Reaching Out
Posted on 18. Jan, 2010 by Lutheran World Relief in Haiti, Latin America, Lutherans, Mission Quilts, Quilts & Kits
Your response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti has been phenomenal. Thank you for the prayers you’ve sent both for those affected and for our staff working on the ground to help. Thank you also for making use of the various ways to give so that we can continue the work to bring water, food, and shelter to the people of Haiti.
Now it is time to reach out. Our partners at Lutheran World Federation (LWF) have been working on the ground to construct a clearer picture of the needs on the ground. What they are seeing is that while things are bad in the city of Port-au-Prince, there is also extensive damage to surrounding rural areas.
Right now most of the relief effort in Haiti is concentrated in Port-au-Prince and few, if any, relief organizations are working to attend to the needs of rural communities in the aftermath of the earthquake. Work with LWF and other partners, LWR will reach out to communities in the surrounding areas, who are just as severely affected as their urban counterparts.
These “last mile” communities were already blighted by poverty, hunger, and lack of opportunity. This disaster makes these communities so much more vulnerable and we are working hard to reach them.
I am also heartened to report that tomorrow, along with our partners at Church World Service, we will be sending a shipment of material aid to Haiti. In this shipment we’re including health kits and layettes, both items that will promote sanitation and good health in the midst of this crisis. The needs on the ground are so great that we’d like to send another shipment of quilts and health kits soon, but to do this we need your help.
Our stock of health kits is critically low. With so many homeless and in need, for every health kit we give, there are many more families who need one. Please consider donating health kits to LWR so that we can continue to meet needs in Haiti and around the world.
Please continue to keep the people of Haiti in your prayers and please continue to support the work of LWR and its partners around the world as we work to reach “the least of these” with your gifts of love and compassion.
Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria, courtesy www.alertnet.org.
Lutheran World Relief is a nonprofit organization that works with Lutherans and partners around the world to end poverty, injustice, and human suffering.
