Dear Ms Starks,
The devastation caused by this year’s Atlantic
hurricane season – which isn’t over yet
– is no longer front-page news but people throughout
the Caribbean still face a daily struggle to rebuild
their lives. Homes have been destroyed, businesses shattered
and usual sources of income such as tourism and agriculture
decimated. The Salvation Army is doing all it can to
help people on the road to recovery. We need others
to lift the banner and assist us in gaining the funds
to continue moving forward into recovery.
On the island nation of Grenada, a
team of Caribbean Salvation Army officers and volunteers,
is coordinating deliveries of food, water and basic
need supplies to families in need. Working with other
relief groups, The Salvation Army is bringing hope.
'We’re doing our best to make our limited resources
stretch as far as possible,' says Major Stanley Griffin,
team leader on Grenada. 'The need here is staggering
but every shipment of relief supplies gives the people
a new reason to be optimistic.' For now, the major focus
of Salvation Army relief efforts is to identify neglected
communities. Heroic efforts to help are being undertaken
by Salvationists from Bermuda and Barbados, but much
more assistance is urgently needed.
In the Bahamas, progress is also being
made – albeit slowly. Just as people began to
recover after a direct hit from Hurricane Frances they
were struck again by Hurricane Jeanne. Families who
had returned home to begin making repairs had to seek
the safety of shelters again. Once more they encountered
Salvation Army personnel working tirelessly to serve
their immediate needs. In the Bahamas, and especially
in Freeport, people are seeing they can depend on The
Salvation Army. They are finding food, shelter and clothing
and a friend who listens and cares.
The people of Haiti are facing difficulties
as they try to cope with a tremendous loss of life and
property following Hurricane Jeanne's visit to their
island. Damage from winds was minimal but the deforestation
of much of the island led to massive flooding and mud
slides that left nearly 3,000 people dead and about
100,000 more homeless. In one community a Salvation
Army building was one of only a few to survive the flooding.
Hundreds of people seeking shelter and comfort were
welcomed into the compound. Many are still there –
they have nowhere else to go. Money for food, water
and other relief supplies is urgently needed to help
local Salvationists address the suffering that is still
taking place.
In Jamaica, first impressions can
be deceiving. In some of the larger cities, like Kingston
and Montego Bay, life appears to be getting back to
normal. But that’s definitely not the case in
many of the more rural communities. In five of our hardest
hit Parishes the Salvation Army continues to supply
food every week for well over two thousand families.
The local Salvation Army Volunteers have packed and
provided over 56,500 food parcels which fed 255,946
persons in addition to sheltering over 1,979 persons
and feeding hot meals to an additional 11,684 persons.
And as local Salvation Army volunteers still reach
out to give aid to affected communities a major concern
continues to be damage to Salvation Army facilities
across the island. Children’s homes, corps buildings
and other properties essential to the Army’s vital
ministry to thousands of Jamaicans have been badly damaged.
Estimates are that repairs will cost more than US$750,000.
Dominican Republic is serving as they
are able the victims of the flooding caused by Hurricane
Jeanie. Bridges and roads still remain a problem in
reaching those who are in greatest need. The volunteers
and officers continue to get food to those still cut
off from access to basics services. It seems these small
pockets of families who had little to begin with are
left with virtually nothing.
Across the Caribbean The Salvation Army is working
to bring healing and hope to families who have lost
everything. Donations will enable the Movement's disaster
relief ministry to continue until life in the region
returns to normal.
You are invited to become a part of this love in action
service being rendered by The Salvation Army in the
Caribbean.
May Lord bless your efforts to serve Him and your neighbors
here in the Caribbean.
Faithfully.
Major Olivia Gulley
Emergency Disaster Coordinator
The Salvation Army Caribbean Territory
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