Haiti Update-11-FEB
HAITI UPDATE- 2-11-2010
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is on the ground and functioning in Haiti! SBCDR has established an Incident Command, has numerous medical teams operating across the affected area and has started doing assessments of homes and chaplaincy work with those families. The conditions are still very harsh but SBCDR is beginning to help the Haitians look to their future, physically and spiritually.
Back home, Colorado Baptists are doing their part to assist in the recovery efforts as well:
From Colorado, Dolores Southern Baptist Church wrote the Baptist Global Response office to say they showed slides of the devastation in Haiti and took up an offering of $1,000 for Haiti relief. As the church treasurer, Colleen Smith, was organizing the money, a 9-year-old boy ran up to her and said, "Wait until I go to the van. I want to help."
He returned with a handful of $1 and $5 bills – $50 in all – that he had been saving to buy a toy he wanted. "He told his mother that those people needed the money more than he needed the toy," Smith said.
Another Colorado congregation, Circle Drive Baptist Church in Colorado Springs, got their children engaged in the Haiti relief effort by asking them to make handcraft items that could be sold to adults in the congregation. Children’s minister Kathy Routt, whose husband, Mike, is senior pastor of the church, wrote to say the children were excited to see they could play an active role in helping suffering people in Haiti, and the congregation raised $1,359 for the Haiti effort.
"One of the passionate desires of the Colorado Kid Company of Circle Drive Baptist Church is for each of our children to develop a heart for the people of the world to know Jesus," Routt said. "So as the images of Haiti’s begin coming in one of our first thoughts was 'How can our kids help?' So we prayed, 'God, what can our kids do to help?'
"That Sunday morning and the following Wednesday evening, the children worked very hard making crafts. We prayed over them and ask God to use these crafts to raise money to help the people in Haiti," Routt added. "The next Sunday our pre-teen fifth graders and their teachers manned the tables as members of our church made donations to Haiti in exchange for craft items. It was so exciting to see the eyes of our fifth graders light up as they collected donations and realized they were having a part in making a difference in someone’s life in Haiti.” (Reprinted with permission from BGR AlertNet Feb. 10, 2010. www.gobgr.org)
These are but a sample of the activities and sacrifice that Colorado Baptists are making in an effort to assist those affected by this event.
Another example of Colorado Baptist involvement is the Buckets of Hope campaign sponsored by the North American Mission Board and your Colorado Baptist Disaster Relief.
According to Mike Gaines, Colorado Baptist Disaster Relief Director, “For less than $50.00, Colorado Baptists can purchase, ship and provide food for a Haitian family for a week.” “We have challenged every Colorado Baptist to get involved and make it a family event. I did this with my sons and it was a very exciting and humbling experience for all of us. Colorado Baptists represent roughly 6,200 households in Colorado. My prayer is that at least a large portion of those would prayerfully take this challenge.”
The Buckets of Hope goal for Colorado Baptists is 2010 buckets. You can find out more information by clicking here
For more information on the Haiti response effort and to sign up for National Disaster Relief updates click here
