.S. sister church's attention by Etienne Francois who is an agronomist in the area and works closely with Our Savior's. For several years now this area referred to as "The beach community" has been toured by the U.S. church.

This year as they did last year, OSLC designated that the rest of the food be distributed to this community. There was much joy and excitement when the RMI trucks and staff pulled up to distribute food. The following pictures don't do justice to their excitement but it is all we have to offer.

Special thanks go out to Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon for their tender and generous hearts and spirits!

These are just a few of the people who have benefited from this program.

There were no Americans to be seen during all of this as we felt this was a special time for Haitians to reach out and help other Haitians even though funded by Americans.

Thanks so much to OSLC for your generosity as well as to all the U.S. sister churches that have helped their Haitian brothers and sisters!

New Look for the New Year

With each new year that rolls around, everyone makes resolutions to loose weight, get healthy, spend more time with those we love, etc. etc. etc.

Before I reveal our new look here I would like to describe an old problem that we hope will be solved with the "new look".

On Thursday night most teams that come to visit their sister church here in Haiti, spend that last night at the Moses' house enjoying an "all you can eat" shrimp dinner. Many nights we enjoy the warm Caribbean climate with a time of outdoor fellowship. However there have been many nights when a team of about 10 people along with the local missionary family have to crowd into our living room to eat because of rain. Having around 16 or 17 people crowded into a 16 by 16 foot room to eat kind of loses some of the Caribbean charm.

We have a plan on how to remedy this situation and thanks to a generous donation by a Texas church we were able to do the first phase of our plan.

Interesting! What are those poles in the Moses' front yard?

Look at those crossbeams! Is it possible that?...let's just wait and see!

Oh my....yes, they are covering the front of the yard. But, some pavement would be even nicer.

The new look for 2009 is a shaded protect eating area outside. Come rain or shine our teams will enjoy their last night in Haiti with the outdoor ambiance of the warm Caribbean. Y'all come on down and see us!!!!

Message from the president

This message was sent to me from Dan Shoemaker and is a solution to the drinking water problems that face Haiti and many other third world countries.

Dear SCP Coordinators,

An opportunity has arisen that I want to share with you.  Many of you have shared your concern for your Haitian brothers and sisters and the situation with their drinking water.  They often drink water that has not been purified thus causing them to have various gastrointestinal diseases, etc. that impact their life and the lives of their children.  This is the main cause of deaths in children in Haiti.

I have sought a good solution for many years.  This past year I have been in touch with a company that produces a product they call LifeStraws.  They have several products but what has most interested me is a product called the Family Life Straw.  It is a simple apparatus that filters water, enough for family use.   It looks very easy to use and filters a lot of water pretty quickly.

This is a product that I would like to try with our Sister Churches.  I feel this is quite possibly the answer I have been looking for to offer as the way to provide safe drinking water for our brethren there in Haiti. 

Here is the website address:  http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw-f-claims.htm     Please look at this as soon as possible. 

PROBLEM:   We have to purchase them in units of 500.  The cost to order them is $25.00 each.  This does NOT include customs, delivery, etc.  I am estimating the actual cost will be around $35 each.

I would like to have 4 churches commit to 100 units each. I do have one church already that has committed to 100 units.  This would cost $3500 or $35 each unit.    They are shipped to Haiti, then we have to pay to get them out of customs (not sure what that will cost) and then deliver them with some training to the churches.  At this point I don’t think it will cost more than this per unit.  Since this will be the first time we have done this, some of the costs are unknown.   

WOULD YOU COMMITT TO 100 UNITS FOR YOUR CHURCH? The first 4 churches to commit, get them!   I want to place an order this month if possible.  Please let me know if this would be possible for you.  Email me or call me on my cell at 239-222-9793.  Thanks.

Building Forever Relationships together,

Dan Shoemaker