A letter from Fr. Victor Potapov, Executive Director of the (ROCOR) Fund for Assistance.
Dear Fathers and Brethren,
As all of you have heard by now, a very powerful earthquake has devastated Haiti, the poorest country in our hemisphere. The media reports that up to 3,000,000 Haitians have been affected by this calamity. Life in Haiti is
very difficult under normal circumstances. Now it on the brink of becoming unbearable.
Officials fear thousands – perhaps more than 100,000 have perished. Death is everywhere in Port-au-Prince. Bodies of tiny children were piled next to schools. Corpses of women lay on the street with stunned expressions frozen on their faces as flies began to gather. Bodies of men were covered with plastic tarps or cotton sheets. The international Red Cross said a third of Haiti’s 9 million people may need emergency aid and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge.
ROCOR’s mission in Haiti has nearly 2000 members. We have been trying to reach our priests there, but so far no luck. Most of the telephone towers in Haiti have been destroyed or damaged.
Folks there need our help.
Please pass this on to your parishioners.
The Fund for Assistance has been reaching out to parishes to get at least 10-20 of our communities to pledge 100-200 dollars a month for our mission in Haiti. Our Haitian Orthodox community needs only 2000 per month to survive. To date the response to FFA’s plea has been lukewarm…
Now the need in Haiti is greater than ever and now may be the time to speak to your parish councils to pledge any monthly you can muster to help our poor brothers and sisters in Haiti.
If you have any questions, please contact my assistant Alena Plavsic at alena@fundforassistance.org
Any pledges or collections on behalf of the Orthodox community in Haiti should be sent to the following address:
Fund for Assistance
c/o Synod of Bishops
75 East 93rd Street
New York, New York 10128
Thank you.
Fr. Victor Potapov
Executive Director/FFA