FFCC Haiti Team #14 is in Haiti at this very moment, building walls, building relationships with medical and political leaders, and building friendships with the people there that will last a lifetime.  We thought we'd share one of the team updates from a "Day in the Life" of an FFCC Haiti Team:

You can't believe the day our team had today. We've taken the definition of hard-work to a whole new level!

First, Lily Z., Juliette, Caroline & I along with some of our Haitian team went and installed the last of the water filters. It went well. Juliette explained how the filter worked to one of the families. Lily collected the family's information for our Impact H2O webpage & Caroline helped with taking GPS'. Everyone did a great job and we were finished and back in time for lunch.

The rest of the team spent the morning hauling cement block from one side of the dormitory to the other & pick-axing a dirt hill that needs to be pushed back. HARD WORK!

After lunch, we loaded into the vans and drove to an orphanage in Leogane that we'd never been before. It was quite a place- 110 children and as you can imagine struggling to provide the basic necessities. We got a tour of the grounds and saw where the children sleep. They are doing the best they can but they certainly could use some help. We played with the children. Andrea found a sweet little girl with Down Syndrome that she is ready to bring home with her. It was both heartbreaking and yet fun to love on the kids. They sure can pull on the heart strings especially when you see their situation.

We returned to Shepherd's House in time to see a shipping container of our food that we shipped from San Diego arrive and it needed to be unloaded. For 2 hours the team unloaded the container, organized the boxes for the different places the food was being distributed (2 of the orphanages came and picked up their food tonight.) and then loaded & unloaded the boxes into the vehicles that brought them up to the storage area where they will be kept until they are given out. More of the food is being picked up tomorrow & on Friday we will do a food distribution to those in desperate need here in Gressier. We were all a sweaty mess and exhausted beyond description but we had so much fun doing it. It was a great day!

Dinner never tasted so good and we shared about who our heroes were today. Many shared about teammates that were inspiring, encouraging and hard-working. Jonathan is our small but MIGHTY team member; Andrea makes everyone laugh; Marissa and Lily were the encouragers. This team is phenomenal. And boy are we going to sleep good tonight!!!

I've almost fallen asleep twice as I've been typing so I am going to wrap this up this update.

Enjoy your evening.
Until tomorrow,
Love,
Your Haiti team

 

YOU CAN HELP!

We're working with three families that have housing needs that are critical.  In all cases, these families have school age children that have spent time in homeless shelters. They are starting over and need a lot of support.   FFCC  and supporters from local schools have been able to provide furnishings, groceries, gas gift cards, and hope.  But, we're finding that more support is needed.


 

 
Family N- has fallen behind on rent and has a van and washing machine that needs repair.  Mom is going to work on the city bus and it adds an extra four hours to each work day.  Dad has been very ill and medical benefits didn't cover his treatments.  He is not currently working.  They have three teenaged children.

  
Family S- a single Mom with six children.  They fled a domestic abuse situation and there is no financial support coming from anything other than Mom's minimum wage job.  The children are very happy in our schools, but there are many expenses not being covered without the help of our network.

 
Family SS-  a single Mom with two teens.  They have been homeless for many years now and also left a domestic abuser.  They finally qualified for subsidized housing and need some furnishings and volunteers to help move a few larger items like a queen boxspring, bookshelf, etc.   FFCC was able to provide payment for overdue storage fees so they could keep some prized possessions before they went to auction.

  
All of these families are very appreciative for Friends & Family Community Connection and they're putting forth great effort to make life better for their children.   Please join us in ongoing support. We only need a few more things to furnish their homes, but utilities and rent expenses are due. If you can provide a monetary donation, or volunteer to help with moving household items please contact Becky at ffccsdlocal@gmail.com .