FRIEND SHIPS

Haiti Relief

THE SHIP INTEGRITY DELIVERS EARTHQUAKE RELIEF...

Haiti Base - The Sea Hawk team assembling temporary homes...

June 25, 2010

Thank you for continuing to help us follow the call of the Lord and minister to people in their time of tremendous need. In June, Friend Ship Integrity delivered her 5th shipload of relief supplies for Smile of A Child. From there it was distributed to other organizations throughout the Port-au-Prince area, devastated by last January's 7.0 earthquake. Goods delivered and dispersed include food, medical supplies, new clothing, building materials for shelters, blankets, diapers, sleeping bags, water tanks and tents. It is truly amazing how the Lord provides all that we need to continue this large, ongoing effort. The Sea Hawk team stationed at Haiti Base has worked diligently to prepare and assemble the lovely temporary vinyl homes we are providing for homeless Haitian families.

One of the areas where the Sea Hawks have been focusing their efforts is a beach community called Simonette. A young man there named Eden is a member of a family particularly affected by the January 12 earthquake. Although standing, their home had been made extremely hazardous by spider web-like cracks throughout the entire house. Like most of the Haitians with heavily damaged homes, they are rightfully afraid to stay inside so instead, a couple of small pup tents provide them shelter. With temperatures over a hundred degrees and torrential downpours of rain, these tents are far from suitable shelter.

In addition, when the earthquake struck, the mother of this single parent family was bathing in their typical outdoor shower made of cinder block when a section of the wall collapsed in and crushed her. She survived but is seriously injured and most days, is only able to rest outside on a cardboard mat because of her injuries. Eden's father died of cancer some years ago and his teenage sons are doing their best to now care for their mom.

The team found Eden's family to be a perfect candidate for the first Smile Of A Child shelter. They selected the vinyl colors and the Sea Hawks, along with the help of a guest team of awesome Mennonite workers, went to work building the components of the home. Soon, they were ready to load wall panels and tools into our truck and head out to Simonette.

As the team pulled into the building site, locals gathered from all over the village to see what was going on. As the day wore on, the builders pushed the pace to beat the looming thunderstorm sounding in the distance. The storm served as a reminder of how important the new shelter is to this family. Just as the sun was about to set, the Sea Hawks and Mennonites had completed the beautiful shelter with only a few small details to complete the next day. The tools were loaded back onto the truck and the site cleaned up. Then, as a fitting end to a blessed day, the team gathered around Eden's mother, laid hands on her and prayed for her healing. Eden and his family were truly blessed by the love of Christ through His people and expressed heartfelt thanks for their new home and the warm friendships that have been built.

Hurricane season is upon us and there are predications of a year that could be as active as 2005, the worst Atlantic hurricane season in recorded history. That was the year of Katrina along with 27 other tropical and sub-tropical storms, 15 of which developed into hurricanes. We plan to run 2 to 3 more loads of temporary shelters to Haiti and then bring Integrity home to Port Mercy to stand by for hurricane relief.

However, our work in Haiti will continue during this time at Base Camp. As the 2009-2010 Sea Hawk class returns home for graduation in July and a new class joins us in August to start their training, a Friend Ships team will continue to man the Haiti Base and oversee construction and placement of the temporary shelters.

Haiti Base Camp

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PRAYER: Pray for our success, safety, needs met, lives touched and people encouraged! Sign up to receive our Special Forces email letter for current prayer needs.

Financial Donation: You can make a financial donation to go towards disaster response to help those affected by the recent earthquake and to allow us to get supplies and equipment that will be needed.  Please specify "Haiti Relief" with your donation.

You can donate online (click here), call our Port Mercy office, or m ail a check/money order to our Port Mercy office.

There are opportunities of serving at our Port Mercy, Lake Charles, LA location as a short term volunteer (1-3 weeks), please fill out and submit a Disaster Response Application.