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On Tuesday, January 12, a 7.0 earthquake devistated Haiti. As CNN reported “The death toll could be between 45,000 and 50,000, with a further three million people hurt or homeless, a senior Haitian Red Cross official said on Thursday.” There are only nine million people in Haiti, and most of them are suffering tremendous pain, grief, sickness, thirst or hunger.
While the nation seems to be holding strong without widespread panic and peaceful streets, the concern is that as food, housing, medical supplies and most importantly - water- run out, panic will spread.
To help contribute to the relief efforts in Haiti, The Avenue desires to respond generously to the devisation in Haiti. A special offering will be collected and divided among two organizations we desire to parter with who are providing assistance during this crisis. In addition, we encouage anyone not able to give financially to DONATE BLOOD to the Red Cross. We are confident these organizations will have both immediate and lasting impacts. They are no-nonsense, transparent and retain high accreditations from the BBB and other charity review organizations. We have confidence that both organizations will deliver aid with our support.
Haiti Support Organizations:
1. Samaritans purse
Samaritans purse was one of the first charities on the ground and they have a permanent presence in Haiti. They have people living missional lives with the Haitians and a local missions infrastructure already established. We are confident that the money given to this organization will provide food and water to sustaining life, and quickly. To learn more about their response teams, click here.
2. Water.org
Last fall, this charity announced its commitment to bring safe water and sanitation to 50,000 Haitians over the coming 36 months. They’re implementing a staged plan to respond to this natural disaster, building on their existing effort. As part of that plan, their most immediate concern is helping to restore the ability of their local partners and potential partners to respond to the crisis by repairing and expanding water and sanitation facilities for people in need.
Water.org’s strength is long-term water and sanitation projects. Sustainable access to such basic necessities will be the area of greatest need as Haiti recovers from the earthquake. The founder Co-Founder of Water.org is Gary White, a KC native, and the organization started with a fundraiser on Blue Ridge Cut-Off. Matt Damon saw the potential and merged his organization with Water.org to make a larger impact.
Basically we can take people water until they start making their own water or we can help them create the infrastructure to make their own clean water. Haiti will need this support as well as the clean water now.
An article about Founder and KC-native Gary White
3. American Red Cross
While the Avenue feels led to distribute the financial gifts to the first two charities, we encourage you to support the Red Cross by donating blood if you're unable to give financially. The Red Cross has already sent blood donations and supplies to Haiti, and will continue to rely on donations from people like us. To find a blood drive location, click here.
A Special Offering
We will take a special offering for the Haiti relief at our Jan. 17 worship service. If you're unable to attend the service but would like to join with The Avenue's giving effort, please:
1. Mail a gift to PO Box 2213, Lee's Summit, MO 64063, designating HAITI RELIEF on the outer envelope.
2. Give online. Click here to process an online donation through PayPal (you do NOT have to have a PayPal account.) If you are donating to the Haiti relief, please email Orion and notify him of your gift designation. (We will not know otherwise.)
3. Give directly to the organizations. Both Samarain's Purse and Water.org have online giving capabilities if you'd prefer to give directly to the charity and have all of your funds going to one place.
http://www.samaritanspurse.org
http://water.org/ |
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