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> American Baptist News Service (ABNS)

Haiti Relief From The U.S. And Half A World Away

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 1/12/10)?$303,000 has been given to
International Ministries in response to the January 12th Haiti
earthquake with one of the latest contributions coming from half a
world away. At its 125th anniversary celebration, the Angami Baptist
Church Council, part of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council, collected
$8,744 to fund Haiti relief efforts through International Ministries (IM).

The council, an IM partner for more than a century, also collected
$5,920 in support of IM?s mission that reaches people in more than 70
countries. The Angami is one of many tribes in Nagaland, a state in
the northeastern portion of India. In 1885, four Angamis became
Christians; today 27,245 members are part of 104 Angami Baptist churches.

Kristy Engel, a pediatric nurse practitioner and IM missionary in the
Dominican Republic (DR), and Vital and Ketly Pierre, IM missionaries
in Nicaragua, have been overseeing medical care for Haiti earthquake
victims not served by any other groups.

Rotating teams, composed of volunteer professional medical personnel
from the U.S. and elsewhere, travel from the DR each week to
Port-au-Prince. Temporary clinics are set up in schools and
church buildings. Word-of-mouth advertising is initiated by school
principals or church leaders 24-hours before each team arrives. Once a
treatment place is established, different teams go to the same
location until Haitians are equipped to provide care. When that
occurs, teams under Engel?s supervision are sent to other critical
neighborhoods. Volunteer doctors and physician assistants are asked to
email a message to BIMvolunteers@abc-usa.org to become part of a team.

Adalia Schellinger-Gutiérrez, M.D., an IM missionary in Mexico,
devoted a week in early February as one of a 30-member rotating team.
She says, ?On just the first day we were able to see 527 patients who
were so grateful for the care they received. As American Baptists, we
have a long mission history in Haiti and have avenues for providing
food, water and medical supplies as we team up with our Haitian
sisters and brothers.?

IM missionary Stephen James, M.D. and his wife Nancy, a registered
nurse, requested prayer support as they left their home in the north
of Haiti to return to Port-au-Prince. Their plans included helping to
prepare a place belonging to IM?s mission partner, the Convention of
Baptists in Haiti (CBH). When teams soon arrive during the rebuilding
phase, they will be assured of a safe place to stay.

The rebuilding phase will also be the focus next week in Haiti when
José Norat-Rodriguez, IM area director for Iberoamerica and the
Caribbean, and other American Baptist and CBH leaders meet to refine
plans for the immediate future.

Donations continue to be needed. Donors can give through the IM
website: www.internationalministries.org/items/80, or by check to:
?OGHS ? Haiti Earthquake Relief? and mailed to: International
Ministries, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851.

Support can also be given by American Baptists through their church by
making checks payable to the church with ?One Great Hour of Sharing ?
Haiti Earthquake Relief? written in the memo section. These gifts will
be sent from the church through the American Baptist region and then
to International Ministries.

A new tax relief law allows people who contribute to Haiti earthquake
relief by March 1, 2010 to take a tax deduction for the contribution
on their 2009 tax return. This means donors can receive an immediate
tax benefit, rather than having to wait until they file next year?s
return. Donors may deduct these contributions on either their 2009 or
2010 returns, but not both. See:

www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=218645,00.html?portlet=7

American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian
denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3
million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged
in God?s mission around the world.

posted @ Friday, February 12, 2010 7:48 AM by webmaster