Careforce International

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Haiti Earthquake Response -  Phase II

March 19th, 2010                                                       

It is now nearly 10 weeks since the earthquake that devastated Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti, struck on January 12th. The Haitian Government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people had been identified as dead, an estimated 300,000 injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 homeless. The death toll is expected to rise.They also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. 

While the relief effort has been winding down and the clean up begun, Careforce and our partner in the Dominican Republic, The Lighthouse School, have continued to respond providing water and shelter material and food. In all, some 14 convoys have been made from the facility in Los Alcarrizos, Dominican Republic. However, now it is time to plan for the next phase of the response. 

Following discussions between Cristian Santiago of the Lighthouse School and Careforce, we agreed phase II of the Haiti Earthquake Response would consist of repairing and rehabilitating 126 houses and providing lighting into one of the three churches with whom we have been working. The houses are significantly damaged but not completely destroyed and can be repaired relatively quickly with proper funding. They are in an area close to two churches approximately 15 minutes from downtown Port au Prince. The average cost of repair is $2,000 and the homes belong to a mix of church members and non-church members, basically those most in need.  We want to get 126 families back into their homes so they can begin to rebuild their lives.

The lighting will be provided to the third church which is right in the center of downtown Port au Prince itself. We want to provide solar powered lighting for the church so that counseling work can continue afterward, a community space where people can meet is available, and to allow church services to take place. Right now, this church is the only building standing in it's area that is undamaged and has become a focal point for the community.

At some point in the future Careforce may decide to send teams to work alongside the communities we are currently supporting in Haiti.  But now is not that time.  We need to help these people recover. Recover their dignity, recover their sense of community, recover their sense of independence and the best way to do that is to help them help themselves by providing what they can not provide for themselves.  Right now that is money for building materials to repair and possibly rebuild their homes, and money for a lighting system for the church that is still, and always has been for two thousand years, the center of a hurting but recovering people.

The snapshot is this - we need over $250,000 for this Phase.  We are working with the Lighthouse School who is also receiving help from other organizations, so we're not doing this alone, but it's a big responsibility.  Can you give a home back to a Haitian family?  Can you and your class, or small group, or family come together and provide a home for a Haitian family?  What about at solar panel for the church?  What about the continued cost of water, food and medical supplies?  




February 26th 2010 Update
Today we submitted our declaration form to CIDA documenting our total donations eligible for matching by the government.  We are pleased to announce that $37,002.24 of your hard earned and generously donated funds will be matched, and that we have raised $43,022.75 so far (donations from businesses are not eligible for matching).  Phase II is going strong - continuing to provide water, food, tarps and supplies to our Haitian pastors to distribute within their community to those in great need.  The picture here shows the bags we put together (see Feb 9th update).  Thanks for your continued support!

February 9th 2010 Update
On February 5th we made our 9th trip across the Dominican Republic border into Haiti. Our cargo for this trip was 38,000 bottles of water, a truck and a half of food and 75 large tarps. This time the food was managed in a way to make the distribution faster. We prepared individual bags, 170 of them, each containing 25lbs of rice, 10lbs of beans, 5lbs of spaghetti, 10 cans of sardines, 2 liters of oil, 2lbs of salt, 5lbs of sugar, matches, candles and toilet paper. 

This was all possible because of the way you have responded, responded with generosity and by extending trust to Careforce and our partners in the Dominican Republic at the Lighthouse School.

While it may be true that the media has begun to pack up and move on to other stories. Please know that we want to pack up too. We want to pack up hope, love, friendship, respect, compassion and deliver it to our Haitian brothers and sisters along with the food, water and tarps we take. 

So far, we have delivered 156,000 bottles of water, 275 tarps, 3 trucks of food. This has been distributed in the areas served previously by the churches of the three pastors in Haiti with whom we are linking. Once again, we thank you for your help to make this possible. We know that your resources are limited as are ours. But as scripture tells us in Psalm 50:10, our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.