January 13, 2010
Haiti Relief and Recovery Teams Forming
While the world marshals its forces to send massive and immediate aid to the millions of earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, three mission agencies have begun work to form and host volunteer teams for “second-responder” relief and rebuilding work.
DELTA Ministries International, a non-denominational, short-term agency based in Vancouver, Wash., in partnership with Missions Door, and CBAmerica has activated a relief and recovery plan formulated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. “We know this plan works,” said Tory Ruark, DELTA’s Short-Term Mission Director. “It was successfully applied after we trained and sent more than 1,000 volunteers and 80 church teams to give aid and help rebuild in the months following Katrina.”
On Tuesday, Jan. 12, Haiti experienced a 7.0 earthquake 10 miles from the capital city of Port-au-Prince where more than 2 million of the nation’s 9 million people live. “Nearly 80-percent of the people live below the poverty line,” said Ruark. “The destruction from the earthquake and its after shocks is still not completely known, and we won’t know the death toll for many days. What can be said for sure is that literally tens of thousands of structures from hotels, stores, official buildings and, most sadly, homes have been destroyed. Heart-wrenching pictures and stories of people being pulled from buildings and the dead on the streets speak to the misery caused by this tragedy.”
Ruark said that Missions Door currently has people on the ground in Haiti, and that DELTA is ready to begin training teams. “All we need is for churches across America to rise up and practically demonstrate the love of Christ by praying, giving and mobilizing short-term volunteer teams to help.”
If God is calling you or your church to be a part of His plan to restore Haiti, contact Tory Ruark at DELTA Ministries by email at toryr@deltaministries.com or by phone at 520-404-0841