 GRASSROOTS EFFORT BY USA CHURCHES TO SHELTER HAITIANS BEFORE RAINY SEASON
by Mark Swiger
When Jim Pierce of Love Aflame! Worldwide returned with a team from Port au Prince, Haiti this week they all had just one word to describe the most urgent need in that earthquake ravaged nation: TENTS! The team, consisting of five men from New York State, brought much needed food and medical supplies but the request for tents soon rose above all others.
Says Pierce: “The population is now living under scraps of cardboard and cloths that give some relief from the sun, but shortly the rainy season will be here and the people will be wet and cold. In their weakened state this will cause yet another round of sickness, suffering and death. And, I would want more than a roll of plastic for my family.”
In response to this need a grass-roots movement of churches is forming across all denominational lines. Various ministries are now banding together to collect tents for shipment to Haiti before the rains hit the last week of March. So far tents are being collected from churches and individuals for delivery to regional centers in the states of New York, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Maine. Other states are rapidly being added.
Plans call for the regional centers to deliver the tents to two main collection hubs located at Love Aflame Worldwide in Horseheads, New York for the North, and Heritage International Ministries in Fort Mill, South Carolina for the South. From there they will be trucked to Miami for shipping to Haiti.
“This is how we can help people in Haiti in a practical way.” says volunteer coordinator Mark Swiger, “Just about every family in America has a tent in storage that will mean life or death to a family in Haiti.” |
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Please Send Tents!posted Oct 15, 2009 8:02 AM by Unknown user [ updated Feb 13, 2010 6:15 PM by JR Pierce ] |