We, the community of St. Andrew’s-Wesley responded last Sunday with great generosity. Our appeal for Haiti generated over $2400 from the morning service! At Jazz Vespers, our blitz was aided immensely with the leadership of the musicians, Deanna Knight & The Hot Club of Mars, who donated all their fees, and enthusiastically encouraged their congregation to be generous as well! That service added another $800. MANY THANKS!!
We have sent just over $3200 off to the United Church General Council Offices in Toronto and are assured by the folks at UCC Mission and Service that this money will ,VERY SOON, reach their partners “on the ground” in Haiti and it will be put to work immediately after it is received. These partners are The Methodist Church of
Haiti, The Karl Lévêque Cultural Institute (ICKL), and Action by Churches Together (ACT), the network of churches and Christian aid agencies that enables global responses to emergencies.
For those who have been asking about whether or not our funds will be matched by Federal Government funds, the answer is somewhat complicated. The United Church has, indeed, applied to the government to be one of the
eligible agents for collecting relief funds which will then be matched by CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) but that application has not yet (at the time of writing) been approved. Even if it is approved, we
are advised that CIDA rules, and government committee process will slow the delivery of funds considerably and, furthermore, that there are certain restrictions on where the money can be used. For example, matched funds
cannot be used for the reconstruction of churches or church-run schools.
Consequently, we have decided to send the amounts we have collected NOW and have asked that they be channelled immediately to the trusted partners with which the United Church is working, not waiting for the decision of the
government on the eligibility for matching. (If you have questions on this, please do not hesitate to ask me: michjael.staw@telus.net)
If you have not had a chance to donate and wish to do so, PLEASE CLICK “DONATE” AND BE SURE TO INCLUDE “HAITI” IN THE MESSAGE BOX WHEN YOU COMPLETE THE CANADA HELPS DONOR INFORMATION.
Many thanks,
Michael Dobbin, Director of Development