Through the week we have learned more about how the Episcopal church and our own members are contributing to relief efforts in Haiti. First, we were sent a link from the Wall Street Journal with a video interviewing Episcopal Bishop Jean Zache Duracin.
“The Episcopal camp was started the night of the quake with three tents scrounged up by Ogé Beauvoir, the dean of the Episcopal seminary. He and colleagues pitched the tents on the soccer field of a crushed parish school. A seminarian with medical training spent the night treating the injured. A team of young people dug through the school’s rubble “with their hands, with iron bars,” said Father Beauvoir. That night, they pulled out 12 survivors and four bodies. They got one more person out alive, but he died shortly after. “One week after the quake, the priests had given food, water, or a little medicine to 3,000 people, said the Episcopal bishop of Haiti, Msgr. Jean Zaché Duracin. “Looking unecclesiastical in a lavender polo shirt, khaki shorts, a baseball cap and slippers, Msgr. Duracin presided over a table of priests and lay leaders meeting in one of the school’s undamaged buildings. They discussed how to rebuild the diocese, and how to serve the thousands living outside.”
Second, we learned that our own Tricia Blank is volunteering with Partners in Health:
“I’ve been volunteering daily at Partners in Health since the earthquake and it’s amazing how much this small staff is handling. PIH now is overseeing all medical operations in Haiti, including supervision of the University Hospital in Port au Prince, Doctors without Borders, Red Cross, U.N. and all other NGOs. At the same time, they have their existing 10 clinics and hospitals and staffs. Planes of medical teams and supplies are going several times daily. “
Third, Nick DePeyster’s cousin, Reed Lindsay, is a journalist with experience in Haiti who rushed back after the disaster struck:
Reed Lindsay of Honor and Respect Foundation rushed to Haiti on Tuesday as a humanitarian first and secondly as a journalist. He arrived in Port-au-Prince yesterday evening, spent last night in the Venezuelan Embassy. His words above came from the streets of Jacquet, his former neighborhood and the site of the first assembly for Friends of SODA, now known as Honor and Respect Foundation (HRF). Fortunately Reed found a number of friends in Jaquet alive and well but as you can tell from his words above the situation is dire…
At our annual meeting this Sunday, we will have an open basket free will offering which will go toward Episcopal Relief and Development and the Society of St. Margaret’s relief efforts.
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