wfn.org | CRWRC Haiti Earthquake Donations Pass $2 Million Mark

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

> IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ken Little, senior relief program manager, cell 647-205-5408 or  1-800-336-2920

Beth DeGraff, media contact, cell 616-648-7821 or 1-800-55-CRWRC

CRWRC Haiti Earthquake Donations Pass $2 Million Mark

February 4, 2010?Just three weeks after the January 12 earthquake,
compassionate and creative donors across the U.S. and Canada have
given more than $2.174 million to fund emergency relief efforts in
Haiti through the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (www.crwrc.org).

?There is an outpouring of concern for Haiti?s people from around the
world, including the faith community,? says Ken Little, a senior
relief manager for the agency. ?Teachers are organizing rock-a-thons,
chefs are donating five-course dinners, and school sports teams are
hosting bake sales. The destruction of Port au Prince is massive, but
our capacity for compassion is bigger.?

Ken Little flew out of Haiti?s capital early this week after two weeks
assessing needs, coordinating CRWRC?s response, and establishing
distribution points in both Port au Prince and the Dominican Republic.
CRWRC began its response just a few days after the destructive
tremblers began. Ken Little was soon joined by volunteer and
specialist staff on the ground are supporting the existing country
staff, all of which survived the quake.

CRWRC is working with long-time partner, the Union of Baptist Churches
in Haiti (UBCH), and other Christian Reformed and international relief
agencies, to continue to provide emergency aid, including food, water,
shelter tarps, and blankets to quake survivors in Port au Prince over
the next few weeks.

At the same time, CRWRC Haiti earthquake response team members are
gearing up for a multi-year recovery and reconstruction program that
will last at least 24 months.

?CRWRC has identified six villages in Leogane for the next phase of
our response,? said Jacob Kramer, disaster response director. ?We are
working with village leaders to survey needs of each family.? Kramer
replaced Ken Little in Haiti this week as lead staff in the response.
Kramer said they and the UBCH are centrally based in a boarding school in  Flon.

CRWRC?s work in Leogane, the area at the center of a second earthquake
that destroyed about 90 percent of the existing homes, will likely
include construction of transitional and permanent housing,
micro-credit activities, re-establishing livelihoods, providing for
psycho-social needs, forming community groups, and providing for
children. It will also include rebuilding infrastructure such as wells
and latrines.

CRWRC director Andrew Ryskamp estimates that the organization?s
opportunities to continue rehabilitation and recovery work in Haiti
could total significantly more than the current funding level. The
agency launched a $9 million response to 9/11, and in June 2009
completed a five-year, $10 million Asia Tsunami relief and
reconstruction program in Indonesia, and even more in other
tsunami-affected countries. CRWRC?s North American relief arm,
Disaster Response Services, continues rehabilitation and
reconstruction work in Slidell, Louisiana and Galveston, Texas, after
catastrophic Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

CRWRC has had a 30 year presence in Haiti, building long-term
partnerships with Haitian national organizations, coming alongside
them to build their capacity and reach out into some of  the poorest
communities to organize their members, improve living standards,
educate, train, and build human rights awareness. CRWRC?s community
development programs in more than 30 countries around the world target
the ?poorest of the poor,? those who are marginalized even in the
poorest communities?the elderly, single women, orphaned children,
those who are ill or disabled, and those who are at risk.

CRWRC is seeking provision of aid in Haiti in collaboration with the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the ACT Alliance.

CRWRC?s multi-year rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in Haiti
need additional funding. Those who wish to contribute to CRWRC?s
earthquake response effort in Haiti, give online at
www.crwrc.org/donate, text ?crwrc haiti? to 20222 to give a $10 gift
by cell phone, or call 1-800-55-CRWRC to give by credit card. Checks,
marked ?Haiti Earthquake 2010,? can be mailed to: CRWRC, 2850
Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49560-0600.

Those wishing to donate through CRWRC?s Annual Gift Catalog at
www.crwrc.org/blessed, can provide a warm blanket ($10), an emergency
kit ($34.50) including pots, dishes, soap, blankets, water, and a
shelter tarp ($50), or a Bible in Haitian Creole ($5).

Members of the Press who wish to arrange an interview with CRWRC
senior relief program manager Ken Little, call cell 647-205-5408. Or
call Beth DeGraff, CRWRC media contact in the U.S. at 1-800-55-CRWRC
or cell, 616-648-7821.

CRWRC is a Christian, non-profit organization of the Christian
Reformed Church in North America ministering in development, relief,
and justice education to people in need in more than 30 countries
around the world since 1962.

> -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.