Church Groups Collect for Haiti, Cuba
By Kai T. HillMsgr. Jean Pierre is hardly recognizable as he lugs bags of canned food and laundry detergent into the corridors of St. James parish in North Miami. It is a Sunday afternoon but Pierre is not wearing his usual robe and stole.
Msgr. Jean Pierre of St. James parish in North Miami oversaw weeks of collection efforts for flood-stricken Haiti. He stands in front of relief supplies bound for the island. Photo by Kai T. Hill/CRS
The tall, 50-something lead pastor of this parish dons a loosely tucked blue shirt and casual pants. Msgr. Pierre is overseeing collection efforts for flood-stricken Haiti. St. James, like several other churches throughout this largely immigrant community, was designated by the Archdiocese of Miami as a primary drop-off post for relief supplies. Msgr. Pierre appears cool amid the bustle of generous residents and the background track of clanging cans and screeching packing tape. You need to look closely to see the beads of sweat curled at his temple. Whenever Haiti is in crisis, this is his routine.
St. James is about 80 percent Haitian. It is nestled within a quiet, working-class residential district where shadows of palm trees accent the steaming hot sidewalks. Most if not all parishioners have family and friends who were affected by record floods caused by four successive storms—Faye, Gustav, Hanna and Ike. Just as Haiti was trying to rebound from a food crisis, the storms and floods ripped through hundreds of thousands of homes and drowned out countless acres of crops.
Since the floods began, parishes around the United States have responded, especially in Miami—the closest major U.S. city to the Caribbean in proximity as well as in heart and spirit. By donating to Catholic Relief Services or dropping off supplies at their local parish, residents are just as much on the front lines of response as relief workers in the field.
A Love Offering for Cuba
From left, Sister Clemencia Fernandez of the Daughters of Charity, and volunteers Carmen Suarez and Estrella Trujillo seal boxes of donated clothes bound for flood-affected areas of Cuba. Photo by Kai T. Hill/CRS
For Cuba's storm relief, the community's outpouring of donations arrives on the front lawn of the Daughters of Charity in West Miami.
For months after two powerful hurricanes struck areas of Cuba, the group of Cuban-American nuns and faithful volunteers has stayed busy sorting, packing and receiving new donations. On the island, hundreds of thousands of homes are missing their roofs. Other residents are displaced and lost most if not all of their possessions.
"Why does it have to happen to the poorest places?" asks a Miami resident from Panama, who dropped off rice and canned black beans, Cuban staples.
She says that she filled her grocery cart with these items before shopping for her own family's groceries. "They lost everything they had," she says. She planned to come again with $100 worth of items. "For me doing this is about being grateful and happy inside. These people need something now, not later."
Catholic Relief Services is helping the Daughters of Charity ship nearly 700 tons of food, water, medicine, clothing and other necessities to Cuba. Roofing materials for hundreds of families are also en route to the island.
Volunteers and people from all backgrounds have flocked to the mission each day to help.
"It doesn't matter if you are from Cuba. There have been Italians and Jewish people. It has been a joint effort of everybody who has a soul to help," says Sister Hilda Alonso, who leads the Daughters of Charity and has shared a partnership with CRS for over 10 years.
Responding to disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean has always required a concerted effort by generous donors and the local church.
That's why CRS has maintained a close working relationship with the Archdiocese of Miami. It was just in May that the archbishop asked parishes to raise money for CRS' efforts in responding to Haiti's food crisis.
Immediately after the floods struck, the archdiocese encouraged the faithful to live their faith through outreach for the suffering in Haiti and Cuba. With the help of the archdiocese, CRS was able to secure warehouse space to help store donations for Cuba's relief.
"It was a time to respond effectively. Thank goodness we had Catholic Relief Services which already has a structure set up for emergency shipments," says Archdiocese of Miami Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Estevez. "We were able to immediately use those channels."
"We sacrifice a lot for Haiti by sending remittances, not just for one family but for several," says Msgr. Pierre. "It's going to take a while for people to recover. We just have to continue to be in solidarity with them and continue to do whatever we can to help."
In addition to providing food and other emergency relief to thousands of residents in Haiti, CRS has obtained warehouses in Port-au-Prince to help the bishops store incoming shipments of donations from parishes such as St. James.
Front Lines of Response
Residents in Miami and south Florida feel the distress of their friends and relatives firsthand. It often comes in the form of a desperate phone call for help. That's why they don't hesitate to respond to the needs of Haiti and other emergencies.
St. James' church hall, mostly used as a day care, became a makeshift warehouse for collection items for weeks after the flood crisis unfolded. At each end of the room there's a glow from the sunlight that illuminates wall-to-wall stacks of clear bottled water. Members of the community concerned about the welfare of Haitians continuously plunk down cases of water and canned food, along with boxes and bags of clothing, most of which is from their own closets.
Overseeing this operation is an exhaustive process, but at more than 6 feet tall, Pierre makes it seem effortless. With a long-legged stride he seems to glide across the hall, helping volunteers and greeting visitors.
Faithful volunteers, many of whose families' homes were damaged, have worked around the clock to fill shipping containers headed for the ports.
St. James parishioner Marie-Claire St. Louis believes that her home in Gonaives was destroyed. A port town, Gonaives was one of the most affected cities. Floodwaters more than 30 feet high touched the rooftops of many homes. With solemn eyes, she recalls talking with family trapped by the floods.
"Some went to the top of the roof and had no food for three nights," she says.
"Whenever there is a crisis in Haiti, which is often, [our] ears are glued to the radio. We're then in shock immediately and the response is what can we do," says Msgr. Pierre. He had just returned from Haiti, where he was able to see CRS prepare a distribution of food rations.
On Msgr. Pierre's tour of flood-ravaged cities such as Jacmel and Caberet, he met with displaced families and others who lost loved ones to the floods.
"It was a heartbreaking lesson to hear the stories because some people have lost a child. The floods came at night when the people were asleep," Msgr. Pierre recounts. "There are a lot of people still living in mud."
Hearing about the tragedy in the news is what called Margie Rocourt to action. The south Miami resident and her 8-year-old son, Jacob, brought canned goods and moistened wipes to St. James. They also presented Msgr. Pierre with a check.
"I give a little everywhere hoping that the right people do the right job," said the 44-year-old Haitian American, transplanted to Miami from New York. "What happened to Gonaives is very devastating, although they needed [help] before."
A husband and wife dropped off five cases of bottled water, cooking oil, blankets and shoes.
"We tried to get things that were ready to eat," he says. "We felt that we have to give a lot to Haitian people. We're going to try to do more."
Notre Dame D' Haiti, located in the heart of Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood, also collected donations for weeks after the storm.
"I just feel so bad for the people of Haiti," said a 26-year-old Miami resident as she carried in bags of clothing to Notre Dame. At least a dozen volunteers were sorting and packing items for shipping.
"We're just trying to get the community to come out and give something. God gives us in abundance."
Kai T. Hill is an associate web producer for Catholic Relief Services. She works in the Baltimore headquarters.
