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Bonjou!

J'taime Haiti!! We said farewell to Pastor Gary and Sarah this morning. We were all sad to see them leave. They left at 5:15 this morning and arrived at the airport 45 min before they're flight left. Yikes! Today was another scorcher, though the trips to taino beach definitely help! But trying to sleep at night is a whole other ball game. We had the medical team arrive on Tuesday, and if you ask me, they couldn't have arrived at a better time. We seemed to have a few injuries that day, not just the medical team, but some of the Haitians. I (Lauren) have been feeling much better today. I'm still fairly weak and I'm not able to eat much... but feeling so much better! Kenzie and I were able to hand out the letter's and gifts that the sponsors sent out with us. That was so much fun! The kids had a spring in their step after that. The guys continue to work on their construction. From my perspective I'd say it's going quite well. They had a bit more of a rhythm going today which was quite neat to see. It's been pretty neat to see the unity forming with in our team and seeing people getting out of their comfort zones. I'm quite looking forward for what else God has planned for us down here! He has been so faithful on this trip! We miss you all! We'd appreciate your prayers! God bless!!

The destruction of the church, well part of it. It's kinda hard to see.

Hangin' out with the kids :D

Hello to you from Haiti. I thought I might include some more pictures of the team that is down here so you can see how they are doing. Lauren got sick Monday night and has spent Tuesday in front of a fan, not sure if the heat got to her or if it was something not agreeing with her stomach, today she is feeling much better and the medical team will be here within hours and then she will be in good hands. In any event she would covet your prayers. Pastor Gary, Scott and Dave have been doing some teaching to nearly 100 pastors here on the H2H campus and they have been having great feedback from all of them. Sarah, Lauren and Kenzie have managed to take update pictures of nearly every sponsor child parading them through the cafeteria like soldiers, making sure they all crack a smile for the camera. Lee, Barry, Nathan, Jerry and Mike have been soaked in sweat trying (without much success) to keep up with our Haitian construction team. It is simply amazing how the sun and heat zaps a persons energy when you are not used to it. The water cooler is a popular spot for us as we are constantly looking to keep hydrated. We hope to take a bunch of the kids down to tyno later on this afternoon and watch them go crazy in the ocean as we stand guard making sure they don't go to deep. We are slowly making headway on our new kitchen/guesthouse but as you might know, murphy's law is a big part of Haiti so we always have that to contend with.

Sarah, Scott, Nathan, Lee and Lauren going through worksheets the pastors worked on for the seminar.

Scott giving a lesson on knowing your spiritual gifts

Mackinley, everyone's favorite excuse to not work!

Tour of the town with an entourage of kids all hoping Barry will give them the ball

Hope you are all doing well, we miss you all and look forward to sharing our adventure with you when we get back.

Greetings from Haiti and the June 2010 missions team. We have all arrived safe and sound and are trying our best to shed our winter layers and quickly adapt to the EXTREME heat. Our trip here was not without a few hiccups along the way, a few being having to quickly think on our feet and replace all our bins in Fort Lauderdale with duffel bags and a missed connector flight in Houston by some of our team from Beamont. Needless to say the story of how these issues were resolved was nothing less than a miracle. We arrived Saturday afternoon after a hot dusty long drive from Port au Prince being welcomed by the kids and staff as we drove in the gates of the heart to heart compound. Saturday was a day of getting oriented with the surroundings and settling into the temporary guesthouse which Darcy and a team from Red Deer set up only 6 weeks ago. It is really an amazing structure which will serve its purpose well. We ended the day with a swim at tyno beach and a cold Tampico (haitian drink). Sunday we spent the day in church with everyone having a chance to try their best at public speaking and kids sneaking a nap on the laps of Sarah, Barry and Lauren. Monday we quickly jumped into doing tasks and of course playing with the kids who you just can't resist. I understand that an update letter was sent to you stating that we received our container, well.... We did take receipt of a container on Saturday but it was not the container we loaded with food and construction supplies back in Abbotsford. It was the second container of supplies sent to us from Red Deer. As Gary mentioned to the team on the first day of the trip..."missions trip =flexibility" and this is definitely the case. We will continue on as best we can and are not deterred in getting the Kitchen up and out of the ground this week. I am running out of time so I will do my best to post a bunch of pictures on the blog tomorrow with a few more stories and maybe a few testimonials.

Setbacks and Celebrations

Things got off to a bit of a rocky start for the latest mission team headed to Haiti. The night before they left, news came in that the container filled with construction supplies was lost in the Bahamas somewhere. This came as a huge blow, as the whole purpose for 7 members of the team was to begin construction of our new kitchen, and without the container and all the equipment and tools in it, they weren't sure there was much purpose in going.

The team decided to leave anyways and took some money to buy whatever they could in Haiti. Needless to say there was some mad scrambling with banks and exchange agencies, and Albert (the leader of the team), having been to Haiti many times, wasn't optomistic they would be able to find much in Haiti for proper tools, but was hopeful the team could still get some things started.

The next setback came when they got to the Vancouver Airport and were told that strict baggage rules were being enforced travelling to Haiti, and Rubbermaid containers were not allowed to enter the country - they would only go as far as Ft. Lauderdale. Albert phoned our office, hoping Lia could find a place in Ft. Lauderdale that was open late, where they could buy hockey bags. The team was going to have to race out during their lay-over, buy the bags and transfer all the goods from the Rubbermaid containers into the hockey bags.

Things started to turn around for the team the next morning when our office received a call from Albert. On the flight from Dallas to Ft. Lauderdale, one of the team members sat beside a man and told him the whole luggage dilemma. The man happened to be the Vice President of a large sports store and promised to immediately send 13 hockey bags for free to their hotel!!!

This good news was followed by an even greater turn of events......the container lost in the Bahamas showed up at the H2H compound!! Seems like a total God thing to us! What an exciting start to the trip - can't wait to watch and see how the rest of the week unfolds!

Kenzie Watson, a recent university graduate, is in Haiti for a few months to help wherever needed. She is currently teaching ESL to many interested older teens and adults, taking care of children, and assisting Rebecca in administrative work. Over the next several weeks, she will be taking pictures of all the sponsored children and sending long-overdue updated photos to each of our sponsors. Manno (our Haitian sponsorship coordinator) and Rebecca are still working with the kids to get their earthquake experience on paper, and those letters will be coming to you with the next newsletter in early August.

If you would like to send a gift to your sponsor child, now is the time to do it! We have a large team leaving this Friday, June 11, and they are able to take gifts down as long as you can get them to our office by 5:00 pm Thursday July 10. The other option is to send a gift down in the next container which will be leaving the last week of June, which means the gift must be dropped off at either our office or Shawna's house by June 24. For either option, please put your gift in a large ziploc bag and clearly label it with the names of who it is to and from.

Office address for drop off: 34629A Delair Rd., Abbotsford
Shawna's address for mailing or drop off: 3325 Firhill Dr., Abbotsford, BC V2T 5L4

The group leaving this Friday is actually two teams with varying agendas. Pastors Gary Stevens and Scott MacKenzie from Vineyard Church in Abbotsford will be conducting a two day conference. Over 100 pastors from all over Haiti are registered to attend. They are also hoping to help coordinate, along with other team members, the distribution of food from one of our containers currently at the Port-au-Prince port. H2H board member Albert Wiens will be leading his team of 7 to kick-off the construction of our brand new kitchen/food depot/dining room/guest house. Team members will be uploading pictures and writing about their experience onto this blog while they are away - stay tuned!

The second group travelling down leaves on June 11 and is a medical team consisting of 4 doctors, several UBC Medical students, nurses and a dietician. They will be conducting many medical clinics in the grande Goave area, including check-ups for every one of our H2H orphans.

On the home front, our Abbotsford warehouse and the Pacific Community Church warehouse are still collecting food for our containers. A youth group from Arnold Community Church in Aldergrove has been bringing in donated food and helping us to sort, package and weigh in preparation for the container loading. If you would like to get involved in helping at the warehouse, please give Lia a call at our office: 604-850-0021.

April 19, 2010

The first construction team has arrived at Heart to Heart!

Darcy Lamoureau and a team of 6 other men and 1 woman, all from Alberta, raised $80,000 to fill two containers with tents, construction supplies, 9 tons of concrete, lumber, mixers and tools. One of these containers will be arriving tomorrow and the team will spend the next 11 days setting up two large structural tents, (24' x 32' each) complete with wooden floors. One tent will house a temporary kitchen and the other will be used as a guest house for mission teams arriving over the next several years. Each tent is fully containerd with power and fans and is guaranteed to last 20 years. The guest house will be divided in half for men and women, and later on, another team will construct a mezzanine inside the tent to accommodate couples travelling together. Darcy and his team also plan on building a carpentry shop to house all of the tools including table saws, so that future teams will have the necessary equipment to do their work.

Please check out Rebecca's blog for pictures of their progress over the next coupld of weeks: www.rebeccalarkin.blogspot.com

April 15, 2010

Three months have passed since the devastating earthquake of Jan. 12, 2010. Haitians are slowly recovering from the traumatic experience and although things are not back to normal, new routines are being established. We are happy to report that all classes have begun again this week. Teachers are gathering their students under a large tent that is also used as church. We started the 2008 school year with 350 students, then in September of 2009, when our brand new school was completed, we jumped in enrolment to a little over 400, and we now have 442 children attending classes from Preschool 1 through to Grade 6. Approximately 90% of schools in Port-au-Prince and Grande Goave were damaged or destroyed in the earthquake, and school has not re-started for most of them. Although our school building is not yet serviceable, we are taking in as many new children as we can. Please check out pictures in Rebecca's blog of the temporary school and the children playing in the playground. (www.rebeccalarkin.blogspot.com)

After hundreds of man-hours and buckets of sweat, the final cement pieces of the school roof were knocked down yesterday, which means it is now safe to begin the construction of our new kitchen/dining room/food depot. The blue prints and floor plans have been finalized and the foundation work will begin in the next week.

Tiled washrooms complete with two shower stalls, 2 toilets and sinks have just been built directly behind the Children's Home to accommodate the community of people living on our compound in tents. Another separate washroom facility similar to the first, is under construction at the front of the Children's Home, to be used by the orphans. Competitions have begun to win the right to the first shower!

The fourth container of relief supplies was filled today at the Abbotsford warehouse - filled to capacity with a variety of food and a few construction supplies. It will leave tomorrow and arrive in Port-au-Prince in 34 days. Vineyard church plans to take a mision team to Haiti to meet the container when it arrrives and help coordinate the distribution of the food. By working with Pastor Luc's network of colleagues, the food gets through to some of the more remote, poorest areas in Haiti. We have enough food left in our warehouse to fill at least three more containers.

March 25, 2010

In case you haven't already, please check out Rebecca's blog for near-daily updates on what is happening at Heart to Heart in Haiti (www.rebeccalarkin.blogspot.com). The first container of flour cleared customs and arrived in our compound earlier this week. Rebecca has pictures and more information on that good news. We have two more containers of oats in the DR right now. We are waiting for the contents to be bagged into family-sized portions and expect to be able to distribute the product shortly.

Our warehouses in Abbotsford and Cloverdale are still collecting food and rice to ship to Haiti. Although the pace has slowed considerably since the earthquake, goods are still arriving. We've recently received rice from schools in the Salmon Arm area and a generous donation from Rainbow Creek Elementary school in Alberta. Pacific Community Church (PCC) currently has 235 buckets filled with food and 1260 lbs. of rice ready for shipment to Haiti. PCC also received a U-Haul truck full of crutches, canes and walker casts that were dropped off by a young man from Richmond. He put ads in the paper and made flyers shortly after the earthquake because he felt called to ask for crutches. He didn't know how he was going to get them to Haiti, he just knew he had to start collecting them. Then he saw our chairman in a press conference on TV and got in touch with us.

Below is a link to a newspaper article in the Tricity News of a high school class making dresses for kids at H2H, or wherever the greatest need is.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/tri_city_maple_ridge/tricitynews/community/88856167.html

Repairs to the Children's Home are starting next week. Thankfully, there was no significant structural damage to our Home - we were, however, left with many cracks in the plaster which has lead to water leaking in when it rains. The washrooms on the second floor of the Children's Home should be installed and ready to use within the next couple of weeks. We are also beginning the construction of a stand-alone set of washrooms for the orphans in the Children's Home.

Almost all of the rubble from the top floor of our school has been removed. The construction crew is now building scaffolds to remove the remainder of the roof, which is a big job. To accommodate all the studetns with half the available classes, we are considering two start times (morning and afternoon). We have decided to rebuild our kitchen/dining room facility in a new location, closer to the school, which will make it much more convenient to serve both the kids in the Children's Home as well as the kids from the community at our school. Since this location is near our school, we cannot begin construction until the demolition of the roof is finished.

Great news....thanks to all of you and your network of friends and colleagues, Heart to Heart has raised $296,102.44. In addition to this, our partner in food and rice collection, Vineyard Church in Abbotsford, has raised $124,413.18, for a grand total of $420,515.62!!

We had another board meeting last night to discuss all the activity over the past two months, fundraisers and plans for how we can best use this money to feed and begin to rebuild H2H Haiti. Our initial target was to send down 10 containers of food. This project is well under way. Two containers have recently arrived in the Dominican Republic port of Santo Domingo awaiting transportation to Latose Dominicanos where the oats will be bagged and then transported to H2H within the next week. The third container left Miami on March 3 and should arrive in Port-au-Prince Haiti by March 10th where it will be transported to H2H and dispersed by Pastor Luc and a team of other pastors. Another container has just been packed in Red Deer Alberta with an assortment of building supplies, tools, tents and a small bobcat, which will be used to clear rubble away from our compound.

Thanks to the US Military, other non-profit organizations and Roger and Albert delivering truck loads of supplies from the Domincan Republic, we were able to secure enough food for one month for our children, staff and community members living on our compound. This bought us time to fill and get the containers moving from Canada. Now we've had time to do the math, crunch the numbers, research, compare, and negotiate to determine the most cost-effective way of supplying food to H2H and the Grande Goave area. Although it is expensive to ship containers of food (primarily rice) to Haitti, as long as our food is donated here in anada, it is still significantly cheaper to ship the food than purchase it in the DR. For fresh fruit, vegetables and dairy, we will still be purchasing locally or in the DR.

As the recovery of the earthquake disaster will take years, our desire is to continue to send two containers per month for the next year. This goal will of course depend on the continued success of our food collection programs in Abbotsford and Pacific Community Church in Cloverdale. In the meantime, we are drawing up plans for the reconstruction of our kitchen/food depot/dining area/guesthouse building as well as our school. We are in consultation with engineers as to the best way to rebuild with a reduced weight load on the second floor of our structures. Demolition of the top floor of the school has already begun. H2H teachers, staff, labourers, and older boys have begun breaking up and chipping away at the large slabs of concrete. We decided that doing this work by hand was the safest way to preserve the bottom floor of the school, and was a great way to keep people employed and feeling purposeful. This demolition work will likely take 4 - 6 weeks to complete, by which time, the bobccat in the container should be arriving to haul away larger chunks of concrete. Once the demolition and removal of rubble is concluded, reconstruction can begin.

The next major fundraiser coming up for H2H is a benefit concert at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre on Saturday, March 20 from 1 pm - 10 pm. There will be performances by Greg Neufeld, Karen Lee Batten, the Fab Fourever (Ultimate Beatles Tribute Band), Damian Marshall and many more artists! Tickets cost $25 - $50 and are available throu gh AESC by visiting : www.abbotsfordcentre.ca or calling: 1-866-977-2372. H2H will receive 50% of all ticket sales, and the other half will go to MCC, so please come out and enjoy the show. It runs for 9 hours, and is set up so that you can come and go, and partake in the music, silent auction and Ten Thousand Villages.

Thank you all so much for your hard work and generosity in helping us raise such a signficant amount of money for H2H Haiti. Your continued involvement will make all the difference in rebuilding Heart to Heart to its original or better form.

We are still working on pinning down heavy duty equipment and an operator to remove the rubble and bring down the rest of the kitchen/guesthouse complex as well as the school before the reconstruction process can begin. There were some initial scheduling compications with Jose (the business man Roger and Albert met in the Dominican Republic), but we are hopeful he may still be able to help us out. We have also made connections with Samaritan's Purse who are conducting rubble removal for much of Grande Goave. If neither of these sources work out, we will look into leasing equipment.

Please check out Rebecca's blog for more information on what is happening in Haiti. (www.rebeccalarkin.blogspot.com)

Here at home, our food and rice collection programs are maintaining a steady pace. To date, we have collected the following:

• 6 pallets of relief goods from Kodak
• 517 buckets of food
• 303 boxes of rice (over 40,000 kg)
• Most of the schools in the Abbotsford school district have donated rice and/or money, as well as several other schools from Mission, Coquitlam, Surrey, Langley, Richmond and Clearwater.
• In Alberta, the Rocky View School District is currently gathering rice and/or money and will continue to do so until at least March.

Two more containers, these ones filled with flour donated by Rogers, are now in transit to Haiti. Another container being filled with lumber and other relief supplies will be leaving Red Deer Alberta within the next couple of weeks.

Many of you have emailed asking about possible medical and/or construction teams going down to Haiti over the next year. We are compiling names of volunteers wanting to travel and work, so if you are interested in joining a team, please send an email to John Neufeld, our chairman, detailing your name, address, phone number, skills, age and availability for 2010. John's email is: johnneufeld2@gmail.com

Thank you for your willingness to serve and stay involved.

Roger and Albert have had another couple of days in Haiti trying to secure long-term care and planning for the rebuilding of Heart to Heart.

They met with the major of Grande Goave, the US military and other NGO's to talk about how each organization will work together to feed the community of Grande Goave. They also talked with Samaritan's Purse about getting help with debris clean up. We are now on their list of organizations they will help. If we can get Jose's backhoe/loader and other heavy equipment, the US military has offered to operate the machinery.

A washroom facility with 3 or 4 flush toilets is currently being constructed. We have torn down and buried the old outhouses (to the cheering of all the children at H2H!) More flush toilets will be installed when we begin the repairs of our Children's Home.

The kitchen/dining room which was destroyed in the earthquake is being relocated to a better position closer to our new school. The footprint of that building has been laid out and once sufficient funds have been raised, construction will begin. This is our first priority in our re-building phase.

Albert and Roger, in consultation with our board chairman, have established a new building code with the masons and carpenters we will use in Haiti. The board members are writing up a specifications package to outline how buildings must be constructed from now on. The primary changes will centre around size of re-bar and the way it is tied in, column support and cement mix to make blocks stronger.

The well water has been treated and tested, and is safe once again to drink.

Roger and Albert finalized the coordination of the receiving and delivering of our containers. The first two containers, which are full of oats, should be entering the DR within two weeks. A trucking company will receive the containers and bring them to Lactose Dominicano plant, where they will package the oats into family-sized bags and then deliver the goods to H2H. Lactose has offered to package our oats free of charge and have given us a very good rate for delivery.

It has been one month today since the devastating earthquake occurred, and in honour of the deceased, churches all over Haiti held services. It was a powerful, moving experience to hear singing and praises to God amidst the grieving of lost loved ones.

Roger and Albert head home tomorrow with mixed emotions - tired, needing to get back to their jobs and families, and reluctant to leave H2H and Haiti where there is so much need.

Feb. 9, 2010

Roger, Albert and two trucks full of food and other essentials arrived safely in the H2H compound yesterday evening. Pastor Luc's brother, Hoslais, and two uniformed policemen sat inside the cabs of each of the trucks, making their presence highly visible, and thankfully, there were no problems at all getting from the DR to Heart to Heart.

Uhlrick (the Haitian man who has been helping Roger and Albert in the DR) will be travelling into Haiti with another vehicle full of food tomorrow (escorted by the police again). We will be giving some of these goods to CHO, an orphanage in Carrefour, who phoned earlier in the week asking for help, as they had very little food left to feed their children. These kinds of exchanges are typical of how Haiti has been operating since the arthquake. The world response of compassion and action towards helping Haiti seems to be the same respose within the country. For the most part, it has been neighbours helping neighbours; charities sharing with each other. A "horder" behavioural trend would be understandable in a climate of post-trauma and extreme poverty, but instead, the tone so far ahas been largely sacrificial and generous. H2H is feeding 600 people in our compound, and in addition to that, Pastor Luc is delivering food to six different locations within Grande Goave. We are giving, but we have also received - food and service from the US Military, food from GLA, an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, and fresh water from Doctors Without Borders.

After a long day of last-minute coordination and travel, Roger and Albert got to H2H to a large welcoming committee! Both kids and adults were so excited to see theeir brothers. Many hugs and stories later, as the night wore on and mattresses were pulled out and lined up on the basketball court for yet another night outside, a few of the boys ventured over to the Children's Home, wanting to sleep inside, but still afraid of what might happen. Roger and Albert pulled a mattress into the boys' room, instantly making it safe. Within minutes they were surrounded by peacefully sleeping ittle boys - curled up, content, protected - sleeping soundly for the first time since January 12.

Today was spent cleaning our community well, playing with kids and further assessing the damage to our buildings. (see Rebecca's blog for pictures: www.rebeccalarkin.blogspot.com) We need to be in consultation with engineers, but we are optimistic that our Children's Home may only need to be repaired instead of demolished and rebuilt. Our first floor of the school also appears to be in reasonably good condition. The second floor of the school is completely flattened and it will take major work to remove the rubble and then rebuild. The kitchen/dining room/guest house is completely destroyed and the church apppears to be beyond repair. Our perimeter wall was badly damaged, but work to repair it began several days ago and it is now almost completely restored.

We are still hoping to secure the dump truck and backhoe/loader from the business man (Jose) Roger and Albert met in the DR. The logistics of getting the equipment to Grande Goave, findiing a qualified operator and Jose having to return soon to the US are a few of the hurdles to work out.

Feb. 6, 2010

Good news/bad news....

First the bad news. Roger and Albert got through their "to do" list of essentials to purchase on Friday afternoon, had cleared their purchases with the Haitian embassy to bring the goods into Haiti, and were all set to start packing everything into their new truck and a rental van, when they wre told that the bank in Santo Domingo had not quite finished the paperwork for the truck. No amount of encouragement, pleading, coercing, and "firm" talk could get the bank to move any quicker, and so Roger and Albert were not able to leave for Haiti this morning to deliver the goods to H2H. They have had to reschedule the trip for Monday after the bank re-opens. Needless to say, the board members were very frustrated and discouraged, and saw this as two lost days in a very tight schedule, and lost opportunity to spend time with our "family" at H2H.

Now the good news. With a little extra time on their hands and a need to commiserate, Roger and Albert were telling their story to a business man who was staying at the same guesthouse in the Dominican. This man happened to own a heavy-equipment construction company. He had been hired to do some construction work in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake happened. That job disappeared in an instant, but some of his equipment - a dump truck and a backhoe/loader was still in Port-au-Prince. When he heard about H2H, he called his mother, the matriarch of the company, and she said, "Give them what they need."!!! Roger and Albert are now working out the details of how to get this equipment and an operator into Grande Goave to begin knocking down cracked and un-repairable buildings and removing rubble. Is God great or what?!! In addition to this connection, the board members have now had the time to meet with various trucking companies and are close to securing a reliable source to receive and transport our containers once they arrive in Santo Domingo at the end of the month. Side note....Roger and Albert have delayed their return home by 3 days, so they will still be able to spend 5 days in Haiti and return to Canada on Feb. 13.

It has now been over 3 weeks since the earthquake. The Feb. 12 deadline for government matching funds is fast approaching, and H2H is in the final stages of writing a proposal to CIDA (Canadian Internation Development Agency) to receive matching funds. $100,000 of the funds we have raised so far has been designated for food not only for the children at H2H, but all of Grande Goave. The ten containers we are sending will be equitably distributed by H2H and partnering churches, to smaller villages not reached by larger charitable organizations. We anticipate that the need for food from places other than Port-au-Prince will continue for well over a year, and with CIDA's help, we would love to be a part of that work. We do desire, at the same time, to rebuild our compound and help our students and staff get back to a productive, meaningful life. Therefore, effective immediately, all donations received can be designated for either "food relief" or "rebuilding fund".

On that note, we wanted to express our sincere thanks to each and every one of you. It is always a bit of a risk to name people and organizations who have raised money or brought in food, because we know we are leaving out a hundred other people and businesses who have either given money, time, or goods, or made the effort to contact their network of friends and colleagues to tell them about H2H. We know you are doing this behind the scenes because we are receiving donations and emails from complete strangers all over the country - in fact all over the world. We have been blessed by a few gifts from large corporations and equally blessed by donations from single mothers, seniors on limited income, hardworking families, and children and teenagers - all giving what they can. It all matters. What you're dong matters; so thank you, thank you, thank you.

Feb. 4, 2010

H2H board members, Roger Medley and Albert Wiens had another eventful day in the Dominican Republic. They bought chemicals, hoses and other accessories to treat the well water at H2H. They plan to clean and treat the water for two days and then take a sample back to the DR for testing. If this system works for removing Ecoli and other toxic substances, we may not have to purchase an expensive filtering system.

They were also able to secure at wholesale prices, thirty- 125 lb. bags of both rice and beans. We have been going through one bag of rice a day, feeding 600 families. Uhlrick, the Haitian man living in the DR who has been helping Roger and Albert these past couple of days, was able to locate a relatively inexpensive 4-burner industrial stove (no oven, just a stove). Elna and the other cooks at H2H will be relieved to upgrade from cooking in a big pot over charcoal. Albert and Roger also purchased a generator for Rebecca. When she and Renel are able to move back into their home, they will now have power to run at least a refrigerator.

Tomorrow, Albert and Roger plan to finish up the purchases and load up the new Diahatsu truck as well as another rental 22' cube van with all the supplies. They will then make their way towards the Haitian/Dominican border early Saturday morning where they will be met by Luc's brother Hoslais (a high ranking police officer) and 3 other uniformed policemen and escorted to Grande Goave.

Here at home, we have some very exciting news from the city of Surrey and Pacific Community Church. The city has partnered with the Surrey fire department, Pacific Community Church and H2H to collect food and suppplies on an ongoing basis. The city has also offered technical expertise for rebuilding and reconstruction of the devastated Caribbean nation. Please see the link below for more information.

http://www2.canada.com/surreynow/news/story.html?id=663fa33a-9371-47a0-8c57-0209d1fc2a26

Feb. 3, 2010

H2H board members Roger Medley and Albert Wiens arrived in the Domincan Republic yesterday and have had a busy day purchasing essential supplies that will not be arriving on the containers.

The first item on their "to do" list was a major purchase. A group of anonymous donors helped H2H purchase a large Diahatsu pckup which we will be using to transport food. Once at H2H, the truck will be used for transporting supplies and people as well as removing rubble from our compound. During the negotiation process, Roger and Albert told the dealership owner about our work, and he jumped on board to help, offering H2H his warehouse to store supplies, and then sent out a couple of his employees with a cube van to help with transportation!

With Elna's list in hand (Luc's wife), Roger and Albert found a DR version of Costco and got most of their supplies there. They've picked up alcohol for infections, cutlery, juice jugs, personal hygiene items, laundry soap, bleach, underwear, canned meat and vegetables, juice, sugar, salt, ground corn and other food items. They then purchased shovels, sledge hammers, hand saws, blades for electrical saws, tarps, electrical cords, hammers and nails. They intend on picking up barrels of diesel and lumber tomorrow. The lumber will be used to support the existing temporary shelters and to create new ones.

Our well water, unfortunately, tested positive for ecoli a couple of days ago, so we've also purchased chlorine to treat the water until we can get a proper filtration system.

Here at home the food collection is still in full swing:

• The Abbotsford Police and Fire Departments have a little competition going on to see who can bring in the most rice. So far we have received 250 bags - suffice to say, the Fire Dept. needs to step it up a little if they hope to win!
• Raft River Elementary school from Clearwater, B.C. donated 200 lbs. of rice and $840 through a bake sale and twoonie drive.
• Lotus Light Charity Society from Vancouver has given us 20,000 lbs. of rice.
• The tri-cities are coming together on February 20 and 21 at the Coquitlam Centre mall to fill a 40 foot shipping container with basic baby supplies. With the support of local businesses and residents, local Mom's Julie Rogers and Jacqueline Goring are on a mission to fill a container with diapers, powdered formula, children's vitamins, children's Tylenol and other baby supplies to be shipped directly to the H2H Children's Home for distribution to orphanages.

Jan. 25, 2010

Please go to Rebecca's blog for up-to-date information on what is going on at the Heart to Heart compound in Haiti. (http://www.rebeccalarkin.blogspot.com/). She's written about and taken lots of pictures of all the help and resources the US Military have provided in the last couple of days. Very encouraging news to all of us....

Here at home in Canada, the food collection programs are moving along at a rapid pace. We received a full semi-truck of food from an anonymous donor to our warehouse! We have boxes and boxes of Gatorade, breakfast cereal, granola bars, juice boxes and other precious food items we can deliver to Haiti. We also have 23,000 lbs. of rice and over $10,000 collected from Abbotsford high schools. Tomorrow we will be picking up rice from all the elementary schools in Abbotsford.

Our Surrey warehouse will be opening up on Saturday morning, and we expect a busy turnout, as the amount of interest in that area has been incredible. Please check the Pacific Community Church link on our website for more information on their efforts.

Jan. 24, 2010

More good news......The US Military have been making random patrols both during the day and night at H2H - enough so that their presence has given the children and staff a tangible sense of security. They have also supplied H2H with a 50 gallon barrel of diesel (one week's worth of diesel if used sparingly), and have promised to do their best to keep us supplied in fuel. Having access to diesel has been a major hurdle in H2H's efforts to survive, as all of our food suppliers have been at least a two hour drive away, costing us precious diesel. The US Military have also taken the initiative to measure our walls, and are looking into providing temporary fencing for extra safety around our compound. They have recognized the danger the children are in with our buildings being precariously close to collapsing, and are attempting to bring in a piece of equipment to knock down dangerous buildings and to remove rubble so that we have access to our food depot. Finally, tomorrow they will be coming with a large amount of food and bottled water which we will be sharing with the community...no one will go to bed hungry tomorrow night.

Another exciting event took place today. Rebecca was interviewed by an NBC news correspondent! The segment will be aired tomorrow sometime.

A long-time supporter from Red Deer Alberta has committed himself to raising enough money to purchase a backhoe/loader. This will be our first significant step towards the re-building of H2H and all of the Grande Goave community.

Jan. 23, 2010

We have 2 containers of oats set to be shipped out of Vancouver on Feb. 2. That amounts to 52 tons of food or 3/4 million servings of food. The containers will travel through the Panama Canal and on to the Dominican Republic where someone from the H2H Board will receive them and coordinate the distribution of food into Grande Goave. Two more containers of rice and other food will leave towards the third week of February and at the end of Feb. one container donated by Rogers Flour will be trucked to Florida and shipped to a smaller port in Haiti.

The US Military arrived yesterday at H2H and made a list of our needs! They promised to do what they could do dig out some of our food from the depot and will be making random rounds around the compound to provide security.

On Wednesday Jan. 26 we will be flying in essentials for H2H such as tarps, cooking oil, plates and cutlery. A Vineyard church in Florida has offered to shop for these items and fly it in on an MFI (Missionary Flights International) plane.

EARTHQUAKE FACTS

• distance to Grande-Goave from initial quake MAG 7.0 -25k
• aftershocks over MAG 4.5 since tuesday - 47
• within 15k of Grande-Goave 19
• closest to Grande-Goave - 1.5k (MAG 4.8)

Jan. 17, 2010

Rebecca Larkin, the Canadian missionary working for H2H in Haiti, has updated her blog with photos of our compound. Please check it out at: www.rebeccalarkin.blogspot.com

Some good news....

We have arranged with God's Little Angels (an orphanage in Port-au-Prince) to share their food supplies with Heart to Heart. GLA has a supply-plane coming in to the capital city on Tuesday and Pastor Luc and Rebecca will be there to collect essentials and transport them back to Grande Goave.

Plans are underway for a medical team and possibly two board members to travel to Haiti in the next week to deliver money, coordinate an on-going food supply and provide medical assistance.

JANUARY 16 UPDATE

• heart to heart school partially collapsed
• structural damage to children's home has rendered it unsafe for occupancy
• recovery attempt at food depot partially successful- continuing after shocks have put recovery efforts at all buildings on hold due to danger of additional collapse
• Renel and Rebecca's house is still standing
• Grande-Goave morgue is overflowing as casualties mount
• no sign of humanitarian aid in Grande-Goave as of yet

WAREHOUSE - ABBOTSFORD

Location - 2342 Windsor st.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR DROPPING OFF FOOD DONATIONS

• call before coming 604-309-3448 (ask for Ben)
• will be available to recieve drop offs on Tue.& Thu. 6pm-8pm and Sat. 10am-2pm

Surrey location- TBA

NEWS UPDATE Jan 15 2010

• all children from children's home, all staff as well as Rebecca Larkin-Honorat are uninjured and safe
• Heart to Heart compound in Grande-Goave is heavily damaged
• significant damage throughout Grande-Goave, buildings are still collapsing during after shocks
• Grande-Goave hospital has collapsed
• severe injuries and fatalities have been reported
• two H2H high school students are unaccounted for in Port-au-Prince