June 17, 2016

And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

— Isaiah 58:10 & 11

These are the faces of hunger in Haiti.

 

Living in Haiti for 25 years, Bobby and I have experienced some of our greatest joy and at times, deepest despair. That is the mystery that is Haiti. How many children have we witnessed starve to death… and yet, often in the same day, we have been truly blessed when we distribute food and see the happiness on the faces of children and their families when they realize that they will not have to go to bed hungry that night.

 

At the beginning of our ministry, we preached about the love of Christ, but we did not feed the poor. We held huge crusades and thousands came to hear the Word. I will never forget late one night while we were finishing up and Bobby was closing the crusade, a frail Haitian woman in the very back, held her baby high above her head and in Creole, she said, “If God is so good, why is my baby so hungry?” That moment changed our ministry forever. We knew that we had to do more than “preach the Gospel.” This was the beginning of our feeding programs.

 

We have found that winning the people to the Lord would take more than “preaching.” There is a Creole Proverb that says, “A hungry stomach can’t hear.” This is true. When we find children and families who are hungry, we feed them and share God’s love.

 

It is through our 18-year partnership with Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) that we have been able to fulfill our mission each day by feeding the children of Haiti.

 

On a recent visit to Haiti, Mark Crea, president of FMSC, and his team joined us during our monthly food distributions to experience how his volunteer organization is saving lives in Haiti.

 

Every year, Mark and a team of his volunteers have come to Haiti to witness the miracle of their efforts in helping to wipe out hunger in Haiti, and around the world. We visited several villages to distribute food and feed the poor.

 

Each month we distribute food from our Kingdom Connection Food Distribution Center. Thank you Pastor Jentezen Franklin and your partners for donating the funds to build this beautiful warehouse and thank you for sponsoring food each month.

We also thank Joyce Meyer Ministries – Hand of Hope for sponsoring food to Haiti each month so we can feed hungry children and their families.

 

Wow! Look at the thousands of cases of food. Now we are able to bring in more food because of your continued support. Over 70 missionary organizations with which we share this food are able to feed thousands of children and families throughout Haiti.

 

We could not do this without support from FMSC, and all our partners who help cover the costs of bringing the food from their location in Minnesota, to the shipping docks in Miami, across the Caribbean Sea, through customs in Haiti and then on to our Kingdom Connection Food Distribution Center at our Love A Child compound in Fond Parisien.

 

A Haitian Creole Proverb tells us, “Those who share their food, never eat alone…” Today, it is all about sharing, and not being selfish with what God has blessed us.

We are so thankful to Feed My Starving Children, who donates food to Love A Child each month. Our partners help pay to transport the food from the U.S. all the way to Haiti.

 

Everyone lends a helping hand on food distribution day, including some of our Love A Child orphans, our youngest missionary Kaeli Fletcher and our newest full-time missionary, our daughter Julie Halecki.

 

We also distribute this food to many poor villages in the area. So many more villages are experiencing a sharp increase in malnutrition and starvation due to recent crop failures. Because of the lack of rain in the last year, we are finding that there is so much more need in the remote areas of Haiti.

 

People travel for many miles to pick up their food; often it can be a day’s journey to reach the village where we distribute food. They return to their homes, carrying the food on donkeys back up into the mountains.

 

We also have over 8,000 children in our 18 Love A Child Christian schools, where each day they are given a hot, nutritious meal.

 

We recently made a trip to Mal Forte way up on Goat Mountain to feed starving children there. They have been so hungry. One of the greatest joys in the world is seeing the children enjoying their food down to the last grain of rice! Love is something you do!

 

We can’t forget to tell you about the success of our recently completed Malnutrition Center, where we address chronic malnutrition and starvation every day.

 

We provide specialized food and care to save their lives; we also send them home with food for their families.

 

Mark Crea, president of FMSC, came to visit our Malnutrition Center, spending time with some of the babies his organization is helping.

 

It is such a privilege to share our food with the poorest of the poor. This is only possible because of the unwavering support of so many people and organizations. Feed My Starving Children makes and donates the food, with the help of their partners. They donate this food to us, and our Love A Child partners sponsor the food to come from the States to Miami, then by boat to Haiti and released through Haiti’s Customs. When it comes to Haiti we depend on our incredible team and our National Haitian Director, Nelio and his staff to bring it to our Kingdom Connection warehouse. We all work together to feed hungry children and their families in Haiti.

 

 

We at Love A Child love the children of Haiti, and it is our heart’s desire to feed as many as we can this year. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world now, and children here spend many nights with the pain of hunger. Let your heart be touched with the “cry of the poor.” Please consider donating any amount you can to help save thousands of children this year.

Good Bless you,

Sherry