Items Shipped to Haiti from Bluffton

As World Relief involvement in Haiti has increased, so has the need for supplies. Each year anywhere from eight to eleven sea containers are shipped from the Bluffton Distribution Center. Construction supplies, kits (health, school, and layette), meat, soup, soap, medical supplies, personal supplies for our missionaries, and fabric for Haitian linens are some examples of items being shipped.

Soup and Soap Produced
Most of the Distribution Centers have project work nights in which volunteers form bags of soup by combining dry ingredients, such as rice, bullion, and dried vegetables. The bags of soup are then packed into buckets. Brethren from Wolcott and West Bend produce and package soap. Wolcott also grinds soap, which is used as detergent.

Soup fills empty dinner bowls
Our brethren who live in Haiti meet people who are hungry on a daily basis. The bags of soup are much appreciated and when a bucketful has been distributed, the bucket is a prized possession also. Often, our brethren serving in Haiti witness needs right at their doorstep. A listening ear, a prayer, and a bag of soup is healing balm to many who have experienced difficulties in life.

Near Les Cayes, there is an elderly lady who makes her living braiding straw rugs, which is a difficult, tedious, and time-consuming project. She has learned to know some of our missionaries in Haiti and appreciates the opportunity to stop by about twice a month to pick up sticks from the yard for firewood, possibly sell a rug, and take home a bag of soup. Another thin, middle-aged lady has lost her husband and has four children to raise. She openly confesses her faith in God and how she trusts that He knows her needs, even when her food supply is exhausted. She is so thankful when God provides a bag of soup to take home to feed her family.

Medical and Construction Supplies

Medical supplies that are donated or purchased are collected at the Bluffton Distribution Center for Hospital Lumiere in Bonne Fin.

Construction supplies collected at Bluffton are shipped to the World Relief operated construction department at Les Cayes, where a storage depot was recently erected. Over the years, many Haitians have been blessed by work teams putting a roof on their school or church.