90999


my amazing, beautiful church has an outreach called mission haiti. it is beautiful to see when the members of this upper middle class parish come together year after year to support the children and the priest who has dedicated his life to feeding and educating these children of the slums of cite du soleil.

the first year of the campaign was to solicit school supplies. thats all. a few pens, pencils, paper...things that my students take forgranted because they can always get them so cheaply from discount stores or from teachers or from counselors. while i believe in giving to the needy, i disagree when the needy become greedy or wasteful. but thats for another time.

consequent years saw a growth of donations for mission haiti. soon, hearts opened up with cleaning supplies; building supplies; gently used bikes, sewing machines; school supplies, including backpacks; kitchen supplies for feeding the students; and bracelets made by the students of the church's school.

the mission haiti committee brought back stories and pictures, and on mission haiti sundays, a video is shown and no one can keep a dry eye. money collected on these sundays have turned a four room school into several schools. each room houses four classes.

what strikes me is how beautiful and happy the people of haiti are. oh, i know that there are gangs and slums and poverty and stench, but the light in their eyes shine so brightly. their conditions cannot extinguish that flame of hope.

and so now, the people of haiti are in such need. and what moves me to tears is how finally, finally this little islands time has come. so much money and so much human help is descending upon the country. what i prayed for for the past two mornings is for the holy spirit to cover those who are still in the rumble and those who are hungry and those who are helping them out. and in my prayers, i thank God for making haiti this worlds singular focus.

so, forget about this fucking idiots words, but he has a point: this is a blessing in disguise. just stop listening after you hear these words because when he starts talking about making a pact with the devil, you just want to do unkind things to this fucker.

so, heres the blessing. if you text haiti to the number above, which is the title of this post, $10 will be donated through the american red cross via the cell phone bill. this is so easy. and its a bit addictive.

the first day of this tragedy, i felt so helpless. i wanted to do something, to be of service.

i still do, but sometimes, the best thing to do is to allow those who can really do something to just. do. it.

they need food. they need water. they need shelter. those are basics. how often do we take these forgranted? ill be the first to tell you, i do. i remember only when my hot water doesnt heat up fast enough. i remember only when im hungry and am too lazy to make something. i remember only when i havent been home all day, and i miss my sanctuary.

i cannot fathom having these taken away. so i pledge for this year to only get what i need. no more extra because its on sale or that i might need it. if i dont need it, i wont get it. this is my pledge.

im going to gather the excess in this house and donate.

i need to make room.

tatty is moving in.