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Article_Citing urgent need, archdiocese seeks donations for Haiti, Cuba

Breaking News | Saturday, October 08, 2016

Citing 'urgent need,' archdiocese seeks donations for Haiti, Cuba

Post-Matthew, greatest need is for cash, bulk shipments of food and hygienic items

Father Jose Espino, pastor of San Lazaro Church in Hialeah and archdiocesan liaison to Caritas Cuba, explains the post-Matthew situation there as Father Reginald Jean-Mary, administrator of Notre Dame d'Haiti, and Teresita Gonzalez, executive director of Amor en Accion, look on.

Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

Father Jose Espino, pastor of San Lazaro Church in Hialeah and archdiocesan liaison to Caritas Cuba, explains the post-Matthew situation there as Father Reginald Jean-Mary, administrator of Notre Dame d'Haiti, and Teresita Gonzalez, executive director of Amor en Accion, look on.

MIAMI | Less than 24 hours after being spared the ravages of a category 4 storm, the Archdiocese of Miami turned its sights toward helping others who were not so fortunate.

In a letter to pastors issued Oct. 7, Archbishop Thomas Wenski asked that a special collection be taken in every archdiocesan parish at this weekend’s Masses, Oct. 8 and 9.

“The funds raised will be used to assist the local churches in the affected areas (both in the U.S. and in the Caribbean) as they seek to help the victims through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy,” the archbishop wrote.

A few hours earlier, at a press conference held at Notre Dame d’Haiti Church in Miami, archdiocesan representatives explained what the people of Haiti and Cuba, hardest hit by Matthew, need immediately: food in bulk quantities, hygienic products in bulk quantities, and cash to pay for transporting those items to the hardest hit areas.

Father Reginald Jean-Mary, administrator of Notre Dame d'Haiti, speaks about the devastation in post-Matthew Haiti as Teresita Gonzalez, executive director of Amor en Accion, looks on.

Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

Father Reginald Jean-Mary, administrator of Notre Dame d'Haiti, speaks about the devastation in post-Matthew Haiti as Teresita Gonzalez, executive director of Amor en Accion, looks on.

The archdiocese will work with Church partners in the region to distribute the aid: Catholic Relief Services in Haiti and Caritas in Cuba. The money will be collected here by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, which also can coordinate the bulk shipments.

Urgent need

“There’s an urgent need to take action,” said Father Reginald Jean-Mary, administrator of Notre Dame d’Haiti Mission in Miami.

He has been in touch with Cardinal Chibly Langlois, archbishop of Les Cayes in Haiti’s southwestern peninsula, where Hurricane Matthew’s eyewall first touched land Oct. 4.

Reuters reported at least 800 people had died. The dioceses of Les Cayes, at the southwestern end of the peninsula, and Jeremie, at its northwestern end, are the most affected.

Father Jean-Mary said as many as 37,000 people were homeless. Local Catholic churches have been turned into shelters, he added, but now there are “thousands of people getting there with no food.”

Cholera is a huge concern, as water supplies become contaminated with sewage in flood waters.

A similar situation is taking place in Haiti’s northwestern tip, which includes Miami’s sister diocese of Port-de-Paix and the city of Jean-Rabel. As many as 2,000 homes in the area were destroyed, and damage assessments are far from complete, according to Teresita Gonzalez, executive director of Amor en Accion, the archdiocesan lay missionary group that sponsors sister schools and nutritional projects in the region.

Teresita Gonzalez, executive director of Amor en Accion, stressed the importance of bulk shipments and cash donations to ease the plight of the victims of Hurricane Matthew in the Cuba and Haiti.

Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

Teresita Gonzalez, executive director of Amor en Accion, stressed the importance of bulk shipments and cash donations to ease the plight of the victims of Hurricane Matthew in the Cuba and Haiti.

Haiti’s northwest is the poorest region in a country that is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. The area also has been experiencing what the United Nations termed “food insecurity” for the past two years, as crops have been affected both by an ongoing drought and ill-timed storms. Most of Haiti’s crops, many of them ready for harvest, were wiped out by Matthew, Gonzalez said.

“To those of you who have been so generous in the past, this is the time to be generous again,” Gonzalez said, referring to companies that provided bulk shipments of food and other badly needed items to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

Baracoa ‘cut off’

While the situation in Cuba is “not as bad as Haiti,” the entire eastern tip of the island, from Baracoa to Punta de Maisí, has been cut off from neighboring Guantanamo, said Father Jose Espino, pastor of San Lazaro Church in Hialeah and the archdiocese’s liaison to Caritas Cuba.

The bridge and two main roads leading into Baracoa have collapsed or buckled due to flooding and mudslides, he said. It took Bishop Wilfredo Pino, of the Diocese of Guantanamo-Baracoa, 16 hours to make the trek from Guantanamo to Baracoa — a trip that normally takes about two hours.

Even then, the damage in coastal areas, such as Maisí, could only be assessed by helicopter, Father Espino said. About 90 percent of the dwellings in Baracoa have been destroyed although so far no deaths have been reported.

Many people were evacuated to shelters before the storm, and they remain there. Dioceses throughout Cuba have taken up collections to send to Guantanamo, and the bishops are negotiating with the government for permission to deliver bulk shipments to the nearest port of entry — perhaps Baracoa’s seaport or airport, as taking supplies overland from Santiago or Guantanamo would delay their arrival.

“Caritas Cuba has to negotiate the entry of the aid,” Father Espino said.

Haitians pray at Notre Dame d'Haiti in Miami Oct. 7 during a first Friday adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The parish will become a collection point for individual donations of canned proteins and rice for the victims of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti.

Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

Haitians pray at Notre Dame d'Haiti in Miami Oct. 7 during a first Friday adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The parish will become a collection point for individual donations of canned proteins and rice for the victims of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti.

At this time, only individual donations of cash are helpful, all three archdiocesan representatives stressed. What is not needed: clothes, shoes, blankets or individual donations of water, which is too bulky to transport.

“If we start collecting stuff, it may be two weeks before we can respond,” said Father Jean-Mary.

Nevertheless, his parish will serve as a collection center for a drive sponsored by the City of Miami, which has encouraged local residents to drop off items at fire stations. Those items should be limited to: canned proteins, such as ready-to-eat tuna, ham, sausages, chicken and beans; and rice.

'Large-scale' donations

“This is the moment for those large-scale, already palletized donations,” Gonzalez stressed.

Also needed: cash to pay for shipping, as well as to enable the priests and religious who live in the region to move about, assess damages and render aid.

“We work with the local people,” Father Espino stressed. “We are not the first responders. The first responder is the Church in Haiti (and Cuba). We respond to their needs, not ours.”

Mary Ross Agosta, communications director for the archdiocese, appealed to the more than 2 million people who saw and reacted to a Prayer for Protection from Storms posted on the archdiocese's Facebook page. Hundreds of them commented, "Amen."

"If they are following us, we need your help," Ross Agosta said. "That 'Amen' in this Year of Mercy must continue."

HOW TO HELP
  • The Archdiocese of Miami will be taking up a collection this weekend, Oct. 8 and 9, at its 108 parishes and missions to help the post-Matthew relief and recovery efforts in Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas and Jamaica. 
  • Donations may be made through the Catholic Charities website, www.ccadm.org. Click on the “Donate” tab, then on "General Donations," and under the “supporting” box select “Disaster Relief – Hurricane Matthew.”
  • Donations via check may be made payable to: Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, 1505 NE 26 St., Wilton Manors, FL 33305. Please note “Disaster Relief - Hurricane Matthew” in the memo line. 
  • Donations will be designated to provide transportation, gas, food, and rebuild/repair damaged infrastructure.
 

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