Friday, March 5 , 2010

We invite you to participate with us...

MNA Disaster Response is working to assist PCA Pastors Dony St. Germain and Brian Kelso as they lead ministries among the Haitian people. These men are MNA Senior Staff members and have been working in Haiti for many years. In order to determine how best to help these men and their ministries, MNA Disaster Response sent three assessment teams, including MNA Disaster Response Director Arklie Hooten, with pastors St. Germain and Kelso into Haiti very soon after the quake. While in Haiti our teams made contact with various ministry sites to determine how best to stage MNA Disaster Response Volunteers to respond to this terrible disaster

• Join us in giving thanks for the answered prayers for the assessment teams. God graciously provided good health, safe travel, and wisdom in determining how best to respond to this great tragedy.
• Prayerfully consider a financial contribution. Gifts will be used to meet the needs of mission churches in Haiti who are affected, and to provide resources for God’s people to serve others in the community (for detailed information about how funds are used, contact Sherry Lanier at slanier@pcanet.org). To give a gift, go here: Contribute. Or mail your check to MNA designated for Haiti 2010 Earthquake Relief. 100% of your donation will go toward relief efforts. We are now collecting needed resources for our response, including supplies, equipment, food and tents. Please contact MNA Volunteer Facilitator Sherry Lanier at slanier@pcanet.org for a list of approved items and delivery instructions for these critically needed supplies.
• Mobilize medical teams at space allows. This began within days of the earthquake and is continuing. Currently teams are booked to work with El Shaddai through March. If you are a trained medical provider and desire to serve you can register now - click here.
• Register to Volunteer. We are currently mobilizing teams for food distribution to various ministry sites and anticipate mobilizing disaster response volunteers to our Oasis disaster response headquarters in Carrefour in April. If your team has already registered, please be patient as our First Responders prepare Oasis for your arrival. If you desire to bring a team to Haiti, please register here now: Register your team for future involvement. In the meantime there are a couple of things you can do to be prepared to serve as a volunteer in Haiti. First, please make sure you have a current passport. Travel to Haiti requires a valid passport. Second, please click here for information on required/requested immunizations for travel and service in Haiti.
• Volunteer for long term service. Do you have the ability to serve longer terms of service? MNA Disaster Response is in need of volunteers who can serve for periods of time beyond a week or two. We are looking for individuals who are willing to serve as Site Managers and hosts for the work sites that we are setting up in Haiti. If you are interested in serving in one of these capacities, please contact Sherry Lanier, MNA Disaster Response Facilitator at slanier@pcanet.org.
  

Please note that many phases of the response plan above cannot be fully implemented until consistent flight operations resume into Port-au-Prince and volunteer housing and other facilities are fully developed to provide a base at Carrefour for work with El Shaddai led by PCA Pastor Dony St. Germain, and similar facilities at Mirebalais for work with Great Commission Alliance led by PCA Pastor Brian Kelso.

El Shaddai, led by Dony St. Germain: Working with Church Plants, Schools and Orphanages

Currently MNA staff members are working with 42 church plants which had started prior to the earthquake and are ministering to 16,000 Haitians on a regular basis through these churches. Most of the churches have a Christian school associated with the church. Currently there are 6,000 students enrolled. They are also working with 13 orphanages that house 2,200 orphans as a ministry of mercy and outreach.

Many of the 42 church plants are in cities outside of Port-au-Prince. Because of the intensity of the destruction concentrated in Port-au-Prince the Haitian government has stated that 1,000,000 are now homeless and have fled that city in search of a more stable place to live. This large movement of people has caused many of the outlying cities to more than double in population, with no increases in infrastructure – infrastructure that was also affected by the earthquake. This has caused depletion of almost every type of resource that a city or town would normally afford.

Two Sites are currently under development to provide bases for long term work…

Working with El Shaddai, led by PCA Pastor Dony St. Germain: MNA’s initial assessment is complete and will be assisting as stated below.

MNA Disaster Response First Responders are setting up an earthquake response operation at Carrefour, a city near the epicenter of the quake. We are moving deliberately and as quickly as possible with presbytery teams rotating in and out over the next four weeks. Oasis, the facility in Carrefour being prepared, will become the headquarters for ongoing operations. We are currently gathering and shipping materials and supplies to Carrefour in advance of the arrival of the First Responders, which begins March 10th.. We expect this phase to take up to four weeks to complete. Once the Oasis volunteer facility is secure and the airport resumes consistent operations in Port-au-Prince, MNA will mobilize teams to assist in the rebuilding efforts, beginning with 30 homes of members of El Shaddai mission church members.

Working with Great Commission Alliance led by PCA Pastor Brian Kelso: MNA’s initial assessment is complete and we will be assisting as stated below.
MNA ShortTerm Missions is mobilizing short term missions teams to Mirebalais to assist with food distribution and to establish a transitional tent village for those who have migrated to the community seeking safety. Pastor Kelso is working jointly with Mirebalais’ Mayor to provide these resources to a community in desperate need. Pre-quake Mirebalais was 125,000 in population and is now approximately 300,000 according to the local government.

Updates:

• MNA Disaster Response Haiti Blog
• MNA Disaster Response on Facebook
• El Shaddai Ministries International - for archived reports click here.
• Great Commission Alliance

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