In our last post, we reported that over $18,000 was raised through last Sunday's special offerings for Haiti.

Well, money has continued to come in, and currently we can now report raising over $23,400 for relief efforts in Haiti. These monies will be passed on to ERDO, the humanitarian relief arm of the PAOC and will be matched by the Canadian government through the CIDA grant announced last week. This means that almost $47,000 of relief will be heading to Haiti through PORTICO's generosity.

As noted in our last post, any of these funds that are distributed through the Canadian Food Grains Bank will be matched 4:1.

Thank you PORTICO! And continue to pray for Haiti and for missionaries Michel and Louise Charbonneau and Bob Thornley as they minster through this tragedy.

Last week our PORTICO family lovingly responded to the people of Haiti by donating just over $18,000.00 in emergency relief.  

Your generous support of $18,000 has the opportunity, through an approved PAOC/Canadian Foodgrains Bank food project to become $72,000 (CFGB matches donations 4:1) and will help to meet the staggering needs for humanitarian aid and for recovery and reconstruction activities.

We are grateful for the safety of PAOC missionaries Michel and Louise Charbonneau and Tami Goslow and Bob Thornley. We are grieved to learn of the death of Pastor Gandy St-Hilarie who was in charge of our weekly feeding program and was also involved in the ChildCare Plus sponsorship program. We are also saddened to learn of the confirmed death of one of our CCP sponsored children.

PAOC/ERDO (Emergency Relief & Development Overseas) is responding with practical help for the victims. On Tuesday, January 19th an Emergency Medical Response Team left the Dominican Republic with a truck load of medical aid and arrangements are being made through PAOC missionary Adrian Thomas in the Dominican Republic, for twice weekly shipments of relief goods into Port au Prince by small plane for use by the team on the ground.

Thank you PORTICO, for responding to this crisis. Let’s continue to pray for the people of Haiti, our missionaries, and all those involved in the relief and reconstruction process. We will continue to accept donations.

I just finished listening to a live conference call with Rich Stearns of World Vision, Dave Toycen from World Vision Canada (who is currently on the ground in Haiti), Bill Hybels and Max Lucado.

The strong recommendation right now is that the best way to have an impact in this early stage is by sending money. There is a tremendous challenge getting into the country. The port has been damaged so that shipping is hindered. The airport is overtaxed and roads are largely blocked. The World Vision offices in Port au Prince have also been severely damaged and they are currently operating out of a parking lot beside the building. Some of the greatest challenges early on were that many of the staff of the NGO’s on the ground in Haiti were all struggling with their own challenges... missing family members, damaged homes, no electricity, etc.

On a positive note, we are thankful for an answer to prayer. We have received an update from from the Missions Department at PAOC. Before this communique was received, Bob Thornley had been considered missing."We are grateful to know that missionaries Michel and Louise Charbonneau are safe, as are other personnel Tami Goslow and Bob Thornley."

Please continue to pray for relief efforts in the country.