This is the letter I'm sending out to ask for spiritual and financial help for our trip to Haiti. Maybe you, too, could help. :-)
February 18th, 2011
Dear Friends and Family:
It has been over one year since a magnitude 7.0 earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and its surrounding areas on January 12th, 2010. Since that time, the international community has contributed an estimated $1.4 billion toward relief efforts in the country. While some of this aid has been sent specifically to provide for the 1.3 million displaced in the country, a continuing need is stable, permanent housing. This is no less true for the children of Haiti, an unknown number of whom have been orphaned or abandoned because of the earthquake.
This is where you and I come in. I am joining a team of young people from three different churches in Stockton, California, to travel to Jacmel, Haiti, where we will help rebuild an orphanage destroyed in the earthquake. Jacmel sits on the southern coast of Haiti, about twenty-five miles southwest of Port-au-Prince. Like that city, Jacmel sustained heavy damage, especially in its poorer districts, and we seek to be part of the effort to rebuild it. Specifically, we will be assisting an organization already present in Jacmel, called the Hands and Feet Project, a village that provides shelter and education to children whose parents are unable to care for them. The goal of Hands and Feet is to build up a generation of orphans who will live for Christ and lead their communities.
With such a goal in mind, we do not take our responsibility lightly. Indeed, we go understanding our God’s call to “be openhanded...to the poor and needy in [our] land” and “to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” (Deuteronomy 15:11, James 1:27). Yet, we cannot go without your help. Each of us must raise $1,500 to pay for travel, room and board, building materials for the orphanage, and other expenses. I am therefore writing to ask for your help. Quail Lakes Baptist Church has established a support fund for the purpose of sending us to Haiti. If you decide to contribute, you would simply address any remittance to that church (“QLBC”), and in the note section, you would write the words “Haiti Team: Tony Sciarini” to ensure that your check is devoted to my portion of the expense.
Whether or not you decide to give, however, please pray for us. We will be entering a country where disease, poverty, and political instability are an ever-present reality, and though the place we will be staying is safer than its surrounding region, it will be highly important for us to conduct ourselves with the wisdom God provides. In all of this, thank you for your consideration. I have no doubt that God is already working in Haiti to restore lives, both spiritually and materially. It will be our job simply to join in that work, and to watch with privilege as he continues to make himself known to those who need him.
Gratefully,
Tony Sciarini
If for any reason I cannot go on this trip or I raise more money than needed, the funds will go toward the ministry I will be participating in. Since all funds given represent a gift to a Quail Lakes Baptist Church mission project no refunds are available.
February 18th, 2011
Dear Friends and Family:
It has been over one year since a magnitude 7.0 earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and its surrounding areas on January 12th, 2010. Since that time, the international community has contributed an estimated $1.4 billion toward relief efforts in the country. While some of this aid has been sent specifically to provide for the 1.3 million displaced in the country, a continuing need is stable, permanent housing. This is no less true for the children of Haiti, an unknown number of whom have been orphaned or abandoned because of the earthquake.
This is where you and I come in. I am joining a team of young people from three different churches in Stockton, California, to travel to Jacmel, Haiti, where we will help rebuild an orphanage destroyed in the earthquake. Jacmel sits on the southern coast of Haiti, about twenty-five miles southwest of Port-au-Prince. Like that city, Jacmel sustained heavy damage, especially in its poorer districts, and we seek to be part of the effort to rebuild it. Specifically, we will be assisting an organization already present in Jacmel, called the Hands and Feet Project, a village that provides shelter and education to children whose parents are unable to care for them. The goal of Hands and Feet is to build up a generation of orphans who will live for Christ and lead their communities.
With such a goal in mind, we do not take our responsibility lightly. Indeed, we go understanding our God’s call to “be openhanded...to the poor and needy in [our] land” and “to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” (Deuteronomy 15:11, James 1:27). Yet, we cannot go without your help. Each of us must raise $1,500 to pay for travel, room and board, building materials for the orphanage, and other expenses. I am therefore writing to ask for your help. Quail Lakes Baptist Church has established a support fund for the purpose of sending us to Haiti. If you decide to contribute, you would simply address any remittance to that church (“QLBC”), and in the note section, you would write the words “Haiti Team: Tony Sciarini” to ensure that your check is devoted to my portion of the expense.
Whether or not you decide to give, however, please pray for us. We will be entering a country where disease, poverty, and political instability are an ever-present reality, and though the place we will be staying is safer than its surrounding region, it will be highly important for us to conduct ourselves with the wisdom God provides. In all of this, thank you for your consideration. I have no doubt that God is already working in Haiti to restore lives, both spiritually and materially. It will be our job simply to join in that work, and to watch with privilege as he continues to make himself known to those who need him.
Gratefully,
Tony Sciarini
If for any reason I cannot go on this trip or I raise more money than needed, the funds will go toward the ministry I will be participating in. Since all funds given represent a gift to a Quail Lakes Baptist Church mission project no refunds are available.
I recently went to Haiti as well. I have found it a life changing experience.
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