As most of you may be aware by now, CityLights had a team in Haiti when the earthquake hit on Tue Jan 12th.  Apart from a fractured wrist and some bruises there were no other physical injuries to the team members.

After more than 48 hours of not knowing want was happening they eventually made it to the US Embassy and were evacuated early Friday morning.  They made it back to Minnesota late Friday afternoon.

Thanks to the US Air Force for their action and amazing care for all the people they helped (and are still helping).

We have 27 churches, about 50 pastors, two elementary schools, a brand new orphanage and a Bible College in Haiti.  The information to hand is that the perimeter walls of the orphanage are down, the main church is damaged and the school is also severely damaged.  In addition, every member of the mother church has lost their home or suffered major damage.  We still have no idea about loss of life among our pastors and church members.

CLMI is currently working with some other ministries and aid organizations to take a “Restoration Team” back to Haiti in April to help rebuild a community where our main church is located on the edge of Port au Prince.  While the initial trip will be for about 10 days, we will be working to establish a cooperative effort that will continue to help rebuild for the next 3 to 5 years.  This will be a FAITH BASED operation that will reach out to the community at large.

We are looking to rebuild the church, school and orphanage.  In addition we are looking to join with another organization to build family homes in the community.  There will be a food drive and medical clinics hosted during this time depending on how many medical professionals we can get to come with us.  We also want to take people who are able to train the Haitians to take care of themselves and serve their communities with basic first aid, hygiene and in other practical areas.

Finally we will be hosting a 3 – 5 day evangelistic open air outreach to the community to bring them the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Right now we are prepared to take 150 – 200 people.  All the logistics need to be worked out yet but we believe this is the right direction to be headed in.

Here’s how you can help:

Pray

Donate – clothing, tents, school supplies, toiletry items, medical supplies and of course finances.  Watch this space for more details

Think about coming with us – we need builders, medical people, in fact anyone that wants to work.  We can help with some basic training.

Ideas – If you know someone in the Freight Business, we could use the referral – we are looking to fill containers.  Same applies to corporations and other organizations willing to donate goods or finances.

If you want to donate financially, send your checks made out to:

CityLights Ministries International

PO Box 28357

Crystal, MN 55428

Our online credit card facility is not operating anymore.  If you want to donate by credit card please email us at ian@citylightsministries.org and we will be in contact with you by phone as soon as possible.  (Please DO NOT send your credit card details by email).

We will attempt to update this information on a daily basis as more plans are set in place and information comes to hand.

Download

Haiti Application.pdf