Wednesday, August 25, 2010

SOS

As a church team walks down the road with a ladder and impact drives in hand, three little girls, jumping up and down, call out over and over in unison, "Praise God, they are coming to build our home!"

An elderly blind man sits in a chair with a Bible on his lap as team members arrive to complete paperwork and dedicate his shelter. After praying a prayer of blessing on his new home, he spontaneously, with heartfelt passion and tears in his eyes, recites the Lord's Prayer in Creole.

A family of ten has been sleeping on the ground under one torn tarp but now they will have beds to sleep in and they will be able to feel safe and stay dry for the first time since the earthquake.

SOS

These are the true stories of how short-term teams are impacting whole areas in Haiti.
To alleviate the desperate circumstances of the families left homeless after the January 12 earthquake, Haiti officials are calling on groups to provide temporary shelters for the 1.4 million homeless Haitians. Temporary shelters are identified as the most critical need for Haiti right now.

TouchGlobal is partnering with Samaritan's Purse to build temporary shelters in the areas most affected by the earthquake. This project, which began in June, now has over 375 shelters standing, which provides housing for over 2,000 people. The church teams, working alongside TouchGlobal Crisis Response's efforts, have been a tremendous success as American and international churches are connecting with the despondent people of Haiti.

SOS

Leogane is considered to be the city that best represents the epicenter of the earthquake. Over 80% of their buildings are no longer standing. Four churches in this area have identified 200+ of the most affected families in this region and are requesting that TouchGlobal partner with them in providing shelters to these families. Come provide shelter to the people in Leogane.


TouchGlobal is sending out an SOS for churches to help us keep teams of 3-8 people serving each week in Haiti from October through January. This should give TouchGlobal the manpower to provide the relief requests. The time from now until October will be used to identify and equip the Hatian volunteers that will be partnering with us. See if your church and/or past teams can respond to the SOS "for such a time as this..."

Contact haitiresponse@efca.org if you can send a team.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

20 Million People...Pakistan Devastated


Severe monsoon rains have resulted in the worst disaster in the history of Pakistan. Twenty million people have been impacted. The worst may not be over as rains are forecasted to continue. According to news reports, the death toll of 1,600 may rise as now 36,000 people are being treated with cholera-like symptoms. Check out the details on our website.
Give
Financial donations to the flood relief efforts in Pakistan will be used for short and long-term needs. The immediate needs are many. Please give to help those impacted by the floods and ongoing crisis response ministry needs. Tents and have already been purchased and are being distributed.