Haiti: Help Earthquake Victims Recover

Many local churches and charitable organizations in Oklahoma have been providing services in Haiti for years, but after a recent, devastating earthquake, their resources are needed now more than ever. <br /><br /><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/livecoverage/2010/01/haiti_earthquake_how_to_help.html?hpid=topnews" target="_blank">Find out how and where to donate</a>

Wednesday, January 13th 2010, 6:52 pm

By: News 9


By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Many local churches and charitable organizations in Oklahoma have been providing services in Haiti for years, but after a recent, devastating earthquake, their resources are needed now more than ever.

"I just literally began to weep. My heart just hurts," said Clark Mitchell, Journey Church senior pastor.

Mitchell and a team from Journey Church in Norman just returned from Haiti and said they are heartbroken by the pictures of devastation and death in an already torn country.

The church put together a 30 minute documentary of their time visiting villages and schools.

"Most Haitian kids will never be educated. Most kids may get one meal a day. That the poverty level is if a person earns $2 a day, it's remarkable," said Mitchell. "The poverty before the earthquake was just unimaginable, so as I sit here today with all these images in my mind, I can't even imagine what it's like down there today and how that multiplied thousands of time what was already a catastrophic condition."

And now Mitchell said their video could provide help to thousands. For every DVD that is sold, the money will go to Mission of Hope, an organization already in Haiti.

"We really do want to help in those practical ways right off the bat," Mitchell said.

But getting supplies into Haiti could take days, even weeks.

"Logistics is a problem. You can't fly in right now with supplies," Tony Sellars with Feed the Children said.

Feed the Children had a shipment of food headed to Haiti before the earthquake struck, and now they are working to get more supplies into the country. They are also keeping close tabs on the organization's medical clinic and staff.

"Our regional director was able to contact us early today. He is well but most of his staff is either missing or unaccounted for," Sellars said.

And as the death toll rises, the recovery will not be easy.

"This is going to be a situation that takes a long time to heal," Sellars said.

The Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma is working with Baptist Global Response. A team, which includes thousands of Oklahomans, will deploy to Haiti in the coming days and is scheduled to stay for six months.

Local and National Organizations accepting donations for Haiti earthquake relief:

- Feed the Children
- Oklahoma Red Cross
- UNICEF
- Mission of Hope: Haiti
- Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma
- Dillon International, an adoption agency dealing with kids in Haiti
- Find out more information on Journey Church's DVD to help Haitian earthquake victims
- Donate to the numerous national relief efforts including text message donations

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