On behalf of our national network of ministry partners I want to thank you for your gift to assist those working on the front lines for America's children and youth living in high-risk communities.

Usually we share with you stories about how your gifts help kids in America. This month however, we all turn our thoughts and prayers to those children and families suffering in Haiti.

Yesterday at our monthly lunch for urban youth leaders, one of our partners shared about a massive local drive to send medical supplies to Haiti.  Our staff met with our Board Vice Chairman Rev. Larry Brown and all agreed that we felt led to devote our YPN February grant towards this effort to relieve the suffering and pain in Haiti.

We've also had many church groups inquire if we send mission teams to Haiti. We are working with our parent organization Compassion International on the best way to respond. Along with many credible international charities, Compassion confirmed that right now is not the time to send unskilled personnel. Haiti needs medical professionals, trained rescue workers, structural engineers, etc. So when the time is right to send clean up and construction crews, we'll let you know.

Attached is the post we put on our website to help educate churches and youth groups who naturally want so desperately to help. Please share this with your networks so that together the body of Christ can stay informed and do the most good at the right time when we can really help without being a hindrance to the heroic efforts  going on right now by so many.

If your group would like to serve Haiti in the months ahead, please let us know, as we will be preparing to take teams to Haiti in 2011.

For Him and Them,

Dean Cowles
YouthPartnersNET & CityConnexx Founder

LIVE COMPASSION!

Your Donations at Work:

In response to the massive Haiti earthquake last month, YPN has prayerfully decided to issue our monthly grant to WINN Ministries for “Mile High for Haiti”.  This urban ministry is working with the Haitian Timoun Foundation, Project Cure and 23 Walmart stores in Colorado to collect medical supplies for Haiti.  Local churches will be volunteering at each collection site on 2/6/10.  100% of the supplies go to the Haitian people in need and medical staff on the ground in Haiti.  And the items they are collecting are ones that doctors in Haiti are asking specifically for and can be easily purchased at Walmart or other grocery stores.

Prayer Request:

Please pray for this important project that the supplies will get into the hands of the medical personnel in Haiti and really be helpful for the Haitian people as they rebuild their lives and community.

What about HAITI?

What do you do when every fiber says to do something?
 
It is so difficult to see the images on TV and then deal with the heartache and emotions it brings up. Our first reaction is to go to Haiti and help, to assemble our students and be used by God.
 
You are right, as Christians we should do something.
 
CityConnexx has been in close communication with our partner Compassion International who has offices and staff in Haiti and is assessing the situation every day.  Haiti is still in a crisis/emergency situation.  Authorities are in need of field medical workers, disaster trained response teams, crisis counselors as they transition from search for survivors to recovery of bodies.  After this comes structural evaluations and moving in heavy equipment and operators from around the world to carefully remove and clear sites.  That will be followed by evaluation and rebuilding efforts.  With no consistent clean water and only temporary hospitals and tent cities, disease is likely to run rampant for an extended period of time.  And unlike USA disasters like Katrina, Haiti does not have the resources and financial infrastructure to easily rebuild.
 
Mission groups will be needed in time, but not yet.
 
As part of the Compassion family, CityConnexx will keep you informed of the situation and when the time is right to go to Haiti - when your youth will not be a hindrance to the emergency efforts still underway; when they will be safe; when they can be used fully by God to impact the people in Haiti through service, hope and compassion.
 
So what can we do now?
 
For now we ask that you pray and wait... listen intently to what God says.  Jesus practiced this on many occasions.   Instead of reaction he demonstrated wise compassion.
 
Take this time to research what is truly needed in Haiti, not what is just in your heart.  Make sure the efforts your youth and church dedicate to this humanitarian response is directed and maximized by God.  For example, the CIDI advises that clothing is not a preferred choice for Haiti at this time.  A common problem in disaster situations is that material items are sent in mass and they don't have the means to safely distribute them.
 
After prayer, money is the most important contribution that you can make right now.  Again, research and select a credible facilitating organization or give to www.Compassion.com and know your donation is going directly to their disaster relief efforts.

“But the Lord was not in the earthquake… but the Lord was not in the fire…
but in the sound of a gentle blowing wind.”  I Kings 19:9-12

May the gentle comforting winds of compassion blow in the months ahead for all those affected by the Haitian disaster.