Mission - Haiti
Online Prayer Wall
United Methodists everywhere are invited to share a prayer for those affected by the Haiti earthquake. Visit the Facebook group for 10thousanddoors.org to lift up your praise or concern on the wall.
Stay Informed
- Visit http://www.umc.org/haiti and http://www.facebook.com/unitedmethodistchurch for continuously updated information.
- UMCOR Responds to the Earthquake in Haiti
How can you help?
UMCOR Sager Brown is coordinating a shipment of health kits to provide individuals with basic necessities
Health kits provide basic necessities to people who have been forced to leave their homes because of human conflict or natural disaster.
Health Kit
Place these items inside a sealed one-gallon plastic bag.
- 1 hand towel (15” x 25” up to 17” x 27”, No kitchen towels)
- 1 washcloth
- 1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)
- 1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
- 1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
- 1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, No child-size brushes)
- 6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages
- $1.00 to purchase toothpaste
(NOTE: UMCOR Sager Brown is now purchasing toothpaste in bulk to be added to health kits before shipping to ensure that the product does not expire before they are sent.)
Can you help with any of these items? If you can, bring them to Sessions Hall.
Haiti Relief Efforts
--Kathy Dube
Heeding a direct appeal from New York Annual Conference Bishop Jeremiah J. Park, Prospect has been collecting both monetary donations and supplies for relief kits to be distributed in earthquake-devastated Haiti. UMCOR - the United Methodist Committee on Relief — is in charge of Methodist relief efforts. “You will be glad to know that UMCOR has always had a strong presence in Haiti, and is making plans to send teams, material resources and funding to Haiti as soon as possible. When it is advisable, the New York Conference will be organizing teams to send to assist in the rebuilding of Haiti,” Bishop Park states in a letter to all New York Annual Conference churches.
The Revs. Tom and Wendy Vencuss of the New York Conference, who were in the Methodist Guest House in Haiti, are safe, the Bishop reports. The guest house experienced very minor damages with no injuries to the occupants. Many United Methodists from throughout the United States were in Haiti participating as volunteers in mission. However, he continues, the Conference is saddened by news of the death of two UMCOR leaders who were in Port-au-Prince to participate with persons from other agencies towards the improvement of health services in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Wesley Dixon, Jr., top executive officer of UMCOR, died amidst the ruins of the Hotel Montana before he could be rescued; and the Rev. Clint Rabb, director of the Volunteers in Mission office, died in a Florida Hospital after having been airlifted there. Both men were based in UMCOR’s New York office and thus were part of our New York Annual Conference family.
In the meantime, Bishop Park says: “I ask you to pray for the people of Haiti and to give generously to the relief efforts of UMCOR. Every dollar we send goes filled with faith in Jesus Christ to make a radical difference in the lives of these our sisters and brothers whose suffering we can barely imagine. … With our gifts we can be bearers of the love of Christ bringing healing and hope.”
A bit of history about Haiti from the World Council of Churches: Haiti is situated on the western part of the island of Hispaniola, discovered by Columbus in 1492. The indigenous people were exterminated by the Spanish, who ceded the territory to the French in 1697. A century later, the slaves imported from Africa to work on sugar plantations rebelled and finally defeated the French army. In 1804 Haiti became the first nation of the world which liberated itself from slavery and colonial power. But the independence resulted in depletion of the economy and natural resources, political instability and social violence. The hopes for change and development raised by the election of Jean Bertrand Aristide in 1990 were crushed after a few years. Lack of political and economic governance, generalized violence, and a devastated environment contribute to make Haiti one of the poorest countries in the world. Civil society groups, churches and political parties are trying to break the spiral of violence and impoverishment. Traditionally Haiti has been Catholic. Voodoo, the Afro-Haitian cult, has a strong hold on the people. Protestant missions started working in the 19th century.