When the earthquake devastated Haiti on Jan. 12, David Gunter was sitting on go — even more so than most people glued to their TVs.
He had a plane ticket in his hand — he’d had it since October.
“I was headed down Jan. 18 to stay for a week and put in windows and doors for a school being built for orphans,” said Gunter, a member of Mountain View Church, Anniston. “My flight got put on hold after the quake though.”
His plans did, too. He went Feb. 1 instead, but not to put in windows — to run a Southern Baptist feeding center and make sure those orphans got fed.
“They are out of food and water,” he said before he left. “People in the community around them are dying.”
And the kids were sleeping outside on the ground under the mango trees until Gunter arrived with blankets and tarps to keep them dry.
“Things changed in my plans after all this happened,” he said. “I’m planning now to stay for five weeks, then come back four more times this year.”
And his brother John Gunter, who serves in Hispanic ministry in south Alabama after a decade in the Dominican Republic, changed his plans, too.
A team of Alabamians he was taking to the Dominican Republic this week doubled in size, and many decided to go across the border to work in Haiti instead.
“They are really excited about the possibility of ministering there,” John Gunter said. “When we decided to shift our focus, they were ready to go be used wherever they could.”
They aren’t the only ones.
“Things are starting to improve in Haiti, and we’ve got some teams headed out,” said Mel Johnson, disaster relief strategist for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM).
Alabama Baptist disaster relief volunteers will be the first Southern Baptist recovery personnel arriving in Haiti. That wave of volunteers — arriving in March — will comprise the first part of a 12–24 month long-term recovery effort Alabama Baptists are committing to.
To recruit teams and train volunteers, the SBOM is holding four disaster relief certification sessions in different parts of the state in February.
“From that pool of data and volunteers, we will begin to put together some teams that can go,” Johnson said.
At press time, four “strategically selected” medical teams were headed to Haiti to lead Southern Baptists’ joint effort there.
Meanwhile Alabama Baptists are finding ways to contribute to ongoing work in Haiti:
• Individuals and churches are being encouraged to participate in a “Buckets of Hope” project to provide food provisions to Haitian people in need.
Churches are also encouraged to download a bulletin insert from www.alsbom.org/haiti that provides information for individuals on how to get involved in volunteer work in Haiti.
• Jim Dewey, a Navy chaplain and former Marine officer, is distributing meals and water in Petite Gouve, about 40 miles west of Port-au-Prince, the nation’s hard-hit capital.
“Things are much worse in Port-au-Prince than here,” said Dewey, a graduate of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School. “The hardest part is seeing the children in need. We have seen one die due to medical issues.”
• Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries (ABCH) is working in cooperation with the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes in a standby capacity to help if needed with any children who may come into their care. Paul Miller, ABCH president/CEO, said leaders are identifying ABCH employees, former employees and select volunteers who would be able to help if called upon.
• The University of Mobile (UM) is hosting a shoe and blanket drive for children in Haiti through Feb. 26. The Salvation Army will deliver the items to children in Haiti.
UM students will also work together to build a cardboard city on campus to raise awareness about homelessness in Haiti and around the world. Students are asking individuals and businesses to sponsor their overnight stay in the cardboard homes they create.
• In the wake of the Haiti crisis, Baptist churches across the state — as well as students at the state’s three Baptist colleges — have responded with generous donations to the SBOM’s disaster relief fund. A total of $110,000 has been sent so far to help with Haiti relief on behalf of Alabama Baptists.
To give to Baptist disaster relief work in Haiti, visit www.alsbom.org/haiti and click on “donate” to donate by credit card, or send a check to State Board of Missions, Attn: Accounting Services, P.O. Box 11870, Montgomery, AL 36111-0870. Mark the check “For Disaster Relief.”
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