Hello, dear friends! Hope you are doing well. I am getting ready to go to Haiti next week and I am very much looking forward to it. Interest in Haiti remains high! There are currently 142 teams on the calendar for 2012.
I am writing today to say hello and to ask if you would put these openings out on your networks for the team leaders. Thank you.
• April 14-21 Jon Nelson, SW TX,
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• May 2-10 Chuck Newman, Central TX,
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• May 14-22 DeAndrea Dare, Central TX,
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• May 28- June 6 Leslie Slutz, Virginia,
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• June 9-16 Sue Babcock, Rocky Mtn,
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Thanks so much. Talk to you soon.
Susan Meister
US-based Communications & Calendaring Coordinator
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Find us on the web at www.umvimhaiti.org
The Haiti Partnership has several trips planned for 2012, and many still have openings for Volunteers in Mission to join us! Our group travel is planned with UMCOR and follow their lead of prior to trip required training as well as immunizations. Our trips are 10 days long and find much enrichment with our Haitians brothers and sisters and our fellow Americans. Our groups most usually live in the community that we are helping with construction projects. We work alongside of our new friends, both Haitian and American, and feel rich fulfillment even when small amounts of progress are made! We sing and dance, play soccer and dominos with our community. Please check out our website for the listing of our future trips www.haitipartnership.com Students must be 17 years old to be part of our Haiti Partnership teams. A primarily college student trip is planned for June 2012. Each of our team leaders is very experienced and greatly look forward to sharing the Haiti they know and love with new travelers. Haiti is a remarkable country, their faith is very inspiring! We encourage all who are interested to prayerfully consider a trip to Haiti.
Jodi Crimmel
Haiti Partnership
Click here or on the logo above for the Haiti Partnership Website
Haiti Response Plan - Volume 3, Number 3
UP TO DATE NEWS ON HAITI AT LYNDSEY LYMAN’S BLOG
The Haiti Network is composed of the Haiti Partnership of the Upper New York and Susquehanna Conferences of the United Methodist Church and Lansing UMC's Haiti Connection, as well as the Grand Island Trinity UMC. Each group is doing different work but with the same goal in mind: to improve the lives of Haitians. This blog will serve as a conduit of information between the groups as well as the public so that all are updated on work going on in Haiti.
This blog is facilitated by Lyndsey Lyman, a sophomore Culture and Communication major at Ithaca College. She writes: After I graduate in May 2013, I hope to have a career in the international non-profit sector with a humanitarian organization such as InvisibleChildren or Feed My Starving Children. I went to Hermitage, Haiti, with the Haiti Partnership during my senior year of high school in February 2009. That was my first trip; my second will be this coming January. I'm extremely excited to return to beautiful Haiti, whose people helped to narrow my career focus, and help and learn from as many people as possible. |
Haiti Response Calendaring
Dear Colleagues,
The Haiti response plan has come together and we are just waiting on GBGM for the full press release next week following their Board meeting. However - to give you a little head start (since I have been heavily involved in the process) - here is some contact information for our US calendaring person for teams:
Susan Meister
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She has begun to take emails pending the process becoming fully functional.
Susan has the final say in the calendaring process - she has been asked to balance the number of teams from each jurisdiction and annual conferences - so that everyone will get a chance to serve. Be aware - we have over 6000 persons registered currently for the Haiti response. You may be asked to delay your team several months - be kind!
Rev. Mike Willis from the Binghamton, NY area (Wyoming Conf) and who has been heavily involved in missions to Haiti since 1995. We hope to have a second person in Haiti serving with him as a Hospitality/Finance person and have identified who that will be but are waiting on some paperwork before announcing it.
ALL teams hoping to use any of the Eglise Methodist de Haiti (EMH) resources at the guesthouse and transportation ARE required to go through the US Calendaring office. Priority will be given to teams that are working on assigned sites that have been identified by the EMH. Teams who wish to continue working at their previous projects (not in the earthquake zone) will be accommodated as logistics allow but will not qualify for matching project funds that are being made available through an UMCOR grant.
Our hope is that we will be able to follow a project from start to finish with back-to-back teams. Initial teams - first 4-6 months will need to be extremely flexible in accommodations and site work. We are asking that teams are comprised of 8-12 members, team leader must have Haiti experience and been through UMVIM Team Leader training, teams should be comprised of persons with skills in medical, educational, and construction - some conferences may be adding additional criteria. Project funds will eventually all flow through the US Calendaring person in advance of the team's departure - we are still working out this process.
The further out that you plan - the better chance that the system will work well. Please be gentle with us in this initial startup - it is going to be bumpy - but I know that all of you will handle it with grace and understanding. We look to provide the best service possible in connecting with our Haitian sisters and brothers. You will begin to receive additional emails with further information as the process clarifies itself.
I know that you will have many questions - but this is your headsup and headstart!
Blessings,
Greg
Gregory A. Forrester
UMVIM NEJ coordinator
32 N. Church St
Cortland, NY 13045
607-756-7799 office
607-756-7957 fax
www.umvim.info
www.umvimnej.org