Missions Committee
Co-Chairs: Jose Luis & Dean Elledge
Members: Ernest & Helen Hunter, Judy & David Nichols,Mrna Dibble, Kay Dano, Lindalee Macauley, Carol & Tom Palmgren, Melinda Harmon and Judy Jones,
Mel and Debbie Bowling, Joey Holzmeister, and James Ruckman
Bayonnais, Haiti Medical Clinic Update
The church-supported Bethesda Health Center of Bayonnais has been receiving patients regularly on weekdays for many months. Currrently, about 400 people are seen per month. The clinic even generates some income thanks to patients who can afford to pay small amounts.
Dr. Faustin Charles, who has been at the clinic for more than a year, placed No. 11 among 450 doctors who took a recent residency test. Dr. Charles started his three-year residency in General Surgery Jan. 7 in Cap-Haitien. The clinic is preparing to hire an interim doctor while Dr. Charles is away.
Nurses are planning trips into the mountains to teach useful ways for people to avoid illness from their environment, and for women to have healthier babies.
The next big step is for the clinic to have a basic electrical system (generator and wiring) in about three months. This step will enable the dentist to use his chair and powered tools. It will also make possible some lab tests that cannot be done now, and it will provide lighting for nighttime emergencies.
HURRICANE SANDY – HELP NEEDED
As reports continue to come in on the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy, the Presbytery of Charlotte’s Disaster Response Team is working to collect and deliver badly needed items to affected areas. If you are interested in reading more about these efforts, go to http://www.presbyofcharlotte.org/ for details. The SMPC Missions Committee has agreed to send over $1,000 to the PDA for Hurricane Sandy relief and another $500 to OFCB for relief from the storms that have wreaked havoc in Haiti. In addition, you might feel called to help by sharing your financial blessings in support of the trained National Response Team. If so, checks may be made out to SMPC with PDA - DR000148 on the memo line. You can also text PDA to 20222 to donate $10.
BETHESDA MEDICAL CLINIC OF BAYONNAIS UPDATE
The clinic is open in the partially completed building, even before there is power. The walls and floors have finishing coats on the cinder blocks and concrete. They are treating 15-30 patients a day with one doctor and three nurses. The people of Bayonnais are very pleased to finally have the clinic available!
Doctor Faustin has to leave for his residency program soon, so they will either have to hire an interim doctor or have only the nurses. Two additional nurses will finish their training at the end of this year, at a cost of $1,750 for each nurse. Funding is still needed for them to complete their educations. Another need at the clinic is furniture. They have a couple of old tables and some old benches, but
still need metal chairs for the waiting room, a bureau, roll around chairs for the staff, and proper furniture to store the medicines, bandages, etc. The total cost of the needed furniture is $1,215 and would be a great help for their work!
David Nichols just returned from another trip to Haiti where he was able to view all the changes first hand. Be sure and ask him about his trip and all of the wonderful ways in which God is inspiring Haitians and Americans to collaborate on a medical clinic for this part of Haiti.
HURRICANE DAMAGE IN BAYONNAIS.
The Missions Committee would like to thank the 55 members of our SMPC congregation who joined up with 245 others to make the Knight’s game on August 25 a successful event. A total of $1,200 in relief money for OFCB was raised, which will be well used to help repair the recent damage from Hurricane Isaac. Strong winds toppled numerous trees onto the original school building, the Helen Hunter Guest House, the church and the fence surrounding the campus. Our friends in Bayonnais are currently working on
repair estimates and will be extremely grateful for these additional funds to support their rebuilding needs.
Haiti Connections - Help A Child
Have you ever had an experience that is incredibly heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time?
That's what it's like to visit Bayonnais, Haiti. The children are starved:
• For attention
• For education
• For food
• For medical care
And yet...they have remarkable faith, smiles that would light the darkest of rooms, and hearts full of love. What they need is a chance to grow, both in mind and body. Perhaps you'd like to help them accomplish that by sponsoring a child. For only $35 a month, you can change a life. Interested? Please contact Judy Jones at 704-321-3443 or judy21jones@gmail.com
Bayonnais, Haiti
The SMPC Missions Committee is primarily concerned with our outreach program to support the OFCB Christian Mission in Bayonnais, Haiti. Our Haiti connection dates from the church's beginnings when Actionnel Fleurisma, who founded the OFCB Mission, lived among us and was one of SMPC's charter members. The Missions Committee encourages church members to participate in the Haiti student sponsorship program. We ‘sponsor" school children for the sum of $35 per month, the money being is used to pay teachers' salaries, buy supplies, and feed the students a nourishing meal each day - sometimes the only meal they receive.
Click here for more about SMPC's Haiti Ministry
Click here to visit OFCB's web site
David Nichols
Dear Members of
South Mecklenburg,
Any successful church program requires inspiration and dedication, the vision to do something and the energy to do it. SMPC's mission program is indeed a vibrant mission program because the grace of Christ has been manifested in the tireless work of David Nichols. David, a person of mature faith, keen intellect, and boundless energy, has given himself to the work of engaging this congregation in the mission of developmental work in Haiti.
David spends countless hours coordinating support for a church and school in Bayonnais, Haiti in addition to providing a great deal of organizational leadership for the ministry itself. His counsel and his repeated journeys to Bayonnais have been invaluable to the leaders of the church and school. By God's grace and David's joyfully diligent response an average of $230,000 is raised for the school, for scholarships, and for the community and church in Bayonnais. David's leadership has made a tremendous difference in the lives of countless people who each day face the life and death issues that poverty creates. David has coordinated projects that have included bus transportation, bridge building, solar technology, internet access for the school, food and supplies following hurricane Jeanne, the beginnings of a medical clinic, college education, and medical school education. In addition, his advocacy for this ministry has been extremely important in forming partnerships with other churches in our Presbytery along with a number of other congregations in the Charlotte area and beyond.
In addition, this ordained elder is active in ministries of congregational care, Bible study, and fellowship. What a blessing it is for this congregation to share in ministry with one who seeks to ensure that the faith we proclaim is exemplified by the things that we do.
In recognition of David's example of servant leadership, the Presbytery of Charlotte has named David as a recipient of the Older Adult Ministries Award. Nancy Youmans, Coordinator for Leadership Development, will be present with us in worship on July 19th to present the award to David.
Congratulations, David! Thank you for your witness.
Grace and Peace,
Matt
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