July 22, 2016
The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
—Psalm 145:14-16
Making A Difference in Haiti!
The people of Haiti have suffered tremendously since its inception as a free nation in the early 1800s. Haiti has a uniquely tragic history. Natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and droughts, along with the man-made disaster of deforestation, have physically destroyed this island nation. The social injustices that include poverty, racial unrest, and political chaos have plagued the small country throughout its history. Today, Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas, with no relief in sight.
Twenty-five years ago, Bobby and I moved to Haiti permanently. We fell in love with the people of Haiti and have struggled ever since to help them lift themselves out of poverty while bringing them the Word of God.
When we started out so many years ago, we traveled around the country, bringing the Word of God through our tent crusades. As many of you know, it was the cries of a young Haitian mother at one of our crusades, who held up her baby asking, “If God is so great, why is my baby so hungry” that made us realize that we needed to help these poor people who struggle with the basic needs of humanity, before they were going to listen to our message from God.
Our Feeding Programs reach out to hundreds of thousands of Haitians, in our schools and villages, and through our food distribution to over 70 organizations each month.
Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is an invaluable partner, with whom we have worked for over 18 years. They donate most of the food for Love A Child’s Feeding Programs. The food is packaged and shipped in 40-foot containers. Love A Child pays to transport the food from FMSC in Coon Rapids, MN to the Port of Miami. From there, we pay ocean freight charges to transport the food to Haiti. Once in Haiti, we work with customs officials to have the containers released. Shipping such large containers incurs many charges, including docking fees, brokerage fees, government fees, and more. Each container of food holds 272,000 meals, Love A Child spends $10,000 in transportation fees for each container. It is through the generosity of our partners, donors and the grace of God that we receive this food each month. That is 2,700,000 meals that we are able to distribute to missionary organizations, our Love A Child Schools, and feeding programs in many poor villages, each month.
Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a Christian non-profit organization committed to feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit around the world. FMSC has worked to develop a food mixture that would be easy and safe to transport, simple to make with only boiling water, and culturally acceptable worldwide. FMSC developed MannaPackRice™, a formula consisting of:
1. Rice, the most widely accepted grain around the world.
2. Extruded soy nuggets, providing maximum protein at the lowest cost.
3. Vitamins, minerals, and a vegetarian flavoring to give growing children the critical nutritional elements they need.
4. Dehydrated vegetables for flavor and nutrition.*
There is no way that we can do this by ourselves. It is only through your support that we are able to help the Haitians improve their living condition and address widespread malnutrition among the children of the poor. It is through our partners and donors like you, that we can distribute food each month to over 70 organizations. Thank you for partnering with us, it is through your sacrificial gifts that we can continue to help these poor people, and fight chronic malnutrition.
This is our monthly food distribution at our Kingdom Connection Food Distribution Center. Thank you, Pastor Jentezen Franklin, for sponsoring this huge food warehouse! Thank you Feed My Starving Children for the meals we receive each month. Thank you partners! You are making a difference in Haiti!
Without this food, many of these organizations would not make it through the month. Recently, we had a missionary break down and cry because he was so thankful for the food. He said without our food each month his orphans would go hungry. Now they do not lack! Thank you Feed My Starving Children, Joyce Meyer Ministries—Hand of Hope, Jentezen Franklin and your partners, and each of you, our partners who help us every month to pay for shipping of all the containers of food down here from the States, by faith!!
Each month, Bobby and I travel to poor villages around Haiti for our Feeding Programs. Many of these places are in the “regions beyond.” Villages such as Mon Kabrit (Goat Mountain), Savaan Pit, Cotin, and many more are so far away that it takes hours to reach those hungry people. The roads to these villages take us high up into the mountains and are very dangerous, but we are so glad to arrive there with food because the children are so hungry.
We have just included the Truttier Waste Disposal Dump into our Feeding Program. Truttier is located near the giant Cité Soleil slums in the capital city, Port-au-Prince. In this time of famine, all these people are becoming desperate for food. The children scavenge through the garbage every day for a morsel of food. We could not do this kind of work without all of you, our partners and all of you who give a widow’s mite, it makes a huge difference in the lives of these starving people. We are so thankful for all of your giving in these trying times.
We recently distributed food to 330 families who live in the dump site of the Truttier Waste Disposal Dump. This is one of the worst areas of Haiti, and many of these families moved to the garbage dump after the earthquake destroyed their homes. Each day, children and many of the adults pick through the garbage by hand, looking for food and anything that they can sell… it is so heartbreaking that we cannot put it into words. We thought it was bad “last time,” but the heavy rain has made everything worse. We walked through garbage, pig feces, mountains of flies, broken glass, and rusty tin cans. We had to wear masks because it was so hard to breathe. We are thankful to all of our partners for helping to feed these poor families. You are making a difference in Haiti.
We just did a clothing distribution in the “regions beyond.” This is where so many of you, our partners and donors, shine. It was wonderful to see the looks on the faces of children and adults light up when we brought them new clothes, blankets, and toys. All the donated clothing, blankets, and toys were made by hand by many of our donors. You all are making a big difference in the lives of so many Haitians. Thank you all, partners, sponsors and all of you that take the time to make something amazing for the people of Haiti! Love is something you do!
We are so grateful that so many of you have the love and compassion to help us bring, not only food and clothing to the poorest of the poor but some hope and dignity to these wonderful people of Haiti.
God Bless you,
Sherry
If you would like to make a contribution, please consider a monthly donation of food, it makes such a different in the lives of these poor people.
If you would like to speak directly to one of our staff members, please call: 239-210-6107 or email us at: info@lachaiti.org.
* Feed My Starving Children http://fmsc.org/mannapack