Current Effort: Haiti Relief, 2010
In the Wake of an Earthquake
“The level of distress is indescribable,” said The Rev. Tania Guzman, in a phone conversation today. “People are panicked over the inability to find those they love and care for.”
“What we will need,” Rev. Guzman continued, “is both the spiritual and the physical support to rebuild lives and communities. There are no walls to tear down here; only the work of building up hope again.”
MCC Efforts in a Nutshell…
…a report from Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson (Moderator, MCC) and Rev. Tania Guzman of MCC Santo Domingo
To date, Metropolitan Community Churches have raised over $44,000 for relief in Haiti. We sent $10,000 to Housing Works, which helps those with HIV/AIDS in Haiti. We have now spent an additional $26,000 on grants to our church in the Dominican Republic. Pastor Tania Guzman and the church in the DR have undertaken three relief trips to Haiti. Here’s what they have done:
“On Feb 11, 2010 we made our first MCC relief trip to Haiti. A total of 8 people (six church members and 2 drivers) went to Haiti and distributed food and hygiene product to 22 families of our Haitian church members who were scattered all over the city. We contacted the drivers and a big bus (36 passengers) with a trailer. The food and items we took were the following:
Rice, beans, cooking oil, powder milk, sugar, spaghetti, flower, corn flower, sardines, oatmeal, cooking spaces, Soap, toothpaste, feminine protection, water, Salami, noodle soup and other miscellaneous items.
We provided church members with funds to get ill family members from Haiti to the Dominican Republic, wired funds to family members we were not able to get to while in Haiti because they had to leave the Capital to other areas of the country, provided church members with funds to go to Haiti and find the whereabouts of their families, and visited hospitals in the Dominican Republic and provided medicine for Haitian patients.
Our second MCC relief trip to Haiti was on April 7, 2010. This time we distributed food and hygiene products to forty families with the same items as in the first trip. We contracted two buses and four drivers for two days. We also distributed 16 tents (each tent houses 8-10 people) and provided POZ with a list of medicine they requested and two tents for patient consultation. POZ one of the GLBT organizations in Haiti working on HIV/AIDS and human rights. Their building was destroyed by the earthquake and some of its members died. Again we wired funds to family members who were in areas outside the capital where we were not able to get to.
June 3, 2010 we will make our third relief trip to Haiti. We will be taking food items for 30 families and tents for forty families. Our plan this time is to go to one of the tent camps and provide real tents to those who have tried to make tents out of sticks and bed sheets. We also plan to distribute the food in the same camp area. Also, again, we will be taking medicine to POZ.”
