World Vision Update

I received this email today from World Vision and wanted to share it for those who may not be on their distribution list or sponsor a child. Please consider serving those in Haiti through this wonderful organization.

Dear Sponsor,

As a faithful sponsor, I want to update you about the unfolding situation in Haiti and ask for your prayers.

Haiti is devastated in the aftermath of a 7.0 earthquake that struck last Tuesday. Over three million Haitians are in dire need – thousands have lost their homes, many have lost loved ones. The massive quake left the area in ruins with hundreds of collapsed homes, schools, hospitals and churches.
World Vision had prepositioned emergency supplies in place so that staff members were able to distribute within hours of the quake to survivors and hospitals in desperate need. World Vision now has more than 800 Haitian staff as well as a dozen international disaster response experts responding throughout affected areas.

World Vision also is rushing 18 metric tons of basic relief supplies to the quake zone. We are focusing on distributions for families, especially food, clean water, and emergency medical care. World Vision has worked in Haiti for 30 years but the country’s infrastructure has been devastated, and the magnitude of this catastrophe is enormous.

If you’ve already given a gift, thank you. We are deeply grateful for the generosity of our donors. This will certainly be a marathon. Our commitment to Haiti extends beyond our immediate response to this disaster. Please continue to run this race beside us. Your gift today multiplies 3x in impact to help Haiti. 18-month old Navensky Charles suffered a broken shoulder, leg and arm before being rescued from his collapsing home.

Thanks to US government grants, your gift today will multiply 3x in impact to provide the people of Haiti with food, clean water and shelter as well as helping rebuild for the future. As of this writing, we are thankful to report that all World Vision sponsored children in Haiti are safe. The epicenter of the quake primarily affected the capital city of Port-au-Prince. World Vision sponsorship communities are located outside the city; therefore, our sponsored children seem to have been spared. We are thankful to God for that good news. However, we will continue to monitor the situation since aftershocks continue to strike the region.

Please join us in prayer as we continue to lift up the children, families, and communities who have been affected by this disaster. Together, we can be the hands and feet of Christ, bringing hope and healing.

In Him,

Rich Stearns
President, World Vision U.S.
“And let us run with endurance the race that God set before us … by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.” Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)

If you are interested in supporting World Vision’s efforts in Haiti I also suggest visiting my friend Charles Lee’s website today. He has posted information about the Love Haiti Challenge, a $10,000 matching grant through his organization and World Vision. You can find his article HERE.

Also, all next week my friend, Matthew Paul Turner, will be blogging from Uganda where he is traveling with the World Vision team. Follow him via Twitter and his blog, Jesus Needs New PR for updates on World Vision’s efforts in Uganda and updates on their work in Haiti.