We have 2 BIG announcements for you that we are extremely excited about!

1. CPI Child Sponsorship has launched
2. CPI Night at Black-N-Brew, Saturday, May 21st

1 – CPI Child Sponsorship Has Launched

CPI is THRILLED to announce that the child sponsorship program is ready for you!! We have 48 children waiting for a sponsor. Our school has 128 children and 2 teachers. As you know, that is not an environment conducive for learning. Education is the key to getting out of poverty in a country where the majority of the population is… illiterate.

For $30 a month you can begin to change this statistic. What would happen in the village of Chauffard if ALL of our students could read and write? GREAT things would happen. Please, please consider being a child sponsor. You can visit our website and begin the process today at: CPI Child Sponsorship

2 – CPI Night at Black-n-Brew, Saturday, May 21st

Come join us at Black-N-Brew on Saturday, May 21st to help us celebrate the launch of our Child Sponsorship Program. Nate Mundell will be displaying and selling photography created from his most recent trip to Haiti. A percentage of the delicious food and drink sales will go to CPI-Haiti. Drop in and show your support between 6:30 and 9:30!

Great people, great mission, great food and drink…don’t miss it!

Together, we are making a difference!

The CPI Team

So, there is a classroom full of kids here in the USA that are excited about establishing school to school relationships  with a classroom full of kids in Haiti. Cheryl Pace (a teacher at Philip O’Brien Elementary) has started a school to school relationship with the children of Chauffard, Haiti.

On a recent trip in October, leader Kenny Ellis took a packet of letters from Cheryl’s students written to the students in Chauffar.  He  also had questions to ask the children to bring back answers to Cheryl’s students.  After the trip Kenny touched base with Cheryl and gave her the answers to the questions that her students asked of the students in Chauffard, Haiti. From there, Cheryl asked her class to write a report from what they had learned and sent us the email below telling us about a report that one of her students had turned in for the writing assignment:

Written by Alandria Gilkey:

A lot of you have suffered from something.  But everybody in the eastern hemisphere suffers 24/7.  Some people think about those people but most just laugh at them. Because some people don’t have what we have, sometimes it’s hard for them to understand all the tough times Haiti has been through.  Every day someone dies from sadness, starvation, and hunger.  My class has sent letters to most of the children of Haiti.  We had a lot of fun and everybody answered back.  Most families can’t go to school because they don’t have any lunch to send with their child.  Most people think, “How can I help Haiti?”, and, “How can I help save millions of lives?”  You don’t have to ask…..just do it!

I am with Alandria , “you don’t have to ask…. just do it!”

All-Hands-On-Deck Meeting Summary

First of all, thanks for making last night a priority. I know our schedules are crazy and there are plenty of other things clamoring for your attention, but you will never regret an ounce of energy, time or resources invested in serving others for the reputation of Christ.

So, way to go for making room in your lives for our friends in Chauffard who are largely unknown or overlooked by most of the world. I would love to see their faces if they could see a picture of us, here in the U.S. meeting and planning on their behalf. Good stuff!

Second, last night was the beginning of something great! We all made mutual commitments to give some of our best focus and energy towards making our vision a reality. Here is a summary of the commitments that we made last night:

Commitment – #
Event Sponsors - 35
Host Dessert Social - 4
Race-Day Volunteers - 13
Speaking Opportunity - 2
Enlist Runners/Walkers - 107
Donate Your Christmas - 65

Third, keep in mind that our team is larger than those who attended the meeting last night. I know of several other people who will make similar commitments in the next week or so as we communicate the vision and the opportunities.

Fourth, we will be finalizing the Donate Your Christmas process in the coming weeks and will keep you posted once it is ready to go.

Here are some suggestions as we move forward together:

1. Take a few minutes and get very specific as to how you are going to follow through on your commitments. Get your calendar out and set the days and times that you will make that call, send the email, stop by the business, have the conversation, hand out the flyer, put up the poster, etc. As someone once said, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

2. As a general rule, don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. I would suggest we look at the time leading up to Thanksgiving as our prime window of opportunity for securing the Hope for Haiti 5K event sponsor commitments. Remember that our event sponsors can commit now and pay in January if necessary, but we would like to secure the commitment now if possible. Don’t forget that Grant and I are more than excited to come with you to talk with a potential event sponsor.

3. With the holidays fast approaching, those of you who committed to hosting a Dessert-Social will need to act now and get your event scheduled. If you don’t think you can pull it off prior to the holidays, you can always shoot for January.

I think that is all for now…let the fun begin!

Kenny Ellis
CPI-Haiti, www.cpihaiti.org

“Men anpil, chay pa lou.”
Many hands make the load lighter

As we prepare to take a team to Haiti in July, one of our main projects is to help rebuild suitable houses, for some of the families in the mountains of Chauffard, Haiti. Most of the houses, even in the mountains, have either been damaged and unlivable or destroyed altogether.

This will not be an easy task, but it is one that we are excited to be involved in.

In most of the news as of late, it has been voiced that,  Haitians say they intend to build differently than they did before the earthquake. The government, awakened to the nation’s construction follies, and say they plan to crack down to ensure proper materials and techniques. We strongly agree with this and are doing our best to use quality materials and many knowledgeable and skilled hands to help execute this.

When it comes to the buildings being destroyed, they are in the state they are in because of one thing, because of poor construction practices. It is a goal of ours to communicate to the people in the village the importance of building on a solid foundation with reliable materials. But in order to do this we will need funding and supplies and the sooner we are able to gather these vital factors, the sooner we are able to provide suitable and safe housing for the families in the village.

We have come up with an unique strategic idea to deal with the houses to be repaired and reconstructed, it will take some time but the people in the village will get there with our and your help.

Yes, I said YOU.

We need your help in helping rebuild the village, in order to help provide a vision and opportunity for their community. There is an urgent need for housing, some aid agencies have begun to construct transitional homes for thousands of Haitians facing a potentially violent rainy season without a roof over their heads. However, this is not the case in the village of Chauffard and it will be up to us and you to help construct suitable housing.

How can you help?

Well, there are numerous ways in which you can help:

1. One time or on going financial support
2. Donation of building materials
3. Going on a trip to lend a hand in the building projects
4. And certainly not least of all, but lots of prayer

Even though our time in Haiti will be just a week, we hope that during that week, there are the noises of hammers and saws being used to provide shelter for our friends.

Bondye Beni Lakay Nou!

God bless this house!

TED.com has offered the following powerful resources.

Google Haiti Crisis Response Page

TED talk Stories of Haiti by Edwidge Danticat

Ushahidi partners with Digicel for survivors to report in, areas of need, and a culmination of earthquake-pertinent information.

We just heard from Jonathan and wanted to share good news.  Jonathan’s brothers and their families (Jeremy and Claude), Chester and Nehmie, Moses (Mois) and his family, and Jean Jacques and his family are all alive and well.  They are displaced from their homes, but they are alive and unharmed.  Thank God!  We will keep you posted with any new information we receive.

Also, Luke Remmer, our friend from HandsAcrossHaiti.org, will be on the Today Show this morning.

GRATEFUL

First, we want to thank everyone for the continued prayer, phone calls, text messages, e-mails, networking, and fundraising that has occurred in the last 24 hours. We have been astounded at the immense support and encouragement that we have received.

The CPI GUYS’ RESPONSE

Second, we have been wrestling over how to respond to the extreme devastation in Haiti. Waiting for information from our Haitian partners has been nail-biting. We still have no information about the health of our friends in Chauffard, the safety of our friends in Port-au-Prince, or the condition of the new building in Chauffard.

It has been on the calendar for a survey and expansion trip with Personal Partners in late February or early March. Obviously the shifting of the land has shifted our priorities for the next 60 days.

To handle the many requests for immediate emergency support, we have set up our Earthquake Emergency Relief fund. This will help with our aggressive reconstruction and damage assessment efforts over the next 60 days. This will be immediately followed with preparations for a massive reconstruction and recovery effort over the summer with our current partners, The Crossing, and our new partnership with FPC-Vine here in Lakeland.

This is a restricted fund used solely for Earthquake Reconstruction & Restoration.  Please find out more and donate here.

HEEDING THE REQUEST OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE ORGANIZATIONS

1.  Jonathan Capre, who leads the CIM network of churches and schools in Haiti, will be traveling to Haiti as soon as it is feasible to assess how the people of CIM have been affected by the earthquake.  We have 4 CIM churches and schools that are in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas.  Jonathan will be our hands and heart to these folks until we can be there. He will also be able to assess the roadways and transportation options available for teams to travel to Chauffard in the next 6-8 weeks.

2. To ensure that our friends and partners can participate in our efforts, we have set up our Earthquake Emergency Relief fund. This will enable us to send a small team (as soon as it is feasible) to deliver supplies and assess the long term needs in the CIM communities where we work.  This assessment will help us plan for late Spring and Summer projects with our current partners, The Crossing Church, and our new partnership with FPC-Vine here in Lakeland.

The CPI Guys and our partners are committed to this reconstruction and recovery, especially in the rural and outlying areas where aide and support are unlikely to reach for many months. You can help instantly by donating, joining our team in the spring, or, if you are a medical or search-and-rescue professional, please see The Red Cross.

Thank You so much for all you have done. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Most Passionately,

The CPI Guys

Kenny Ellis &

Grant Nieddu

on behalf of our Haitian friends and partners who still wait breathlessly to hear from.

Hello, All!

As many of you have heard, there was a series of devastating earthquakes which hit very near Port-au-Prince.

The National Palace (White House) was destroyed, as was La Montana Hotel where key U.N. workers were permanently residing. (We have stayed in La Montana before with the CPI and CIM teams.)

For now, we are waiting to hear from our team in Chauffard to fill us in on the status of our friends, the team, and the bldg there.

Stay tuned.–Grant, Kenny, Jonathan, The Crossing, Chester, Daphney, Claude, and the entire Haiti team.

It was a dilapidated block building with tin roofing and a dirt floor, but that day it became a seminary classroom.  The CPI Team had traveled to Chauffard, Haiti to continue our work in this remote, farming village.  Kendal Anderson, pastor of The Crossing Church (a CPI Church Partner), had also brought a team and had prepared a series of seminars for the church leaders in Chauffard.

The meeting was about to begin when I found my place at the back of the room on a rickety, plank bench next to an elderly Haitian man.  He flashed a warm, genuine smile at me, motioned hello with a tip of his hat and quietly said, “Bon jou.”  I extended my hand to him and he placed his weathered, calloused hand in mine.  He, like so many of the men in this village, had spent a life working the land, loving his family and serving in the community.  He pulled out a Bible, notepad and pencil from a tattered plastic bag and turned his attention towards the front of the room.

My Friend

Kendal had begun his introductory remarks and was passing out an outline that had been translated into Creole.  My back row friend and me both took our outlines and prepared to fill in the blanks and follow along with the teaching.  Kendal asked everyone to turn to a specific book in their Bibles and the other 15 Haitians in the room began flipping pages and locating the reference that had been assigned.  Kendal began to lead us through the outline, giving us the key words needed to fill in the blanks.  A few minutes passed and I glanced over at my friend and I realized that he was lost.  He still had a warm smile on his face, but it was mixed with a look of confusion, embarrassment and appeal.  He motioned to me for help in filling out his outline while his Bible lay open to a book that was not referenced in the teaching.  He could not read or write.

He was not unintelligent or unmotivated.  I am certain he had accomplished much in his life.  The sheer fact that he had lived well beyond the median age in Haiti (57 years) speaks of his determination and endurance.  The problem was that he was never given the opportunity to learn how to read or write.  Education in Haiti is for the privileged and this man was not among them.

Kendal continued his teaching, but I could not bring myself to focus.  I sat there imagining the opportunities and relationships that I would be excluded from if I could not read or write.  The world is filled with complex truths, beautiful realities, diverse streams of perspectives and opinions, inexhaustible topics and issues, logic, art, poetry, solutions, ideas and MOST of them are contained in the form of written communication.  This man had experienced a lifetime cut off from all of these because he could not read.  He reminded me why the CPI team is doggedly committed to providing opportunities for Haitians to learn basic skills that will enable them to access the world of possibilities around them.  Reading is one of those basic skills that I will never take for granted again.

Hello CPI Friends and Fellow World Changers! Here is the update on what we are up to:

• The CPI Guys are working on a high-impact calendar for 2010 with several Transforming Travel Trips, awareness projects (local work that YOU can get involved with), and cranking out some signature CPI Guys videos and articles.
• CPI and The Crossing Church will be heading back to Chauffard, Haiti in December for a week long project including pastor training, food distribution, children’s classes and strengthening friendships!
• Elizabeth Carpenter committed to using her first marathon ever, the Gasparilla Marathon, to raise awareness for our cause. She has also created an amazing CPI Calendar for 2010 – more on that later!
• A new CPI Partner, Brian Morgan, will be joining Kenny on the December trip to experience Haiti for the first time and explore ways that he can make a difference.
• CPI will be hosting a week long project trip for Vine-First Presbyterian Church in the summer of 2010.
• Awareness is growing! Our Facebook Cause has 333 followers and growing. You can have your friends join here www.causes.com/cpihaiti, or by going to our website and signing up for our updates!
• Our new CPI Prayer Team is focused on a list of ongoing challenges and opportunities.
• We have also added a new page to the Education section, ‘Exponential Growth by Incremental Work’, by Grant.

Wow – that is exciting stuff! Real people making a real difference – here and in Haiti…that’s what we are all about!

Feel free to contact us to find your unique place in the mission!

Kenny and Grant
The CPI Guys
www.cpihaiti.org
www.twitter.com/cpihaiti
www.causes.com/cpihaiti (Facebook Cause)