wfn.org | CRWRC Focuses on Haiti Response in Leogane

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jacob Kramer, CRWRC Disaster Response Director, cell 905-220-3498 or
1-800-730-3490

Beth DeGraff, CRWRC Media Contact, 1-800-55-CRWRC or cell 616-648-7821

> CRWRC Focuses on Haiti Response in Leogane

JANUARY 21, 2010?The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC)
will focus its current emergency relief efforts in Haiti on the town
of Leogane, about 20 miles west of Port au Prince, in coordination
with other international non-government and Christian organizations
responding to the January 12 earthquake and ongoing tremors.

?Ninty percent of Leogane?s residents have lost their homes,? said
CRWRC?s Disaster Response Director, Jacob Kramer, of the town of about
175,000 people. ?CRWRC and one of its Haitian partners, PWOFOD, have
ongoing programs in Leogane, and there is a Haitian Christian Reformed
Church there. The people already know us, and we can work with local
leaders to carry out an immediate relief response.?

Long-term, CRWRC has worked with PWOFOD in urban Port au Prince and
surrounding neighborhoods to train local leaders to do community
outreach, begin micro-loan programs for business, and teach adult literacy.

The United Nations recently reported that Leogane was one of the areas
worst hit by last Tuesday?s quake. Their local market was already
dependent on outside food shipments, and this need has now increased.

?Right now, we are using cash to buy food locally for distribution,?
said Kramer, ?but these supplies will soon run out. We will then have
to ship food in.? In disaster response, CRWRC seeks to purchase
supplies as close to the event as possible to support local economies
and keep shipping costs down.

CRWRC?s earthquake response is being organized by Ad deBlaeij, a
mission worker living in Haiti since 1982, and Ken Little, a Senior
Disaster Response Project Manager from North America. They are being
joined today by three experienced volunteer managers from Edmonton,
Alberta, and Fremont, Michigan.

Lee Mys, from Michigan, served with CRWRC in Indonesia after the 2004
tsunami and led food distributions in Kenya during recent droughts.

Following the 2004 tsunami, the Tom and Alida Fernhout spent
three-and-a-half years in Sri Lanka managing the construction of more
than 800 permanent houses there. Last summer, the Fernhouts went to
Haiti to implement CRWRC?s response to the three hurricanes. They
distributed food and seed to restart crop planting, handed out goats
to restart income earning, and oversaw the drilling of 15 new, fresh
water wells.

Financial contributions for CRWRC's response are urgently needed.
Every dollar makes a difference. Give online at www.crwrc.org or by
phone at 1-800-55-CRWRC. Checks marked, ?Haiti Earthquake 2010,? can
be sent to: CRWRC, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan
49560-0600.

CRWRC is a faith-based relief and development organization with 45
years of expertise, including Hurricane Katrina and Asia Tsunami
response. CRWRC is active in more than 30 of the world?s poorest
countries, seeking to ?live justice? and ?love mercy? by working  with
160 national partner organizations in their communities to end poverty
and hunger.

CRWRC is a member of the Better Business Bureau?s Wise Giving
Alliance, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA),
and InterAction. Give with confidence.

For more information about CRWRC's Haiti earthquake response, go to:

> http://www.crcna.org/pages/helphaiti_2010.cfm

> -30-

> -- Beth DeGraff
> CRWRC Media and Justice Contact
> 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue SE
> Grand Rapids, MI 49560-0600
> 1-800-55-CRWRC
> www.crwrc.org

Note that my email address has changed to bdegraff@crwrc.org.

CRWRC is a registered non-profit agency of the CRC-NA in both the U.S.
and Canada.