VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 2/25/10)—Within a month after the devastating January 12 earthquake in Haiti, American Baptists overwhelmingly responded with more than $1 million for relief efforts in that Caribbean nation. These funds represent gifts by local congregations and individuals during the initial weeks after the earthquake as well as direct donations to International Ministries (IM) provided through mid-February.
Additional contributions have been sent from some of IM’s Christian partners. These include $5,200 from El Salvador’s Baptist Educational and Missionary Institution (IMEBES) and First Baptist Church in San Salvador; $1,000 from the Baptist Seminary of Mexico; $8,744 from the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (northeast India); and $4,800 from the Kwun Tong Swatow Baptist Church of Hong Kong.
Funds are being allocated for the first two phases of Haiti earthquake response. The first phase of relief includes the provision of medical and pharmaceutical supplies and the support of medical care through short-term work teams and local and missionary staff. Food, water and shelter supplies are also being distributed through church connections.
In the second phase, recovery, funds will be allocated for continuing medical care for earthquake victims, for scholarship support for students who have had to move because their schools have been destroyed, for transitional housing and for micro-credit and other economic development approaches that will allow earthquake sufferers to move towards self sufficiency.
Additional donations will be required for the rebuilding phase that will include reconstruction of medical facilities, orphanages, schools, housing and church buildings. In association with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, facilities are being prepared to host work teams that will serve under local Haitian leadership in these efforts.
One of the challenges faced by International Ministries’ primary partner, the Convention of Baptists in Haiti (CBH), is that many families in communities outside the direct earthquake area have generously opened their homes to families, friends and strangers who have left the earthquake zone in a search for safety. The population of many towns has doubled and this increase is stretching medical, educational, public sanitation and the food and water infrastructure. The generous hosts who have been sharing their food supplies and have spent their financial reserves in caring for the displaced families will now also be vulnerable because of their generosity. The church women’s groups and pastors are assisting both the displaced people and their generous hosts.
During a recent Haiti trip to meet and plan with the CBH leaders, José Norat Rodríguez, IM Area Director of Iberoamerica and the Caribbean, said, “I was impressed with the commitment of the leaders of the Convention. They told me over and over again that the priority is to help the people of Haiti to recover their lives and that the rebuilding of the church buildings will be done after the peoples’ lives are restored”.
In a pastoral letter, CBH General Secretary Emmanuel Pierre wrote, “The Haiti Baptist Convention continues to invite its partners to come and see, to send medical teams and work groups, to ship supplies, and to support child development programs, university students scholarship programs, little business loan programs, etc.”
In response, Dr. Reid Trulson, IM’s Executive Director, and Ruth Clarke President of the IM board, plan to visit Haiti along with Dr. A. Roy Medley, General Secretary of the American Baptist Churches USA, and leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. They will take part in church prayer meetings and visit with earthquake victims and missionary and frontline Haitian workers as well as observe relief and recovery projects.
Volunteer medical teams are continuing to be sent into Haiti under the supervision of IM missionary in the Dominican Republic, Kristy Engel. Doctors and physician assistants are still needed for medical clinics. They can send an email to BIMvolunteers@abc-usa.org to register.
Donations also continue to be needed. Donors can give through the IM website: www.internationalministries.org/items/80, or by check to: “OGHS – Haiti Earthquake Relief” and mailed to: International Ministries, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851. Support can also be given by American Baptists through their church by making checks payable to the church with “One Great Hour of Sharing – Haiti Earthquake Relief” written in the memo section. These gifts will be sent from the church through the American Baptist region and then to International Ministries.
One Great Hour of Sharing is administered by the World Relief Committee of the General Board. The Committee facilitates American Baptist emergency relief, disaster rehabilitation, refugee work, and development assistance by establishing policy guidelines and overseeing distribution of the annual One Great Hour of Sharing offering.
Expiring soon is a tax relief law that allows people who contribute to Haiti earthquake relief by March 1, 2010 to take a tax deduction for the contribution on their 2009 tax return. This means donors can receive an immediate tax benefit, rather than having to wait until they file next year’s return. Donors may deduct these contributions on either their 2009 or 2010 returns, but not both. See: www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=218645,00.html?portlet=7
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.