The Bond for Haiti - Friday, February 5, 2010

Sister Parish Updates

     To date we have raised $68,566.00, including the $10,000 in matching money.  We have already given Haitian Ministries $30,000 for food, water, shelter, and medical supplies and we have given $10,000 to St. Genevieve for relief aid. 
     Over the next month we will try and get a better picture of the situation in Port-au-Prince and Zoranje of the damage and their needs.  From what Fr Frixner has mention the church was severally damaged and might have to replace the whole structure.
     Last week at “the Bond for Haiti” we helped raised $17,400 for relieve aid. 

                  

                         SOME EMERGENCY RELIEF DELIVERED TO HAITI BY HAITIAN MINISTRIES
      A group of five with Haitian Ministries returned to Connecticut late Thursday February 4th, completing a five-day visit to Port-au-Prince to meet some of the emergency needs of the six Haitian staff members of Norwich Mission House and the projects and twinned parishes partnered through the ministry.
      The twinned parish of Les Palmes (whose sister church is St. Mary of Coventry, CT) received money to buy food for 2,500 of the 35,000 people in the rural, mountain community who are most in need. Fr. Vil Johnson, the priest of the remote community, wrote on Friday that all the people desperately need tents, food (rice, beans, oil and water), Clorox to purify water, and clothing. Almost 50 people died there, and nearly every home was either destroyed or damaged. The church there is in ruins.
Haitian Ministries also gave emergency funds to the parish of St. Anne in Saintaard, which is north of Port-au-Prince, and to the parish of St. Genevieve in Zorange, northeast of the capital. (The former is partnered with St. Patrick-St. Anthony of Hartford, and the latter is twinned with St. Elizabeth Seton of Rocky Hill.)
      In Port-au-Prince, the girls' orphanage run by Paula Thybulle received emergency funding for food. The girls are sleeping in a big open courtyard across from the orphanage, where they have a few tents. But many of the 63 girls do not have coverings, and Paula requested new tents for them.
      Almost everyone in the capital sleeps outdoors, whether or not they have tents. Haitian Ministries is accepting donations of new, still-packaged tents, such as those made Coleman and Eureka. They come in all sizes, from two- to twelve-person. They are simple to put up and have only a few parts: two poles and four stakes. A tent fly comes with the package and keeps the tent dry. 
Tents are the only supply donations that the ministry is requesting at this time, but money donations are greatly appreciated. Money enables project directors and priests to purchase food, supplies and equipment they need right away.
      Haitian Ministries has set up a temporary mission house off Route de Freres in Petionville, but guards continue to protect the Norwich Mission House site. The house was destroyed in the earthquake, and temporary walls of metal have replaced the concrete walls around the property that collapsed.
      Lanitte Belledente, the mission house cook who was badly injured, remains at a large medical encampment near the international airport. She was scheduled to undergo another operation on Thursday or Friday. Her left leg was amputated mid-way on her shin. Staff have visited her several times in the last week, and one of Lanitte's sisters sits by her side. (Lanitte lost another sister and two nieces in the earthquake.)
      At L'Arc-en-Ciel, the Penettes reported that they expect to have almost 100 children at their orphanage by the end of the week. Although their orphanage usually has about 35 children, relief agencies are dropping off other children in need of shelter and care.
Danielle Penette said they also need tents, but hope to complete their new orphanage very soon so that they can better meet their growing needs.