Since Haiti’s first reported cases back in March we have been semi-quarantined at home with our kids and part of Zacharie’s family. Which means we (the adults) go out as little as possible and keep the kids inside the compound. There’s currently 25 of us living on the compound. Fourteen kids and 10 adults! A little exhausting but we have started the kids on a schedule that helps us to pass the days inside our four walls. (Thank you all for your suggestions on how to create a schedule for the kids!) All staff who do not live with us on the property, with exception of our nighttime guard, are not coming to work. We will continue to pay all our employees as long as we can, but it’s hard to say how long we’ll be able to do that with the increasing food prices, etc. We’ve been going to market once a week, very early in the morning. But the vendors are fewer each time and the prices are that much higher each week. As long as the Haiti borders are closed, we anticipate these prices to continue to rise.

Zacharie and I have been thinking how we can best serve our community during this trying time. Studies are showing that they expect the worst of the virus to hit Haiti in July. There are currently 310 cases and 20 deaths in Haiti according to https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/. With Haiti’s very poor health system its hard to say how accurate that number is. But here is our plan:

• Hand out reusable masks – The president is currently requiring everyone to wear masks when in public. We are looking at a cost of $3/mask. We would like to have a local seamstress make 300+ masks to hand out to people in our community.
• Hand out Food Packages – $30 would allow us to provide a family with a rice, beans, and oil to last a couple days. We would love to donate to as many people as possible in our community, but we plan to start with folks from our local church which is about 40 different families.

If you feel lead to give to this cause you can:

1. Follow this link: https://secure.egsnetwork.com/donate/48F73DAFD9194BF
2. Click “new life mission haiti inc general fund” as your designation
3. Put in note field that the donation is for “covid19 assistance”
4. OR you can mail in donations to: New Life Mission – Haiti, Inc., 420 E. Fulton Street, Ephrata, PA 17522. Please attach a note saying what the donation is for!

Thank you for your kind consideration. We know this season has not been easy on anyone and we appreciate the support we continue to receive during this difficult time!

Another need…

Our kiddos at the children’s home are in need of some new clothing. It blows my mind how fast we go through clothing here, but when you play hard in the sun outside all day then handwash your clothing, it wears out quick. It is difficult to find the right sizes here or in good condition for the right price so we are reaching out to ya’ll to see if you maybe have things to donate or would be willing to purchase for our kids.

Here are our clothing requests:

• BOYS (size medium, large, XL or adult small)
  • Underwear, size medium and large (new)
  • Socks, boys shoe sizes range from 5-7
  • T-shirts or tank tops
  • Athletic shorts, cargo shorts
  • Dress shirts (long sleeve or short sleeve) or polos
  • dress pants
  • Belts
  • Boys ties or bowties
  • Light hooded jacket or sweatshirt
  • Jeans or light sweatpants
  • Sneakers adult size 5,6,7, or 8
  • Dress shoes adult size 5,6,7, or 8

• GIRLS (sizes xs,s,m,l)
  • T-shirts & tank tops/camisoles
  • Shorts, skirts, bike shorts,jeans, or leggings
  • Socks
  • Underwear (new)
  • Light hooded sweatshirt or jackets
  • Dresses (for play or for church)
  • Headbands or barretes (new)
  • Shoes/sneakers/sandals kids size 13, 1, 2, 3

• Other needs:
  • Toothbrush head cover Here is an example
  • Tooth brush holder (3) Here is an example.
  • soap saver pads. Here is an example.
  • Small plastic trash cans (5)
  • Basketball (2)
  • Over the door hooks or wall hooks
  • Bins that fit under bed (10)
  • Birthday supplies (balloons, streamers, napkins and plates of any colors) *to keep on hand

*I want to say this in the nicest way possible… We appreciate donations so very much, however many times clothing that is donated has been well loved and have holes and/or stains. So we are asking for lightly used clothes that have a lot of life in them yet as we have to spend money to ship them to Haiti and we want it to be worth the cost! Thank you for understanding.

To coordinate donation drop off you can contact our admin assistant Nancy at 7178693537 or newlifemissionh@gmail.com

Here’s a photo of our silly crew. Thank you SO very much for your support! LOVE YA’LL!