The improvement of travel options also means that we can be in Miami at 9 am and be in Haiti before lunch.  All of this gives us the opportunity to live “glocally”.  This term means that we can be completely engaged in our local community and choose to make an impact in the lives of people around the globe – in places like Haiti.

Jennie and I enjoy a friendship that we have invested in for years with Ben and Cheryl Pace.  They are both school teachers at Philip O’Brien Elementary School here in Lakeland.  They are amazing teachers with classrooms full of bright young children.  They also happen to share our heart for Haiti and the work that is being done through CPI and our partners.

As a result, Cheryl asked Jennie to come share with the children about life in Haiti.  Jennie came and shared pictures, told stories from previous project trips, and used objects to help the children understand a “day in the life” of a Haitian child.  In response to Jennie’s presentation, the children began collecting money to be donated through CPI to purchase food for our Haitian friends who live in a village named Chauffard.  After a few weeks of collecting funds, the children had raised over $160.00.  This money will purchase 3-50lb bags of rice that will be distributed to families in Haiti in the coming weeks.

These children are living in a glocal reality and making a glocal impact.  They live and attend school locally, but have chosen to make a global impact through a partnership with CPI.  As a result, Mrs. Pace and her 3^rd grade class are touching the lives of children and their families in Haiti.  They now join a growing community of world changers known as CPI Partners.

Are you taking advantage of the opportunity to have a “glocal” impact?

Jonathan then began the journey up to Chauffard.  After several hours along winding, mountainous roads, he reached the village where we have invested so much over the last two years.  The people of Chauffard were spared widespread loss of life and injury, but did sustain damage and destruction of many of their homes.  As it turns out, the church/school facility that we have constructed is only partially damaged.  The walls and temporary shelter are still intact and serving as a rally point in the community.

Jonathan delivered rice and beans that were distributed to the people of Chauffard.  He told me yesterday that the people could not believe that he came. There has been no sign of international aid in these rural communities and the people feel as if they have been forgotten.  However, Jonathan’s presence sent a clear message that we have not forgotten them and are committed to our life-long partnership with this community.

We will be traveling to Haiti in April with a small team to finalize our project plans for the Summer and to deliver more relief aid to Chauffard.  Our personal partners, along with our Church Partners (The Crossing-Clermont and FPC-Lakeland) are gearing up for HUGE impact through our Summer trips.

There are several ways for you to continue your involvement or jump in for the first time.  Here are at least three ways to be a part of our mission:

1.  We need financial resources for the work.  No apologies – great work involves great resources and you can make a huge difference through an act of generosity.  Click on the “Donating” tab to give.

2.  We need people with big hearts and willing hands to join our project teams.  Click on the “Connect” tab to fill out an online form.

3.  We also need help with projects here in the U.S. as we strengthen our home base and prepare for the future.   Click on the “Connect” tab to fill out an online form for involvement.

If you want to be involved – we can find a way to connect your heart and hands to a meaningful role in the mission.

The choice is yours – do something great with your life!

2.  30 – 60 days after that, we will have a small team of Personal Partners travel to Haiti to begin addressing the most pressing needs in the communities that we work in.

3.  3 – 6 months after that, we have at least 3 team trips planned with our Organizational Partners to continue our efforts and keep working our mission

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

So, the team from The Crossing and a small band of CPI-ites have stayed their first night in Chauffard.

If you are reading this, then you are probably not there! You are probably somewhere nice and warm where there is internet access and a cup of coffee.

They most likely woke up to a chill that drives to the bone, damp clothes and muddy shoes, and one of the most gorgeous sunrises you can imagine. They also probably woke up knowing that they were in a place positioned to make a huge impact.

Needless to say, I am very jealous that I did not get to go on this trip!

But, those of us who periodically stay behind must take comfort in the fact that we are holding down the fort to enable the teams to go and make a difference.

On this trip, Kendal Anderson’s church, The Crossing and his entire family made it down. This is important to them in that they have done missions around the world, however they have been building toward incorporating the people in Haiti in their family and church’s ethos. They want to build a long-term relationship with the people of the area.

Along with them, Kenny, 2nd-timer Liz, and 1st-timer Brien Morgan all made it down. This was important for Elizabeth in that, though she knows Kenny from the first trip and some of our interactions, she is making a stride independently, expanding her confidence that she can travel and serve the field without her closest friends. This is a large point of growth for her.

This trip is HUGE for Brien. He has never left the country nor served the humanitarian and mission field to this degree. I am excited to hear his report on how things went. To those who have supported him: Thank You!!

Transforming Travel

It is our immense pleasure to build personal partnerships like these. Transforming Travel is so much more than we first expect. Many times, people expect a missions trip to be a guided tour of a oppressed area, hug some necks and feed some bellies, and, when it is time to leave, cry a little and head home.

The transformation in the hearts of the traveler is impacted so much more. This is evidenced by The Crossing’s commitment to the new friends they made and to sowing into the area. This is evidenced in the passion that Troyce and Liz served medically. This is evidenced in the fact that Brigs flew around the world to visit these amazing people. This is evidenced in the life of Kenny as he serves tirelessly in those in-between moments of life (looking for work, serving as a father, serving in the church).

Transforming Travel, we believe, transforms us for life. And, of course, our acts of service are more than just a “sign of the Kingdom” to Chester, Milo, Willie and our other Haitian friends. They make significant impact in the mental, emotional and material lives of those serving and those served.

Gratitude

So, I guess I would simply say Thank You. Thank you to those who have supported us and continue to support us. Thank you to the you, family and friends, who have made sacrifices big and small which has culminated into massive improvements for our Haitian brothers, and shapes the hearts of the missionaries. Your donations have made all the difference in our ability to serve, so thank you all.

Invite

And, we would invite you to consider being so much more than donating. The door is wide for you and your loved ones to join us on a trip. Just contact us, and we ensure that you will be challenged and transformed.

Electrically,

Grant R. Nieddu
on behalf of CPI Guys

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Grant and I wanted to share with you the amazing updates happening between our partners in the U.S. (The Crossing Church) and our partners in Haiti. Read below, subscribe to our RSS feed, comment, and forward it to a friend if you find it interesting!

This is just an example of the power of partnering. More to come!

Kenny,
It’s called ‘Imagine School South Lake’. They have a character development program at the school and want the kids to grow ‘world eyes’. Sherry chairs the team and so she presented a Cornerstone School partnership as an option. They loved it!

I presented the partnership possibility at a staff meeting and invited any interested teachers to participate. So far 17 classes have signed on! They’re doing a variety of things: most have a ‘Coins for Cornerstone’ jar in the classroom; kids are bringing quarters, nickels, dimes to fill them. One class brought in $24 the first day Other classes are collecting picture books, gathering school supplies, writing letters.

Two weeks ago I came to school and introduced Haiti to 12 classes in four different 30-minute assemblies; 60 kids per period, for a total of almost 250 kids! I told them most Haitian kids eat pretty much only rice and beans and challenged them to help purchase food. One kid went home and persuaded his family to eat only rice and beans for one meal a week, taking the money they would have spent and giving it to Cornerstone instead! He makes them sit on the floor with the lights off, since they don’t have electricity in Chauffard Very creative!

One of the teachers, Peggy Wamback, will be coming with us in December.

I don’t know where this will lead, but I love it I believe it has a good possibility of becoming an on-going partnership between the schools, which would be the goal. Other Imagine Schools around the nation will hear about it–there may even be possibilities of other connections.

Let me know what else I can tell you!

Thanks!
Kendal

If you would like to learn more about partnering for Transforming Travel or to help with the cause in Haiti, please let us know!

Passionately,

The CPI Guys!
Kenny and Grant