Earthquake update - 2/5/10

We were recently contacted by a missionary couple in the Dominican Republic who, like His Hands, are also affiliated with Missionary Flights International. Working through Marie Noel's nephew here in the United States, a plan is being arranged for the missionary couple in the D.R. to bring some much-needed supplies to Pastor Noel and Marie. We are extremely grateful for this gracious offer of support and we hope to be able to meet our new missionary friends in person one day! Also, many of you have sent us financial donations towards the added cost of purchasing food for the displaced people who have come from Port-Au-Prince and are now looking for help in Terrier Rouge. And while we are extremely grateful what's already been given, we know that this need will be on-going so we're asking for continued support to meet this need in the long term. As soon as we learned banks were open again in Haiti, we sent the first installment of financial help to Pastor Noel and we will be sending more in the coming weeks as donations are continuing to come in. When we last spoke to Marie, schools were still closed, but she was hopeful that they would open on Monday, February 8th. If we hear that they have opened again, we will certainly post that information here. We have also been overwhelmed at the outpouring of support in the form of new sponsorships for the children already pictured on our website and, again, we are extremely grateful for that. Our hope is that the children remaining on the website now will also find sponsors BEFORE we return to Haiti in March as we anticipate new children being enrolled in the schools (after they are able to open again) who will need sponsorship support. The more children we can find sponsors for now, the easier it will be to find sponsors for any new children added to the program during our next visit to Haiti. As we have been saying since the beginning of this crisis, the crisis in Northeast Haiti is still growing, and will continue to grow, so our friends continue to need our help.

So how can you help? If you wish to make a financial donation, you may certainly do so and we plan to use it to help Pastor Noel (and the other pastors) purchase food for the refugees from Port-Au-Prince as well as food for the children in the schools once school reopens. A new tax relief law allows people who contribute to Haiti earthquake relief by March 1, 2010 to take a tax deduction for the contribution on their 2009 tax return. This means donors can receive an immediate tax benefit, rather than having to wait until they file next year’s return. Donors may deduct these contributions on either their 2009 or 2010 returns, but not both. As you are aware, we are a registered 501c3, tax-exempt, non-profit organization so donations made through His Hands are considered tax-exempt and we do issue a receipt to all donors. Media attention is beginning to wane as time passes, but we will continue to serve the pastors we have partnered with in Northeast Haiti long after Haiti has left the news and the last reporters have gone home. We are in this for the long haul and we would appreciate your participation with us to help the pastors to help the people in their communities and, of course, to help the children in the schools.