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Help Us, Help Them
I wanted to introduce you to my Haitian friend, Pastor Gaetan, who lives in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Before the earthquake, Pastor Gaetan took in 14 orphans. Most of these kids were abandoned by parents who simply could not afford to provide for their child.
Since the earthquake, Pastor Gaetan has rescued another 16 orphans. Many of these kids lost their parents in the earthquake.
On top of that, Pastor Gaetan’s personal home was damaged and he also lost his brother in the earthquake. You can see his brother in the picture below. (left side)
This is truly an amazing man of courage and faith. HELP and Soma Austin have decided to partner with Pastor Gaetan. But, we need more partners. Here’s why:
1. We need to build a new orphanage. Currently, Pastor Gaetan, his family and the 30 orphans sleep in tents. You can go to www.helpendlocalpoverty.com/helphaiti and you will see our vision to build an orphanage. You can click donate, and 100% of the donation (minus transaction fee’s) will go towards building the orphanage.
2. We need to get all of these kids sponsored. To sponsor a child, you can go to Help One Now. Any child from Haiti, is from Pastor Gaetan’s community. Child sponsorships are vital to the rebuilding process; we can ensure they have food, medicine and clothing each month.
We plan on partnering with Pastor Gaetan long-term, we’re so excited to see the progress of this community, as we help renew Haiti.
Be sure to watch the video below, click through to enlarge:
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NW Arkansas & Haiti
This morning I leave for NW Arkansas for three days of meetings. Most of the meetings are focused on Haiti initiatives. Tuesday night, I will be speaking at a Haiti Relief Town Hall meeting along with Craig from Thirst No More.Multiple churches, community leaders, NGO’s and businesses are gathering to find ways to collaborate and serve our friends in Haiti.
I also get to hang with Mike and Jacob and so many other folks from the Cobblestone Project. They’re doing some tremendous work for the poor in NW Arkansas.
Here’s a quick video we shot will in Haiti last week.
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Photo: Tears from Haiti
The picture below is a simple reminder of the pain in Haiti. Kids are everywhere, alone and broken. Many are double-orphans, they’ve lost family and friends! These kids have been through so much, yet, they can (and do) have hope. They need people like you and me to step-up and help them to feel loved, receive an education and to someday have a job so they can support themselves, and their communities!
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Haiti: what can we do?
I’m writing this blog on a flight from DFW to Miami. In just a matter of hours, we will land in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for a five day journey of learning, discovery and a time to build new friendships! My heart is already heavy, knowing that we’re going to connect with new friends, who just a few months ago were pulling bodies from rubble. These women and men have been through so much, they’ve lost so much, they need to much.
I often wonder what we can do to help. My hope this week is simple, our very presence will offer some sort of hope and light. Maybe we can give a hug, or simple smile, or say something that will make a difference.
I do know this, our greatest gift we can give is our presence, and that’s what we hope to do this week!
Of course presence can only go so far. These people also need food, medicine, water, and shelter. They need short-term needs met, so we can focus on long-term solutions.
On this trip, we hope to tell great stories, stories that will cause action, stories that will help fuel a better way to live. But, we don’t just want these stories to be random or impersonal, we hope, by time the week ends, we will tell stories of our friends who need others to walk with them, in such a time of need.
And yet, for whatever reason, the real reality is this: when I board a plan to return home, I have a feeling these local Haitians are going to bless me, far more than I will bless them. Read James 2, and you’ll know why!
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How to Pray
In just a few days, we will take our first trip to Haiti. Below are some practical ways that you can pray for us, as we go serve our friends who have lost so much.
1. Wisdom: We need wisdom, on what to do, how to do it, and who to do it with.
2. Humility: We are not trying to “save” Haiti. We will leave that to the Haitians and God. Instead, we want to serve the people of Haiti. We enter the country with a sense of humility. (I get that “save” is a dangerous word)
3. Partnership: We’re looking for NGO’s and local Haitians to partner with longterm. We have a lot of options on the NGO side, we just need to connect with that ONE Haitian leader, that we can partner with longterm.
4. Sensitivity: As we try to tell story through film and photography, we need to be sensitive to the local culture in the process. Yet, also pray that we will be able to fully capture the tragedy, and be able to use story to bring peace and help.
5. Vision: We want to do something practically to help. We want to improve the lives of those who suffer. Pray that God will give us a vision that will be clear, concise and effective.
6. Execution: Going is great, it’s needed. My hope is simple, when we return, we can execute a plan, and really make an impact in Haiti.Thanks for praying for us and the people of Haiti.
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Chicago Tribune Article
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a Chicago Tribune reporter wanting more information about adoptions in Haiti. As the reporter started to ask questions about adoptions in Haiti, I begin to talk more about the global orphan crisis in general, and of course the Haiti crisis before and after the earthquake, much of that info was included in the article.The story ran yesterday. Here’s the link, stoked that we get the privilege to advocate for the orphan.
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HELP: End Local Poverty in Haiti:
Dear Friends,As I write this, it’s 2:30AM. My soul is restless as I think about the suffering in Haiti, and how HELP can respond. Jeff Mangum (HELP co-founder) and I have discussed, several times over the past year, that Haiti would be the next country we work in. Then, the earthquake took place, and we wanted to do somthing, so we did. We sold shirts, held fundraisers, and sent funds for baisc nessessities, such as food and water.
At the same time, we wanted to make sure the timing was right before we committed to Haiti for the long haul. We did not want to rush in, make promises we could not fulfill and possibly lose focus on our Zimbabwe mission. (Most of you know, were really passionate about those 100 kids in Zimbabwe.)
Yet, Over the past week, we officially decided to work long term in Haiti as an organization. Which for us means rescuing orphans, restoring their hope and renewing their communites. And, we need your help to make this happen.
In 3 weeks, a team of us will travel to Haiti. The team consists of the following:
1. Myself
2. Scott Wade (photography and story-telling)
3. Jacob Van Horn (Pastor, Soma Austin)
Our goal is:
1. Asses the situation, and find how we can help.
2. Find a local Haitian national, who is passionate about the local church, church planting and orphan care. Our desire is to serve this national.
3. Listen to the locals, learn from their experience, and create plan-of-action to serve the people of Haiti, through the local church.
4. Find a clear understanding on how these potential projects will work; cost, materials, timeframe, Haitian laws, etc.
5. Connect with potential partners (churches, NGO’s) on the ground. We will work with these partners long-term to provide needs, such as clean water, shelter, education, etc! We’re currently talking with Living Water International and some others.
Currently, our hopes are to raise $100,000 in the next 12-16 months. These funds will go directly to serving orphans on the ground. Here’s what we would like to do:
1. Build, or rebuild orphanages that will rescue orphans. (2011 or 2012)
2. Launch our child sponsorship program, which will restore these orphans hope and provide day-to-day needs, so the local leaders can work on other important issues, and not be overwhelmed by the daily necessities of life.
3. Help renew these broken communities by working on long-term development issues to help the people of Haiti. We need solutuons, such as clean water, finance, education, etc.
But, our biggest need is this: to connect with a local Haitian national, one person whom we can serve long-term. So please pray that this happens. We want to walk with this key leader, and help them end local poverty in Haiti.
After our trip in May, we will roll out our long-term plans, or at least the next steps. But, in the meantime, we need your help. We are looking for investors who will help off-set the cost of going Haiti this May. We simply don’t have the necessary funds to cover 100% of the cost ourselves. So, we need to raise $2,000 in the next 2-3 weeks to cover the cost of this trip.
Here’s how you can help:
1. Send a check to: (Please email us, and let us know if possible)
H.E.L.P.
PO Box 202647
Austin, TX 787202. Click the Paypal button below (or email link) and give to our travel fund. An automatic receipt of your giving will be emailed to you immediately.
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Haircut Benifit for Haiti
For those of you who live in the Sacramento, California area, or know someone who does, our friends at Salon San Severo, in Midtown, will be hosting a benefit for Haiti by offering free haircuts this Saturday Jan 23! All the proceeds are going to Heartline to be used in the relief efforts in Haiti.
Help us spread the word as we try to serve our friends in Haiti.
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T-Shirts for Sale
A few days ago we blogged about our desire to help the people of Haiti. After many hours of work by some amazing designers, and techies (more on those people soon), we’ve finally launched our online store with 2 designs, and three shirts.
100% of all proceeds (roughly $12-$14 per shirt) will go directly to Real Hope for Haiti.Please do us a favor, tweet this link, Facebook it, email your friends, etc.Also, we have more designs coming in the future by some amazing artist. We hope to serve the people of Haiti longterm!
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We Need Funding to Help Haiti
We have an urgent funding need for HELP! We are looking to do a T-Shirt campaign to raise funds for Real Hope for Haiti. 100% of all T-Shirt proceeds will go directly to the leaders of this organization so they can serve the children of Haiti. Each T-Shirt should profit close to $15. The cost is $7 to purchase the shirts from American Apparel, and $3-4 for shipping. (if shirts are bought on-location profits will go up)
Anyhow, I’ve connected Ryan and Holly with Sharp Seven Design, and they’re doing the design work on-the-house! I’ve also connected with Color Factory, and they are doing the printing for “cost”. My friend Jasen Ashdown is also helping, and Daniel Patrick set-up a store for us last night, and Scott Wade is also doing a project for us right now!
Here are two things we need:
1. Churches and ministries to sell the shirts at their gatherings. If you want to help sell these shirts, please email us at info (@) helpendlocalpoverty (.) com.
2. Funding: We need a short term funder who will loan us some cash, so we can get the shirts ordered, and ready to ship asap. If you would like to help, please email us info (@) helpendlocalpoverty (.) com for more information.
Shirt Sample: http://www.helpendlocalpoverty.bigcartel.com/
Thanks!
