CENTRAL AMERICAN FLOODS
The Salvation Army Responds to Central American Floods:
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua Suffer Brunt of Flooding
The Salvation Army in Central America is providing assistance to people affected by severe flooding. Heavy rains that started in October have caused more than 90 deaths in the region, with the worst problems in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. Official data shows that more than half a million people are affected, with at least 100,000 having left their homes in order to stay safe.
According to The Salvation Army's Latin America North Territory the damage to infrastructure and agriculture is massive, with pre-existing poverty in many of these areas making the situation even more difficult. Some communities have not been reached and there is a pressing need for food, shelter and clean water.
In Nicaragua, The Salvation Army is distributing food, clothes, mattresses and blankets to almost 700 people; in El Salvador around 1,000 people have been given food, hygiene articles and medicine. An outpost in Gualache, El Salvador, has become an emergency shelter for 150 displaced people.
Further emergency relief assistance will be provided where needed and as funds become available.
Monetary donations: The best way to help the situation in Central America is to donate funds by giving online, calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY or mailing a check to: The Salvation Army World Service Office, International Disaster Relief Fund, P.O. Box 630728, Baltimore, MD 21263-0728 with designation “Central American Flood Relief."
JAPAN EARTHQUAKE/TSUNAMI
Press Releases-Salvation Army Earthquake Response in Japan has to Overcome Weather and Fuel Issues
-Salvation Army Relief Teams in Japan Providing Vital Assistance
-The Salvation Army Responds in Japan
Photos
-The Salvation Army's relief efforts in Japan, photographs by Keri Shay
How to Give
One hundred percent of your donation will be used for Salvation Army relief efforts in Japan.
If you would like to provide food, water and emotional care for survivors*:
• Donate online. Be sure to designate your donation “Japan.”
• Call 1-800-SAL-ARMY. Be sure to designate your donation “Japan.”
• Make a $10 donation by texting the word Japan to 80888. The donation will be added to your cell phone bill. Make sure to respond YES to the return message in order for the donation to be completed.
• Checks designated “Japan” can be mailed to The Salvation Army, 2445 Prior Ave. N., Roseville, MN 55313.
*Unfortunately The Salvation Army is not able to send supplies over to Japan because of the high costs of shipping and the lack of warehouse space. Financial assistance is the most flexible gift, unless the goods shipment is a requested product through our disaster relief services, and this would be done in large quantities and typically a corporate gift of goods.
We recognize that not everyone has funds to give at this time but that is what is needed most. Aside from shipping costs and the problem of storage, another advantage with funding is that the Army is able to purchase items from local merchants and thus build the economy of a disaster area.
Perhaps you could considering doing a garage sale or something like that and using the funds to donate to the cause.
HAITI EARTHQUAKE
Global Salvation Army Leader Sheds Light on Worldwide Efforts
After attending a conference led by one of the highest-ranking Salvation Army officials in the world, officers and staff of The Salvation Army Northern Division are seeing the organization in a whole new light.
Their eyes were opened by Major George Polarek, assistant director of The Salvation Army World Service Office, headquartered in Alexandria, Va. In late January, Polarek was the keynote speaker at a Salvation Army Disaster Services conference held near Hinckley, Minn.
“Many people, our own officers and staff included, do not always realize how far-reaching The Salvation Army is,” said Major Byron Medlock, Northern Division Disaster Services Secretary. “What Major Polarek had to say humbled our hearts and opened our minds to the almost incomprehensible number of people The Salvation Army touches across the planet.”
The Salvation Army finds long-term solutions to poverty in underdeveloped countries across the world and provides emergency food and services in the aftermath of a disaster. Polarek shed light on the jaw-dropping work that 50,000 Salvation Army officers and staff are performing in dozens of developing countries.
“Whether it is domestic or international service, the first thing we must do is ask the community what it wants,” Polarek said. “It is paramount that we first understand the culture, but we must also help change the culture when it is oppressive. This is a delicate role and we cannot be overly demanding.”
Here are some highlights of what Polarek reported:
• Sri Lanka: The Salvation Army recently built more than 1,500 homes in Sri Lanka, all with one major requirement: Each man must include his wife in the document of ownership, previously unheard of in most Sri Lankan communities. In one Muslim village, local elders said The Salvation Army could stay and build homes for three years. In that time the Army built 500 homes and taught local women to read and sew. Not only were the women able to make clothing and essentials for their families, they began selling their items to people in other villages. After the three years were up, the elders asked the Army to stay another 10 years.
• Haiti: The Salvation Army has done more than provide 7.9 million meals, 1.5 million gallons of fresh water and other immediate relief for earthquake survivors. It’s also providing long-term relief that is helping thousands improve their quality of life far into the future. That includes more than 600 hurricane-resistant, 10x12 homes The Salvation Army built with the help of 450 Haitian laborers. It also includes advocacy. To combat human trafficking, the Army demanded the government use flood lights to illuminate an entire soccer field where 20,000 people are living. The lights have deterred kidnappers from stealing children and victimizing women.
The stories above are only a small slice of all the work The Salvation Army is performing across the world.
“The Salvation Army is about development – how to develop the economy and stabilize the economy through our activities,” Polarek said. “Not just build me a home, but I’ll show you how to build a home and you do it for yourself. Now you have a skill that is transferable.”
Of course, the reason why The Salvation Army is helping people everywhere in the first place is to demonstrate Christ’s love and bring others into His kingdom.
How that happens comes in many unexpected forms, as illustrated in the story of a Salvation Army volunteer who was plotting house locations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The man came upon a pregnant woman with two toddlers. She was living in a dirty hovel put together with branches and discarded tin. She begged him for a house. The man explained to her that that wasn’t his job, he was only there to map out home locations. The man had been working with the Army for several weeks and had been interested in the Christian message, but was apprehensive in accepting the notion of God’s omnipresence. Frustrated by the woman’s persistence, the man walked to a nearby tree, looked up to the sky, and said, “God, if you are up there and you really exist, then why don’t you do something?” At that precise moment his cell phone rang. It was the Salvation Army volunteer in charge of distributing new homes, saying they had an extra house and they didn’t know where to put it.
Three days later, the woman had a new house.
One Year Later: An Update on The Salvation Army's Relief Work in Haiti
The Salvation Army's Cholera Prevention and Treatment Efforts
An Update from the Field
Dear friends,
Next week, (January 12, 2011) will mark the one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck the country of Haiti. You will have received periodic updates and once again we thank you for your prayers and practical support for the ongoing work in the Division.
The Haiti Recovery and Development Office is now fully functional under the leadership of Majors Ron and Carol Busroe and additional staff are being added as funding for the various projects is confirmed. This department works very closely with the Division, THQ and the Haiti Facilitation Desk at IHQ to oversee all earthquake related work in Haiti.
On Saturday, January 08 - 15 my wife and I will be in Haiti. We will be joined by the TC and TPWM who will be the official guests for a service of commemoration at the Army's facilities in Delmas 2 at 10 am on January 12. During this service we will take a look back at what has been done since the earthquake one year ago and the TC will share what is planned for the future rebuilding of Haiti and the Army's work in the Division. We will also spend time praising God and seeking his face for the future as well as his blessing on the plans for the future. We will also officially open the new completed temporary classrooms for College Verena, knock down a wall to officially launch reconstruction on the property and share our plans with community representatives and partners present.
The documents above will give you an update on the cholera epidemic and a concise summary of what has been done since the earthquake and what is the way forward.
The situation in Haiti is rather volatile with the release of recent election results now imminent so we also ask you to pray for the peace of Haiti and for the safety of our people and the THQ leadership as we share this event with them.
Blessings!
Lindsay J. Rowe
(Lieut. Colonel)
Chief Secretary
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Your donation to The Salvation Army’s relief efforts in Haiti has been put to good use and continues to make a difference. To date we have served more than 5.4 million meals and 4.2 million gallons of water, employed 400 local people and provided shelter and medical care to tens of thousands.
Your gift will continue to save lives far into the future. In the next year alone, our response teams will serve another 7 million meals, build nearly 4,500 transitional homes and employ 700 more men and women. This is in addition to our ongoing outreach in Haiti. As a local service provider, we have been operating schools, churches, clinics and hospitals there since 1950.
Haiti has become The Salvation Army’s largest humanitarian effort in our 145-year history. And our ability to save so many lives has been made possible by caring people like you.
To learn more about how your donation has been making a difference, please visit www.sawso.org
Blog:
-Haiti Strategy Conference Plans for Long Haul
-Four Miracles Amidst an Earthquake
-Relief Workers Prepare Before Haiti’s Rainy Season
-Salvation Army Offers Proposal for Green Shelters in Haiti
-Two Armies – One Mission
-An Unexpected Delivery
-Kids to the Rescue!
-Haiti Relief Workers Face New Injuries, Diseases in Post-Earthquake Environment-American Idol Star Visits Haiti
-13-Year-Old Girl Crochets Roses for Haiti Relief
-E-Bay Earnings from Celebrity Signed Football to Benefit Salvation Army Haiti Relief Efforts
-Food Used to Raise Awareness of Human Trafficking Threat to Haitians
-February 3: Notes from Haiti’s Disaster Zone
-Salvation Army Officer Gives Personal Account of Disaster Relief Efforts
-Go Fly a Kite!
-A Lifeline to Home and Hope
-Haitians Welcome Safe, Orderly Food Distribution Process
-More Supplies and Aid Reach Haitians
-Jeremiah 29: Plans to Give You Hope and a Future
-UN Names Salvation Army “Lead Agency”
-UPS Director Volunteers in Haiti
-No Such Thing as a Quick Fix
-Salvation Army Comes to Aid of Orphanage
-First Baby Born after Earthquake
-More Teams Arrive in Haiti
Press Releases:
-Salvation Army Builds 600 Transitional Shelters in Haiti Following Destructive Earthquake
-UPS Tracking Technology Used to Streamline Salvation Army Supply Distribution in Haiti
-The Salvation Army in Haiti:
Healing, Wholeness and Hope Update
-Delivery Giants Lend Expertise to Salvation Army Critical Food Delivery
-The Salvation Army in Haiti: A Place of Life and New Birth
-Salvation Army Assists 28-Day Survivor
-The Salvation Army in Haiti:
Bringing Healing, Wholeness, and Hope
-Weekend Update
-Jan 28 Haiti Relief Update
-Jan 27 Haiti Relief Update
-Jan 26 Haiti Relief Update
-Jan 25: Salvation Army Haiti Relief Fact Sheet
-Salvation Army to Reopen School in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti Following Earthquake
-The Salvation Army Earthquake Relief Operation
Extends to Haitian Countryside
-Elementary School Students in New Brighton Holding Fund-Raising Competition for Haiti Relief
-"Wheels are Up" on Emergency Supply Shipment
-Jan. 22 Update: Aid by the Numbers
-Jan. 21 Update: Aid by the Numbers
-Jan. 19 Update: Aid by the Numbers
-Medical Teams, Relief Workers and Materials Support 700 Local Salvation Army Officers and Staff
-Latest from the Assessment Team in Haiti
-Salvation Army Assessment Teams Arrive in Haiti
-1/14 Update on Haiti Relief Efforts
-Update: Disaster Relief Efforts in Haiti
-The Salvation Army Serving in Haiti
Amid Damage to its Own Facilities
-Salvation Army Mobilizing Personnel,
Resources to Aid with Haiti Earthquake Relief
Photos:
-Haiti Disaster Response
Video/Audio:
-The Salvation Army - Hope for Haiti
-Salvation Army Food Distribution in Haiti
-Check out all our disaster videos
-Haiti Situation: Critical
-Interview: Bob and Vicki Poff Witness Disaster in Haiti
-Facebook video of the scene outside our Divisional Headquarters in Port Au Prince, Haiti
-Salvation Army Haiti Public Service Announcement
-Hardball: Interview with Bob Poff
-MSNBC: The latest from Haiti
-MSNBC: Aid Worker Calls Earthquake "Most Horrific Thing I've Ever Seen"
-Facebook video of Bob Poff following the earthquake-recorded by Yves Montoban.
-Salvation Army Official Bob Poff Calls Haiti Earthquake 'Horrifying'
Follow Us
Twitter - Facebook
WAYS TO GIVE: |
Companies Supporting our Haiti Relief Efforts
-McDonald's in International Falls
-Texas Roadhouse in Grand Forks, ND
1/14/10 Letter from Bob Poff, Divisional Director of Disaster Services in Haiti
Good morning, Facebook family and friends! It is day 3 in Haiti - and today takes a big turn for us! Support staff from around the globe begin arriving, and we will venture out in the further regions of Haiti to assess needs, and determine our plan for helping literally hundreds of thousand of people in the coming mont...hs.
Please pray for us today, as we deal with the issue of not much potable water left; food supplies going low; many, many people who medical attention beyond our capacity; and the growing sense of despair about the future.The Salvation Army - and indeed the Haitian people - are very stroing! And we're going to use all of our strength - the strength of the Lord - to serve His people, in His name, for His honor and glory! If you could join us in that prayer - we would be honored.
And as soon as you are finished praying, you must make a plan about what YOU can do to help! Many of you have asked me on FB, and I haven't the time at the moment to respond to each question. However, I can tell you that the place to start with your questions is your local Salvation Army. They will know exactly what to do to help you. You can also go here for more information or to make a donation. YOUR support is critical, both now and in the coming weeks and months!
Thank you for your prayers, your kind words, your willingness to help! Together, we ARE making a difference!
God bless you!
Bob Poff
Devastation in Haiti
(1/13/10 Letter from Bob Poff, Divisional Director of Disaster Services in Haiti)
Words cannot begin to describe the devastation that has taken place in Port au Prince, Haiti.
I am the Director of Disaster Services for The Salvation Army in Haiti, and I am from the United States. My wife and I have been in Port au Prince since April, and have fallen deeply in love with the country and its people.
When the earthquake struck, I was driving down the mountain from Petionville. Our truck was being tossed to and fro like a toy, and when it stopped, I looked out the windows to see buildings "pancaking" down, like I have never witnessed before. Traffic, of course, came to a stand-still, while thousands of people poured out into the streets, crying, carrying bloody bodies, looking for anyone who could help them. We piled as many bodies into the back of our truck, and took them down the hill with us, hoping to find medical attention. All of them were older, scared, bleeding, and terrified. It took about 2 hours to go less than 1 mile. Traffic was horrible, devastation was everywhere, and suffering humanity was front and center.
When we could drive no further, we left the truck parked on the side of the street, and walked the remaining 2 miles to get back to the Army compound. What I found was very sad! All of the security walls were down. The Children's Home itself seems pretty intact, but our quarters, which is attached, are destroyed. Unliveable. The walls and ceiling are still standing - but so badly compromised that I wouldn't even think of trying to stay there. All of the children, and hundreds of neighbors, are sleeping in our playground area tonight. Occasionally, there is another tremor - another reminder that we are not yet finished with this calamity. And when it comes, all of the people cry out and the children are terrified.
As I am sitting outside now, with most people trying to get a little sleep, I can hear the moans and crys of the neighbors. One of our staff went to a home in the neighborhood, to try to be of assistance to the woman who lived there. But she was too late.
The scene will be repeated over and over again. Tomorrow, we will begin the process of assessing damage, learning about casualties, and preparing for the future.
God bless Haiti.
