Cedar Ridge is calling everyone to please pray for the nation of Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake on Tuesday January 12th. We are also encouraging everyone to respond in practical support directly through organizations who are already on the ground in Haiti and working to help those in need. Here are a list of recommended organizations:
Beyond Borders (www.beyondborders.net) has been working in Haiti since 1993. Their mission is to “work for peace and justice out of devotion to Christ.” Before the earthquake, BB focused mainly on education for adults and children as well as working to end child servitude (1 out of 10 children are slaves—given away by their poor rural parents in the hope that they will be fed and receive an education). Now the focus is exclusively on disaster relief, partnering with local Haitians. All funds are being used to coordinate the flow of people and resources—transporting medical teams, sending critical medical, food, and water purification supplies. They are focusing on the area around Jacmel, Haiti, a city even closer to the epicenter than Port-au-Prince and where there has been no international aid or response as of yet.
KONPAY (www.konpay.org) has been in Haiti long before the earthquake and will be there long afterwards. They also partner with Haitians but focus more on environmental and agricultural problems. Their focus right now is also on the Jacmel area. They are focusing all money on the relief effort.
AMURTHaiti (www.amurthaiti.org). AMURT is worldwide organization focusing on disaster relief. BB and Konpay are partnering with them. They have a team on the ground in Port-au-Prince helping with medical and food relief; they also have a history of disaster relief in Haiti when there have been hurricanes. Their donation address is: 2502 Lindley Terrace Rockville, MD 20850
Food for the Hungry (http://www.fh.org) mainly focused on nutrition and child/maternal health prior to the earthquake. They have staff on the ground in Port-au-Prince who are overseeing food and water distribution.
Other organizations