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Rays of Hope for Haiti and Cascade Christian Church bring hope, help, and happiness to Haiti
January 28, 2012 Ada/ Grand Rapids, MI- Cascade Christian Church of Ada, MI has been planning to revisit Haiti on a mission trip since the awful earthquake in January 2012. The group originally had plans for travel back in 2010 but the earthquake prevented them from going on the original trip
A trip with a purpose
Members of the Mission Committee, led by Debbie Jones and Lois VanVegel were sure that mission experience to Haiti would be one of encouragement and a true demonstration of love to the people, but also would provide a lasting impression and provide an opportunity for sustainable change in that country. Jim and Ann Early, parishioners at Cascade Christian had participated in previous mission outreaches to other nations. Most notable was their visit to Central America where they worked with trained locals in a water program to install the Biosand Water Filter in the homes of the poor. Thus providing clean water to those who needed it. Jim and Ann recommended this program to the Cascade Christian Church as a viable option for the sustainability portion of the outreach.
A special boost from Northfield Lanes in Grand Rapids
At the same time that Cascade Christian Church was considering the implementation of a clean water project in Haiti, Northfield Lanes of Grand Rapids, a local bowling alley with a heart for missions was planning their annual "Clean Water for Haiti" bowling fundraiser. The two groups were brought together by Rays of Hope for Haiti, and the fundraiser at Northfield Lanes, owned by Jim Frey provided a substantial financial boost for the Cascade Christian Church Clean Water for Haiti Program.
Pure Water for the World
Jim and Ann Early explained to the committee that a clean water program cannot be done independently. Their mission group must invest in an organization that has the experience and expertise in the field of training, education, follow up to ensure that the water project is successful and that the quality of life is improving. Rays of Hope for Haiti introduced the Cascade Mission team to the best in the business... Pure Water for the World. Their office in Haiti, directed by Dieudonne Mayambi and Noelle Thabault. Pure Water for the World trains locals worldwide about the proper usage, handing, and installation of the Biosand Water Filter. In addition, they provide extensive Pure-installation training to the recipients of the filter on issues such as sanitation and how to ensure that the clean water from the filter is not compromised. After installation, Pure Water for the World will return for follow up visits to ensure that the water filter is being used as it is intended, and that the quality of life for the people who have the filters is improving. Truly Pure Water for the World is a leader in providing clean water to communities throughout Haiti and worldwide.
A Team With a Plan!
Once the mission group from Cascade Christian identified their goal for a sustainable project they also wanted to be able to do some children's ministry and outreach. they asked Rays of Hope for Haiti to help set up one of their "Hug a Child" Outreaches for the participants of the outreach who were not working on the Biosand Water Filtration units.
All totaled the team of 12 traveled to Haiti and stayed at Notre Maison, an orphanage run by Gertrude Bien Aime. The team split up every day and one half worked on water filter distribution and installation with Pure Water for the World, and the other half visited dedicated their services to various orphanages and children's hospitals throughout Port au Prince.
The entire experience was life changing and encouraging. Families were trained on water sanitation and at the end of the training- throughout the week volunteers from Cascade Christian visited their homes with a technician from Pure Water for the World to install water filters. In addition, many children's homes and hospitals were visited where the team members helped in the care and feeding and physical therapy of the children. Often the directors or person in charge of the orphanage would thank the team for their visit and likened it to being a "cool drink" or a "breath of fresh air." Wherever the team traveled, they left both physical and financial gifts to encourage the orphanage directors in their work. however the greatest gift was the gift of prayer, often shared by the teams spiritual director, Connie Manny.
Doing it Right
Cascade Christian Church had all the pieces in place, and they were patient to make sure that all the pieces would fit properly. The group committed themselves to prayer and support of one another. During the time of their planning stages they became educated and aware of Haitian customs and the people of Haiti, and the sought out experts such as Pure Water for the World and Rays of Hope for Haiti to assist them with their outreach thereby not having to "reinvent the wheel."
For some exciting photos of the Cascade Christian Outreach look below at the photo album. Also visit us on Facebook or Youtube to see some video of the team as well.
God's Blessing through Art
Called to Serve volunteers present Rays of Hope with a Wall Mural
 Artist Jade Chavez of Aquinas College recently spent two weeks at the Rays of Hope for Haiti warehouse. She was part of a delegation from the Dominican Center’s Called to Serve Program. This is a spectacular program that takes young women for two weeks and invites them into a transformational time of devotion, service, and spiritual and communal growth. For two years, Rays of Hope for Haiti has been humbly blessed to have these dedicated hard working young women, champions of service and the Gospel to help us at our warehouse. Part of the project was to paint a wall mural, and God brought us Jade, a professional artist who has painted wall murals for other programs around the city including the Creston area, etc. Jade and other volunteers sat with the Rays staff and we shared our program, especially as it has changed since the earthquake. One special program truly stood out in Jade’s mind that was the PAIL Project. Jade designed a beautiful wall mural of silhouetted individuals walking into the sunset carrying pails and holding them together as to help each other out. The artwork is powerful and packs many messages. We invite you to come up to the warehouse and see this beautiful piece of work dedicated to Rays of Hope for Haiti through the love and work of human hands provided by Called to Serve at the Dominican Center.
Perhaps you can help sponsor a young woman to go to called to serve next year so they too can experience this life changing two week program.
God's blessings though art...
Students at Catholic Central give of supplies and paint a statue of the Blessed Mother for the Cathederal of Port au Prince, Haiti
Students in the art department were given a special assignment. While all the students of Catholic Central undertook collecting supplies for the people of Haiti and putting them in PAILS for the PAIL Project, the art department painstakingly painted a statue of the Blessed Mother Mary to be presented to the new Archbishop of Haiti, Most Rev. Guire Poulard. It will be presented on August 15 at the destroyed Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Haiti’s National Cathedral. August 15 is also the Catholic Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary and holds deep meaning in the hearts of Haitian Catholics. Along with the statue, Bishop Poulard will receive 72 full pails of supplies as a gift from the students of Catholic Central. Catholic Central hopes to bring a delegation with Rays of Hope for Haiti for this dedication.
The statue was unveiled at Catholic Central High School the last week of classes. At a special Mass attended by over 600 volunteer Dennis Feuerstein and a volunteer delegation from the local Haitian community presented the following message to the students, staff, and alumni of Catholic Central:
“My name is Dennis Feuerstein, a Catholic Central Alumnus, Class of 1966. This is Shelda Seide, a representative of the Grand Rapids Haitian community. Thank you for inviting us to share a few thoughts on what an amazing gift this statue is to both Rays of Hope for Haiti and to the faithful people of Haiti who have suffered so much this past year.
The spiritual leader of the Church in Haiti, Archbishop Serge Joseph Miot, was killed when the earthquake struck on January 12, 2010The Archbishop was a good friend and supporter of the work Rays of Hope does in Haiti and his death was a close personal loss for us.
Just a few months ago Most Reverend Guire Poulard was called by our Holy Father to become the new Archbishop of Port au Prince and Haiti. He faces a difficult task of rebuilding almost every church because of the earthquake. He also must help rebuild the lives and the hopes of families who suffered so much before the earthquake and now suffer even more after the earthquake. Bishop Poulard faces a daunting task.
But just as our Holy Mother, Mary, told the children of Fatima, “Do not be afraid.” I believe that her message continues to have meaning is for the children of Haiti, the children of Grand Rapids, and the children of the entire world. Let us not be afraid but with courage and conviction share her blessed message so that others might see and believe.
After today’s meeting we will bring this beautiful statue back to the Rays of Hope for Haiti warehouse where it will be carefully packed in a crate for shipment to Haiti. Upon its arrival there, the statue will be presented to the Archbishop of Haiti on the grounds of where the Cathedral of the Assumption of our Lady once stood in Port au Prince. This statue will be presented as a gift from the art students of Catholic Central High School and Rays of Hope for Haiti. It will be presented with many of the student project buckets that Provide Aid and Impact Lives (PAIL). We know you will be with us there in spirit. We sincerely hope and pray that some of you students and teachers can be present with us in Port au Prince. We would be so honored if you would accompany us to Haiti to present this gift and message that we need not be afraid.
Thank you for sharing in our vision and for helping to bring this hope for us to reality. “With your colors flying, we will cheer you all the time”. God bless you always”.
November 2010 Newsletter
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Students embrace the PAIL PROJECT!
We are overjoyed that students from Calvin Christian High School, located at 3750 Ivanrest SW in Grandville, MI and All Saints Catholic Church Religious Education program located at 500 Iroquois in Fremont, MI have adopted the PAIL Project for this Thanksgiving and Advent Season.
The PAIL Project encourages individuals to fill 5-gallon pails with either food items, personal hygiene items, or baby items for distribution to families or orphanages in Haiti. Since the January 12, 2010 Haitian earthquake; Rays of Hope for Haiti has distributed nearly 10,000 pails to families in need in Haiti. A brochure about starting a PAIL Project at your school or church is available below.
We would like to say a special thanks to the wonderful students of Calvin Christian High School and All Saints Religious Education program for their commitment and dedication in this partnership.
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Chrismas In October Roundup
 This year’s Christmas in October Campaign was a wonderful success thanks to the volunteer leadership of many who embraced the project and oversaw its success at their schools, groups, worksites, and churches. This year’s campaign used the PAIL Project as a model inviting others to join the PAIL Project with a deadline of October 8 as the ship date to ensure that the pails would be available in Haiti for distribution to families during the week before Christmas. Rays of Hope for Haiti shipped nearly 2,500 pails filled with humanitarian aid and supplies in three different groups (food, personal hygiene, and supplies for orphanages)
On October 8 we celebrated with the shipment as many of the groups who helped to collect and fill the buckets also came to load the sea container! We enjoyed Christmas music, treats, and even a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus!
A special thanks to all the families and individuals who participated in the Christmas in October Campaign. Thank you too goes out the following organizations who participated in the Christmas in October project:
Haiti Care Mission (east Tawas)
Rays of Hope for Haiti Northern Michigan Outreach (Ludington)
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Come With Us to Haiti
Rays of Hope for Haiti invites you to come with us to Haiti in 2011.
 “I know God still cares for us because He brought you here to us.” These words spoken by a Haitian woman on a visit to a community in Haiti truly inspired our group. Our visit was to “scout out” the community. We did not have any formal plans for this visit. However our hearts were touched by the words of this woman who shared from her heart that our visit restored her faith and gave her hope and encouragement.We invite you to be an agent of change and hope to the people of Haiti. It only takes about a week or ten days to share your love with the people of Haiti through one of our unique “hands on” outreaches. However the experience will last a lifetime! Your visit to Haiti will be a visible demonstration of love for the people of Haiti
Rays of Hope for Haiti offers specific outreach dates and we can help organize an outreach for groups. Group outreaches are planned based on the specific goals of the teams. We have medical teams, construction teams, and friendship teams (teams that provide encouragement and support for a specific group of people such as our Hug a Child or Encourage a Teacher outreaches)
If you wish to come with us to Haiti and help be a voice of hope, hands to help, and a heart of love for the people of Haiti. For more information contact Kim Sorrelle at ksorrelle@gmail.com.
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Haiti Sea Container Update
 The Rays of Hope for Haiti sea container ministry has sent out more containers this year than ever before. On Friday, December 3 we will send out our 23rd sea container from Grand Rapids to Haiti. We have sent two other containers, one from Raleigh, NC, and one from St. Louis, MO totaling 25 containers for 2010. Each sea container is 40 foot long, 8 feet high, and 7 feet wide and can include up to 45,000lbs of relief supplies. Currently Rays of Hope for Haiti has five containers either in transit or awaiting clearance from Haitian Customs. Two of them are in Port au Prince right now (our August container and our October 8 container) Our October 29 container and our two November containers are still in transit.
Overall, customs clearance has gone well. Our Director, Patrick Aziphat, has worked hard to clear these containers. We have had some true successes such as our July containers which cleared in just 23 days and our October 1 container which Patrick was actually able to clear before it even arrived in Haiti! Patrick is amazing and he has a true heart for the mission.
Unfortunately with the successes we have frustrations. The August container is still held up at Haitian customs. In fact, our co-director, Kim Sorrelle has traveled to Haiti this week to meet with the government to secure clearing of the container.
The sea container ministry is truly a mission of mercy. At the end of the year our goal is to “break even” financially in the sea container ministry, but usually, because of the high cost of freight transport and demurrage fees imposed by the container companies and the Haitian government “breaking even” is a difficult goal to accomplish.
We all owe so much gratitude to our generous and supportive volunteers who come to the Rays of Hope for Haiti warehouse. Each week these volunteers log countless hours pack supplies and load containers. We could not accomplish this monumental task without them.
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Alger Park Christian Reformed Church Brings
Christmas Hope to the Children of Haiti
 The Sunday School program of Alger Park Christian Reformed Church will be collecting shoebox gifts for the children of Haiti this advent season. This meaningful project will match families at Alger Park CRC with children from a school in Pointe a Raquettes, Haiti. Alger Park families will fill shoeboxes for the children with small gifts, treats, and a special card. “This is such a extraordinary program,” says Rev. Leriche Roosevelt, pastor of St. Louis King of France Church in Pointe a Raquettes and founder of the school. “Our children are desperately poor and this has been a very difficult year for many of them with the earthquake. The shoebox gifts provide the boys and girls with a true reminder that they are loved. We all are so grateful to our friends at Alger Park.”Each child had two photographs taken of them on a recent visit to the community by a group from St. Paul the Apostle Church in Grand Rapids. The photos will be given to the Sunday School program on the first day of Advent, November 28. One photo is taped to the shoebox and the other is for the family to keep as a reminder of the special child that they brought joy and hope to through the shoebox outreach.
For complete details on the shoebox outreach click below for a flyer.
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Dr. Steve Edmonson launches Starfysh
Dr. Steve Edmonson has been traveling to the community of Anse a Galet (La Gonave) in Haiti since 1993. Here he has dedicated his life to bringing compassion, dignity, and hope to the residents of the community one person at a time. Following the Haiti earthquake, Dr. Steve knew that there was so much more that he wanted to do. Thus, the nonprofit organization Starfysh was born.
The name is derived from the story about a child on a beach rescuing stranded starfish that would dry out were it not for the child’s efforts to throw them back into the ocean. Each starfish thrown back into the water represented a life saved, one starfish at a time.
Rays of Hope for Haiti partners with Dr. Steve to deliver needed supplies to the people of Anse a Galet. We see in Dr. Steve the compassion and dedication that changes lives and we thank God for his work in Haiti.
Starfysh launched their new nonprofit on Thursday, November 18 at the Gerald Ford Airport in Grand Rapids. You are encouraged to learn more about Starfysh by clicking the link here.
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Container to be filled for the Dominican Republic
 Rays of Hope will be helping to fill a container with relief and medical supplies for the Dominican Republic this December. This container is specific for the Dominican Republic and its contents will not cross the border into Haiti. If you have a program helping the people of the Dominican Republic or are working with Haitian who live in the Dominican Republic we invite you to participate in this container.
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Our Next Workbee, Saturday, December 4!
Can you spare a couple of hours to help sort and pack supplies for relief shipments to Haiti and other countries in need? Rays of Hope for Haiti and the Rays of Hope Medical Donation Resource Center (MDRC) desperately needs you!
Our volunteer workbee is a joyous time when many people gathering together for a a few hours to accomplish a multitude of work that provides direct aid, support, and hope for others in need. Yes, YOU can be a part of this wonderful event. Please email Doug Porritt if you can participate.
December Workbee
Date & time: Saturday, December 4. From 10am until 1pm
Includes a wonderful Haitian lunch donated by Chez Olga Haitian Restaurant.
Top ten reasons you should be at the Rays of Hope Workbee
10. There will be a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus!
9. This is a truly great way to give a special gift of hope to someone without having to spend any money!
8. Meet Amy Marsh, founding President of Rays of Hope for Haiti whose vision helped launch our organization eleven years ago!
7. Nurse Betty Grinzel, Director of the Rays of Hope MDRC says come! (Don't disappoint Nurse Betty!)
6. Great food thanks to Chef Olga Benoit, owner of Chez Olga Haitian Restaurant
5. Hey, when else will you be able to see so many catheters in one location?
4. Be amazed at the holiday decorations as you enter our work area, provided by our dedicated volunteer, Linda!
3. Body heat, we need you! More bodies in a cold warehouse will make it a whole lot warmer!
2. Learn a Christmas Carol in Haitian Creole!
AND the number one reason:
1. Last opportunity to get on Santa’s NICE list!
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News from the Medical Donation Resource Center:
 The Medical Donation Resource Center (MDRC) is committed to be a visible demonstration of help and support for those working to improve health care for the poor and needy worldwide.Through the generosity of various donors in the health care industry, Rays of Hope has developed an extensive warehouse of medical supplies needed for short term medical outreaches or to assist with medical staff working in the field.
Headed by our volunteer nurse, Betty Grinzel, volunteers work every Tuesday from 10am to 1pm to organize, sort, shelve, and pack medical supplies for use in medical outreach programs all over the world and even here in Grand Rapids!
Supplies for a Medical Facility in Cameroon
Partnering with the Wellspring of Hope Foundation, Rays of Hope MDRC recently donated supplies for their container going to newly constructed clinic and birthing center located in Kan, Cameroon. This is the only medical facility in the area and greatly needed for the people living in the communities.
 Sue Glasgow, volunteer with Wellspring of Hope wrote on our Facebook page,“Thank you so much to our new friends at Rays of Hope for Haiti, Doug, Marv, Dennis, Sony, Elaine and the rest of the gang! It was great meeting all of you today. We picked up medical supplies from Rays of Hope (filled a 24 foot Budget Truck and a Ford Flex) that will be shipped in our 40 foot container to Cameroon Africa for the opening of the Wellspring of Hope Clinic! We look forward to working with you again and again!”
You can visit Wellspring of Hope Foundation by clicking here.
 
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A Hospital Needs Your Help
 In response to a call for help, Rays of Hope for Haiti has collected pallets of needed medical supplies for Sacred Heart Hospital in Milot (Cap Haitian), Haiti. The need is even more critical as Sacred Heart Hospital is on the frontline treating hundreds of cholera patients with many more arriving each day. The need is critical and Rays of Hope for Haiti has many of the hospital supplies (both large and small) that are needed, but we do not have the money to transport these needed medical items. Donations are urgently needed to help get these supplies to the hospital quickly.
If you can help with this immediate need please contact Doug Porritt at Rays of Hope for Haiti. We will gladly welcome you to visit our warehouse and show you the medical supplies and relief items we have earmarked for Sacred Heart Hospital.
Rays of Hope for Haiti wishes to thank the people of Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church in Murraysville, PA providing nearly 400 food PAILS and the funds to deliver these PAILS for the families living in the tent city located next to Sacred Heart Hospital.
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Rays of Hope for Haiti receives kind words for their work in Haiti from the Consulate General of Haiti, the Honorable Lesly Condé.
 Rays of Hope for Haiti is truly blessed to have such a wonderful relationship with one of the hardest working individuals in the Midwest. Consul General Lesly Condé heads up the Consulate General office located in Chicago. The mission of the Consul General’s office is to represent Haiti, promote the Haitian culture, commerce, tourism, and to serve Haitian citizens living in the Midwest and on the West Coast of the United States of America.
Previously, the Consul General has visited our offices here in Grand Rapids, MI. He is a true statesman, a hard worker for justice and a supporter for programs working in Haiti to provide self-sufficiency for the people of Haiti.
One other special fact is that he is a great singer and is known as the Singing Consul!
The Consulate General of the Republic of Haiti in Chicago is located at:
11 East Adams Street
Suite 1400
Chicago, Illinois 60603
Phone:312-922-4004
Fax: 312-922-7122
E-mail: chicago@haitianconsulate.org
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