Teacher Challenge!

Okay teachers. It's your turn! Two ambitious elementary schools and their students have made a big difference for Haiti this week.

An elementary school in Montgomery, Illinois raised $826 for Rivers of Hope orphanage. A small school in Metarie, Lousiana raised $302 in a day to support TRTP.

How did they do it?

The school in Illinois had pajama day. Each child who wanted to wear their pjs to school brought in a $1 donation for The Red Thread Promise. A similar concept was used in the Louisiana school. Children who brought in $1 were able to leave their school uniforms at home and wear street clothes to school on a designated day.

What a simple way to support relief efforts in Haiti! We'd like to challenge you to bring this or other creative idea to your school and try it. Getting children involved teaches them valuable lessons in compassion, a trait that can only be learned by being involved in something that makes another's life better.

What can your school do this week?

Your Donations at Work in Haiti

Your contributions are truly making a difference in the lives of others. Whether it is the treatment of an individual orphan like Zheng LuYuan, or bringing supplies to an entire mountainside in Haiti, it is news like this that warms our hearts and reinforces that our work is effective. Thanks to your generous support, we have sent over $13,000 directly to the directors of Mountain Top Ministries and Rivers of Hope orphanage in the past few weeks! Your donations have directly impacted the lives of thousands of Haitians and we wanted to share some of the news with you.

Mid January
Willem was, and still is, highly engaged in helping relief supplies get to the people of Haiti. He met with the Minister of Commerce, the Prime Minister and President Preval on January 21st to discuss this massive undertaking in the mountains outside Port au Prince, where Mountain Top Ministries and Rivers of Hope orphanage are located. Willem worked closely with a team to set up food distribution points in Gramothe and Dumay. The villages of Madeleine, Boucan, Planchet, Tala and Depense were also served at the distribution point in Gramothe. Beth and their sons, David and Stephen, spent hours organizing supplies for rationing. They packaged medical items creating health kits as well as organized and filled large bags of medical supplies from the MTM clinic.

Hugs were shared and tears shed as they said goodbye to friends who evacuated to the Dominican Republic. Those remaining at MTM tried their best to keep their spirits up as they continued to search for classmates and friends. Even though the work was exhausting, sleep was an elusive luxury that many were unable to find for themselves.

Late January
Willem was instrumental in food distribution in the outer lying areas of Port Au Prince as well as in the immediate areas around MTM. The people's desperation was mounting as their need for clean water and food escalated. Willem and Beth reported that there were a few "close calls", but thankfully, God brought them through without incident.

Mountain Top Ministries' school principals reported that all of their teachers survived the earthquake. Sadly, they could not reach each and every family at both the Gramothe and Dumay schools. They prayed for word from all families.

On January 28th, a dry food distribution was done in Gramothe. There was enough for each family to get a 100 lb. bag of food items. On the 30th, Willem, Stephen and a crew from the Gramothe / Thomassin area arrived in the village of Dumay with rice. They handed out one 50 lb. bag of rice for every 4 villagers to be shared; the very elderly received 1 full bag. Once the line of adults was complete, a new line was formed with children. There was enough rice remaining that every 5 children were allowed a full bag to share. Everyone in the village that came for distribution left with food.

Early February
The village of Madeleine is 2 mountain sides walk from Gramothe and is home to some of the poorest children that attend the MTM School. Coordinating a food distribution for this village was challenging. Only a tiny footpath leads to the village making it impossible to take a truck there. MTM assigned one of the older MTM high school students from Madeleine the task of making a list of one name from each family in the village who would receive rice for their family. That one person would come to the Gramothe church to receive their provisions. On February 5th, a large crowd of Madeleine family representatives appeared on the basketball court just below the MTM church. Two by two the family representatives came forward when their names were called and received a bag of rice to be divided between them. 127 families were given food that they otherwise had no way of getting.

Stephen and David were able to assist Willem in the food distribution to the remote village of Boucan on February 9th. 192 more families received rice and oil through the distribution work of MTM.

On February 12th, a family representative from each of the villages of Planchet, Tala and Depense gathered at the church in Gramothe to receive rice and oil. The villagers cooperated so well that Willem was able to give rice to two villages simultaneously, enabling the distribution to move quickly. The people were able to return to their homes before the night settled. 250 more families were served that evening.

From Willem and Beth: Together on behalf of the Haitian people, we are grateful for the donors that are helping to make these kinds of food distributions possible.

From The Red Thread Promise: Thank you for showing your love of humankind by supporting The Red Thread Promise's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.

Today's News from Haiti

Well, there hasn't been much news today from our contacts in Haiti.

This morning, Willem said: "Singing on the mountain again tonight. No internet all day—absolutely no communications today (nerve racking!). Had a hard tremor at about 4:00. We have 13 children (15 counting Stephen & David) on our living room floor sleeping tonight. The children became frightened after the tremor & the nanny needed to find out about her own family. We have food, water & are safe. Please continue to pray."

Later this afternoon he stated that people are literally sleeping in the streets because they are so afraid of the tremors. More patients made the long trek to Mountain Top Ministries' gates today in search of medical treatment. It is heartbreaking that the hospitals are turning people away because they have no supplies.

According to NPR news, there will be a series of health aftershocks in Haiti. Experts expect that many more people will die from untreated injuries and complications from injuries. There may be a second wave of deaths caused by lack of clean water, housing and sanitation. Finally, another wave will ensue when food runs out. (For the full story, visit NPR.)

Please pray that necessities like clean water, food and medical supplies are provided to those in need. Thankfully, our contacts are okay, but thousands of people are not. If you would like to make a difference and help get those supplies to the Haitian people, please make a donation to our Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. As always, the mailing address, Global Giving and PayPal buttons are on the right in the sidebar. Mark your donation with "earthquake" in the subject line and the funds will go directly to Haiti.

And, most importantly, keep Haiti in your thoughts and prayers.

Earthquake Update

It is Wednesday morning and we have more news from Willem:

1/13/10

1:00 am

After shocks stopped for a while but they're starting back up again. The church in Gramothe is all lit up & the whole village must be there praising the Lord! Talk about a city on a hill!

1/13/10

4:20 am

The team returned at about 2AM, exhausted physically & emotionally. They were able to help at least 100 people w/severe trauma injuries. We are grateful for your prayers, please do not stop. Morning will bring more for us to face.

The Red Thread Promise has set up a Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. We will send any contributions marked "earthquake" directly to Mountain Top Ministries and Rivers of Hope Orphanage. While we may not be there to physically to help, we can certainly make a difference by allowing both organizations to purchase food and supplies for those in need. Our mailing address and PayPal button are on the right. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

Get the latest at NPR News. There is a photo gallery there of some of the devastation (image above is from NPR). Viewer discretion is advised.

Please continue to keep Haiti, it's people—its' visitors, its' government, its' orphans—in your thoughts and prayers.