HEART TO HEART FROM PARISHIONERS AT ST. JUDE TO OUR SISTER PARISH IN GROS MORNE HAITI

Notes . From Haiti The needs of our brothers & sisters in Haiti are many We visited homes with dirt floors that were carefully swept ..we saw outdoor kitchens with a pot that held one skinny chicken to feed a family ..homes without doors just a sheet to cover the opening .we met a 13 year old boy who will die if he doesn t get a pediatric cardiologist to repair his heart at Mother Theresa s Home in Port-au-Prince we held babies who reached out from 50+ little cribs for someone to love them .we saw women & children carrying 5 gal. buckets of water home on their heads, water from the same river where they bathe, wash clothes and the animals come to drink.

We visited a school where the children were all smiles as they sang songs of welcome to greet us and yet at lunch time they had only water for their meal; a mountain was climbed to visit a school built in memory of parishioners of St. Jude; We visited a Cathedral and numerous churches which, regardless of the time of day, they were always filled with Haitian people praising God we saw homes with cracked walls but the sign painted over the doorway said God is Good . We visited a homeless shelter where everyone hugged you and one of our group was reunited with an old Haitian man who remembered her playing checkers with him years ago.

We went to sleep at night to the sounds of the animals and woke in the morning to the sounds of the countryside church bells, people singing (again the animals bleating, crowing, oinking, barking,) Everyone ready for a new day!

The people of Haiti and our sister parish of Gros Morne are truly people of God. They thank God for their very existence. They thank all of us at St. Jude just for caring and continuing to return each year bringing love from our parish.

On our recent visit(2007-8) to our parish in Gros Morne, Haiti we had the opportunity to visit with several ongoing projects in our sister parish which the generous people of St. Jude Parish have helped to support. We visited the hospital, several local schools, the reforestation area where 200,000 trees have been planted to aid in the erosion problems. We met with the joy filled adults & children of Gros Morne who are so appreciative of all our parish has done for them. We have accomplished much but there is so much more to be done. When we sat down with the priests & sisters of our parish to discuss what we could try to gather and send on the sea-container, their requests were modest but very needed!

Haiti Parish Twinning Program Sea Container from St Jude Parish

On Sunday April 6, 2008 St Jude Parish had Sea Container Sunday. Because of the wonderful support or Parish Family has for our brothers and sisters in Haiti the response was tremendous! Members of the Haiti Mission Group spent all day Sunday gathering ,boxing, and labeling items dropped off. After all the gathering, boxing, labeling and numbering was completed, we ended up with 104 boxes of requested items for shipment on the Sea Container.

Early Wednesday morning Judy Trochelman and Sharon Carboni loaded a U-haul and drove to the Nashville warehouse to drop off the shipment. It was a great success. Thanks to all who helped out.

As many of you have read in the paper there is a current crisis in Haiti---prices for food staples and fuel have doubled or almost doubled when the majority of the people live on less than $2 a day. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Haiti. They need our prayers during this time in crisis.