Defender Staff Report
An alliance of African American Baptist organizations representing 40,000 church congregations nationwide recently announced plans for a $50 million project to rebuild Haiti and aid survivors of the Jan. 12 earthquake.
The coalition - African-American Baptist Mission Collaboration - will provide assistance for five health care clinics to provide restorative health services and wellness; 50 schools with enhanced learning environments; 500 reconstructed churches to serve as center points for community empowerment; and 5,000 homes to house homeless earthquake victims.
"Providing immediate response to immediate needs has been critical. Having existed working relationships with established churches in the country enabled us to move swiftly to provide food, water, temporary shelter and pastoral care. This is reminiscent of the immediate support that churches gave to people in our own country in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005," said the Rev. Dr. Stephen J. Thurston, president of the National Baptist Convention of America and senior pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church.
The group has already begun providing weekly deployment of medical professionals to provide critical medical services and care; daily feeding of 3(K) meals each day at First Baptist Church in Petionville. located near Port-au-Prince; and daily feeding of 150 meals each day for earthquake survivor patients at Saint-Marc hospitals.
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