P.B. Fund Issues Haiti Emergency Grant
Episcopal News Service. February 20, 1986 [86027]
NEW YORK (DPS, Feb. 20) -- Saying, 'We do hope that this grant will be of significant help in relieving the needs of the victims of this most recent unrest in Haiti," the Rev. Canon Samir J. Habiby, executive director of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, announced that the Fund has issued a $10,000 emergency grant to the Episcopal Church in Haiti.
Episcopal Church officials in Haiti report that the atmosphere is hopeful there, as the new government organizes itself following the departure of President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier.
During the time of change, the work of the Church continues in its schools, hospitals and other institutions, as well as in the pastoral care it provides. A letter from Haiti received at the Episcopal Church Center, here, said, "The power of the spirit has been very strong within the Episcopal Church of Haiti... and... the spirit keeps moving us."
Travel to the area outside the capital, Port-au-Prince, is still difficult, as is communication, and therefore needs are still being evaluated, but there has been damage, both material and human, which the Fund's grant will help to address.
The change of government in Haiti occurred following months of civil unrest. During that time, the Episcopal Church in Haiti worked, as much as was within its power, to avoid bloodshed. A statement issued at the time of its diocesan convention in late January said, "The Episcopal Church in Haiti reaffirms, as it has in the past, its conviction, its faith and its commitment to spreading the Gospel, to pursuing the task of reconciliation between man and God and between man and his fellow men. The Church lifts its voice against all types of violence, oppression and injustice, no matter what the source or form."
The people of the Church in Haiti continue to request the prayers of their brothers and sisters in the wider Church. Those wishing also to contribute to the relief work in Haiti may send their donations, so marked, to the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017.