HOW TO HELP HAITI

From Alex Baumgarten, Director of Government Relations for the Episcopal Church:
About 14 months ago, I was fortunate to travel to Haiti, the largest diocese of the Episcopal Church, with a delegation led by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. Traveling around the country, I experienced a nation whose people - despite the most difficult recent history imaginable - were working joyfully to build a future of prosperity and peace. The Episcopal Church in Haiti has been a leader in cultivating hope for the Haitian people, sponsoring religious, educational, health, and vocational-training institutions throughout the country. At the time, I wrote in my trip journal that I had never seen a church so alive with the Holy Spirit and working with such focus to make the Kingdom of God present in the world.

Like hundreds of millions of Americans and other people around the world, my heart has broken as I've seen the images of the devastation brought to Haiti by this week's earthquake. At least three million people have been affected by the earthquake, with at least 50,000 dead. One report from an Episcopal priest and leader in Haiti describe the devastation to the diocese: "There is no Cathedral. The entire Holy Trinity complex is gone. The convent for the Sisters of St. Margaret is gone. The Bishop's house is gone. College St. Pierre is gone."

How unfair it seems that, just as the Haitian people were gaining some traction in overcoming a history of poverty, internal strife, and other natural disaster, devastation of this magnitude returns. Like so many other Americans, I've felt moments of helplessness this week, wondering what I can do.

Here, the answer is three-fold: Pray, Give, and Advocate.

PRAY
Hold all of the people of Haiti, and all those with friends and loved ones in Haiti, in your prayers. The National Cathedral is hosting A Service of Prayer for Haiti on Sunday at 6PM ET which is expected to be broadcast nationally. Check the cathedral website for more details.

GIVE
The most immediate thing Americans can do is give to the relief effort. Episcopal Relief & Development has disbursed emergency funding to the Diocese of Haiti to help meet critical needs such as food, water and shelter for those affected, and stands ready to support the country's ongoing recovery and rebuilding efforts in the days to come. As Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said this week: "Even under 'normal' circumstances, Haiti struggles to care for her nine million people. I urge your concrete and immediate prayers in the form of contributions to Episcopal Relief & Development, who are already working with the Diocese of Haiti to send aid where it is most needed."

ADVOCATE
We applaud President Obama's pledge of $100 million in U.S. assistance to Haiti, and his Administration's decision to halt, for the time being, U.S. efforts to return Haitians refugees already in the United States to their own land. In addition, our advocacy efforts have three immediate focuses: (1) Ensuring adequate short- and long-term U.S. assistance for rebuilding Haiti, as well as adequate U.S. personnel and infrastructural support; (2) Granting U.S. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitian refugees in the United States; and (3) Ending the interdiction and return of Haitian migrants found at sea. Click here to send a message to the President, and expect to hear more from us in coming days.