Haiti - What we are doing at Trinity
 

Prayer service - January 15

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From the Interim Rector

Dear Friends,

Within the past few hours, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale has destroyed much of Haiti. Early estimates are that as many as 100,000 people could have died and as many as 3,000,000 could be otherwise harmed or displaced.
 
There are three things Trinity wishes to do in the very immediate future.
 
This Friday, January 15, at 12:15 pm, we will have a service of prayer and healing in the church. We encourage you to come and invite others you think would wish to be with us. I will speak briefly, but, basically it will be prayers, music and healing and hope.
 
Secondly, at that service as well as this Sunday, we will receive gifts made to Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), which is the outreach arm of The Episcopal Church. Every cent received will be sent directly to Haiti for relief. In fact, you may make out checks to ERD and send them directly to our office at anytime into the future and they will be forwarded to that agency. Please make your checks to ERD with a memo: for Haiti.
 
And, third, we are already beginning to explore ways we can be directly involved in relief work there. We do have some contacts and, ideally, in the near future, we might be able to send adults and/or youth to join in the restoration of that country.
 
One cannot recall when devastation of this magnitude ever hit "our part of the world." We are called to make a difference. And we can.
 
Best love, 
The Rev. Jim Sell 
 

From the Presiding Bishop
 

The people of Haiti have suffered a devastating earthquake, and it is already clear that many have died and many more are injured.

Even under "normal" circumstances, Haiti struggles to care for her 9 million people. The nation is the poorest in the western hemisphere, and this latest disaster will set back many recent efforts at development. I urge your prayers for those who have died, been injured, and are searching for loved ones -- and I urge your concrete and immediate prayers in the form of contributions to Episcopal Relief and Development, who are already working with the Diocese of Haiti to send aid where it is most needed.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church

From the Bishop of Connecticut

Dear friends in Christ,

The news of the massive earthquake in Haiti has been breaking over us today, and specific reports have been coming in to us at Diocesan House from many sources, both here in Connecticut and from throughout The Episcopal Church.

Our diocese has come to know Haiti through our former Companion Relationship with dioceses in the Caribbean. Many of our parishes have long-standing relationships. A major living connection with Haiti is through l'Eglise de l'Epiphanie in Stamford. In addition, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich has maintained a multi-pronged mission presence in Haiti for almost a quarter century.

The extent of the damage to Haiti and its people is yet to be known. The news reports so far leave no doubt that the earthquake has been devastating and its effects widespread. Port au Prince has been hit especially hard.
 
There will be many channels through which we will be able to offer monetary aid. Episcopal Relief and Development already is engaged, and I encourage donations to be made through their website, www.er-d.org.
 
This afternoon we committed $5000 from the Emergency Relief Funds of the Diocese of Connecticut as a starter from Connecticut in the relief effort. I urge our parishes, our clergy, our members, to join in the work of providing support to the people of Haiti and to the Diocese of Haiti so they can begin the massive effort which is required to care for their people and begin the rebuilding of the nation.

Do keep the people of Haiti, and those working to provide relief, and those outside Haiti who wait for news of family and friends, in your prayers each day. May God open our hearts and push us to respond to their needs!

Yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Andrew D. Smith
The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut