Hey bowling family. I've been debating on doing this for a while and have finally decided to go ahead with it. I'm going to be holding a raffle for helping support Haiti. Sorry for the long read/post but I have to explain in detail for you guys so you don't feel like you're being cheated......
Just to give you some background on the country and my involvement.........
In the past 2 years (since I've visited through missions) Haiti has been hit with Hurricanes, infrastructure issues with their President, school buildings collapsing (with students in them), and earthquakes. This country has been nearly torn limb from limb within the past few years. They're hurting so bad, that France and many other nations have completely forgiven them of all national debt and pledged millions to help re-build the country. There are superstars doing benefits and concerts and the like to raise money for Haiti. Many many more people are visiting the country and helping out now because of how bad things have gotten there.
I have visited Haiti now for 2 years. I will be going again late July this year for my 3rd trip. Every year, my church takes about 15 people to a town called Miragoane. The people there are just the absolute best. I know a lot of people have this idea in their head that they're primitive people who use spears still......lol. But this couldn't be further from the truth. They've got TV, cell phones, internet, and anything else you can think of. They just aren't as well off as we are. Now not all of the people in Haiti have these things. Mostly just those who live in and very near Port Au Prince, the national capital, have these luxuries.
We try to do new things each year when we go to help out. For the past 2 years we have built school desks for the school that the local church holds because they were previously using makeshift desks built with loose pieces of wood and nails. We constructed metal frames and put nice hardwood for their seats and desk tops. They look amazing.
The past 2 years we have also put in playground equipment at the local church so that way the kids, both who attend the church and just local kids in general, have something to play on and help keep them out of trouble. One thing that you must keep in mind is that Haitian children end up in only one of 3 ways. They either end up in a gang, as prostitutes, or in jail if they don't find God. Now I don't want to turn this into a religion discussion, but I wanted to make you aware of what happens to them if they aren't given something to do and aren't given direction in their life. They also turn to drugs quite often no matter how old they are. So this playground equipment, although it may sound quite casual for us, is very powerful and useful in the community. The playground equipment we installed the first year had nearly all it's paint worn off by this past year because it was used so much! It was a true blessing to see just what something so simple can do to bless a people.
Lastly, we have also had a well built on the church ground's property so it may help support the church and local community. Previously, they were manually taking water in buckets from a local lake MAAAANNNNYYYY MILES AWAY and bringing it to the church's sacramental baptism holding area. From there, they would use the water as needed to supply the church and local community with water if they needed it. It was so beautiful to see kids playing with the well and pulling water from it to just play with. It brought tears to my eyes to see how it blessed them.
This year, we plan to continue to build more desks to completely replace all of the old crappy ones (which are terribly unsafe). In addition to this, we are hoping to build a soccer field in the church's open field they own so they may have even more resources to keep children out of trouble (soccer is the national sport). Also, we have a continuing fund going on to help build a new building for the school. Since the school collapsings over a year ago, the government was forced to crack down on poor infrastructure everywhere. This caused the local school to almost shut down because they couldn't afford to rebuild another building. The current building is made up of 2x4s and a tin roof. The 2x4s are so old, that there's only about 1x2 wood left. Behind the "building" is a wire fence that separates the farming area and the school/church area. This is terribly unsafe. Our goal is to build a full school from the ground up that includes full electrical wiring and plumbing. This cost is about 50,000 USD.
Bowling family, Haiti needs our help. I know many of you will say that you won't help because there are plenty of things that need to be done here locally as well. You are correct. But the Bible tells us we need to help out our brother's and sisters when we have excess. Haiti houses our siblings. They are only a short 2 hour flight ride over an ocean away from our borders. They need our help more than ever.
First, this post will serve as a gauge. Based on your replies, I will decipher whether or not I'll actually hold the raffle. I will be raffling off one of my rare bowling balls to help the cause.
Raffle will be held based upon the Nebraska Daily Pick 3 Numbers. The last 2 numbers in the Pick 3 will determine the winner. This seemed to work well in the past raffle and also is the easiest way to do the numbers that I can think of. Raffle will be $20 per entry. $20 may seem like a lot, but really think about it. That's just 5 trips less of fast food. It's a tank of gas (or a half for some). It's 2 less trips to the movie theater. It's one less purchase of Abralon pads. It's one less trip to resurface/bake/plug a ball. We can all cut something like that to help out someone else in need. $20 is not a long but it can go a long way........
PLEASE POST WHETHER OR NOT YOU'D BE WILLING TO SUPPORT THE CAUSE.....
IF YOU FEEL THE ENTRY COST OF $20 PER SET OF NUMBERS IS TOO MUCH......PLEASE POST A SUGGESTED PRICE......
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