Hurricane Matthew

UPDATE November 2, 2016:

Hurricane Matthew has come and gone and was replaced by the hurricane of US elections. Whether it was because of our nation’s attention on this election season or not, our involvement with hurricane relief efforts in Haiti and North Carolina was impactful, but lasted for a relatively short period of time.

HAITI
Through collaboration with Pastor Maxeau Antoine, we were able to immediately deploy food to victims because of our food supply already on the ground. By vehicle, donkey, or two feet, meal packets were distributed quickly, and now our next container is already on its way. And thanks to your specific support for Haiti relief, another 100,000 meals has been or will be packaged and included on the next container at the end of this month.

NORTH CAROLINA
Even prior to Matthew, we had deployed six pallets of food from this summer’s All-American Packathon to flooded areas of Louisiana in August. We coincidentally deployed this same amount of meal packets (51,840 servings) to Hurricane Matthew victims, especially in and around Fayetteville and Lumberton, North Carolina. This was all done in partnership with J.D. Smith and CitiIMPACT, a Christian organization that specializes in aid and rebuilding efforts after natural disasters through collaborative partnerships.

WHAT’S NEXT?
In addition to a busy Packathon season that is unprecedented (think 1.8+ million meals being packed in two months), we are focusing our attention on the Christmas outreach of our partners. I can think of no better cause for us to promote than the evangelistic plans being made to share about Christ this December. We want to bless our American and overseas partners so they can have the tools needed for this outreach. Will you commit to consistently praying with us that God would grant them favor as they go forth to reach the lost, bless the needy, and proclaim the birth of the Savior? If you would like to help our partners financially this Christmas, please visit our website and select Christmas Outreach in the designation dropdown menu.

AMERICA
Hot meal service at Manna Church in Fayetteville, NC is coming to a close. In partnership with CitiIMPACT, other cities will receive hot meals as the various rivers only now begin to recede, but the strong need for food will go on a little longer.

We also delivered boxes to Dunn in partnership with Crisis Response International. They distributed 500 meal packets yesterday in the hardest-hit areas of Lumberton, NC.

HAITI
Pain de Suc is a five-hour walk from Pastor Maxeau’s church (our primary Haitian partner). 60 houses lost their roofs and another 20 were totally destroyed. Many crops were leveled and livestock died. Food had to be transported by donkey to the villagers.

Now, all of our food on the ground available for hurricane relief has been fully distributed. The remaining meal packets must be held for the 3,500 children to whom we feed school lunch each weekday. The next container is scheduled to be sent next week, with a final one for the year at the end of November.

WHAT’S NEXT?
It appears that, at this time, God’s plans for Feed the Hunger’s involvement in both locations will be limited to this immediate relief stage and will not include rebuilding efforts. As a result, the best use of our time and effort is packing 1.76 million meals at 30 events in about a two-month span—our biggest and busiest fall ever!

Thank you to the many supporters and volunteers who have helped or are scheduled to pack food in the next month to go on these containers. Your partnership is incredibly timely!

See WFMY News 2 coverage of Feed the Hunger’s hurricane outreach here, here, and here.

HAITI
Thanks to our 32 pallets of food already on the ground, meals have been continually distributed by barge and truck in collaboration with Pastor Maxeau and other Christian organizations. Now, we really need to get another 40-foot container on its way to replenish our depleted supplies. This next shipment will not only help more hurricane victims, but also our ongoing outreach to 3,500 schoolchildren who rely on this food as their main, and perhaps only, meal of the day.

NORTH CAROLINA
It looks as if nearly all of our US hurricane outreach will be in our home state. With several flooded rivers not yet hitting their peak, the road ahead is still tough. Hot meal distribution started today in partnership with CitiIMPACT and Manna Church in Fayetteville. We are looking to utilize other partnerships to help additional communities.

WHAT’S NEXT
We are so grateful for the outpouring of service from those offering to come pack food, especially for Haiti, where the need is greatest. Churches, groups, and individuals have stepped forward. Now, our most urgent need is the funding to pack this food. Each meal packet contains six servings and costs only $1.68. Your gift of any size can make a BIG difference. Please give now (designate Aid and Relief).

VIDEO UPDATE:

UPDATE: Today we received some good news from Pastor Maxeau. He said that the warehouse area is not deep in water and that the boxes of food are dry! Praise the Lord! Yesterday, he was able to give out 100 boxes of food to various pastors in the areas of greatest need. He said that Cha Cha Mountain was hit hard. Mudslides have washed away the road going up to the mountain. This afternoon or early tomorrow, they will be taking food to the people; however, horses and donkeys will be used to take the food up the mountain. They still do not have electricity and the rivers are still very much flooded.

If you would like to help with the relief effort in partnership with Pastor Maxeau, please pray, and we hope you will consider giving to Aid and Relief on our donation page.

UPDATE: Pastor Maxeau, our primary Haitian partner, has sent us an initial assessment of the damage in his area. “It was really hard for us in Haiti these past two days with Hurricane Matthew. First of all, they said that the storm would hit the southern part of Haiti, but we in the West were very affected. We don’t have too much loss of human life, but plantations, gardens, and roofs of houses have been destroyed. All the places where we are working have some damage in different ways.”

Here is a brief list of some of the damaged areas that Pastor Maxeau reported:

• At Doco Petion-Ville Church, there is no place for the people to worship. The tent where they used to hold services is totally destroyed.
• Five members of the congregation lost the roof of their house.
• In Pain de Suc, residents lost their plantations, animals, and gardens; six lost their roof, and seven lost their entire house.
• In Galette Chambon, 18 miles east of Port-au-Prince, banana plantations are destroyed and livestock has been lost.
• Pastor Maxeau’s ministry has lost at least 25 goats.
• The river overflowed its banks and started to run in a different direction. Most of the homes there were destroyed.
• In Chacha, it is much of the same situation: loss of plantations, gardens, animals and 12 roofs.

“More than that, you all know that because of the evangelism program, Experiencing God Ministries, and much more, we are connected with many other departments. Bless the Lord, we have some food from Feed the Hunger! Right now we are going to release some food to pastors and organizations who ask us, because a lot of people are in camps with no food, water, or other provisions.”

We count on your prayers,

Pastor Maxeau Antoine

UPDATE: We just received word from Pastor Maxeau in Haiti. The rain and wind are very strong, and lots of water is coming into his house. Electricity and phones are both out, but he has a generator and can run it if needed. We haven’t gotten any reports about how the Valley of Hope church and school are doing, but Maxeau feels that they should be safe because they are east of the storm in a valley sheltered by mountains.

Last night he talked with one of the pastors in the far western tip of Haiti, where they are taking a direct hit from the hurricane. The pastor said that the land is covered by water and 2,000 people were told to evacuate, but it is unknown if they all did.

Houses and businesses have been wiped away, and Maxeau is unable to reach anyone to find out how they are doing because communication is down. He is very concerned about flooding in the area where the food container is stored because that area is low lying. He will try to contact the manager who lives at the warehouse to find out how it looks once he can get through on the phone.

We are now in talks with CitiImpact Ministries and one of their main partners on the ground in Haiti to possibly airlift food into the country. Pastor Maxeau greatly appreciates all of your prayers, and he and Feed the Hunger both are asking you to please continue to pray for the people of Haiti. If you would like to donate to Aid and Relief, click on the button below.

October 3, 2016

Greetings to Those Concerned for Haiti,

Hurricane Matthew is expected to cause significant flooding and damage to Haiti this week, so stay tuned to this web page for updates. We have already spoken with our primary Haitian partner, and as expected, the storm’s impact is already being felt. Pastor Maxeau Antoine has relayed that power and phone communications are being disrupted and conditions are deteriorating.

Feed the Hunger sends five containers per year to Haiti, primarily to provide school lunch to thousands of needy kids each weekday. Thankfully, our most recent container cleared customs just last week and is safely stored in our warehouse there. Should any or all of these 276,480 servings of nutritious food be needed in the coming days to help those affected, we will make immediate plans to send another container as soon as the situation allows. You can make this aid possible.

Each delicious serving costs only 28 cents, or $1.68 per meal packet. Your giving—regardless of the amount—will be a tremendous blessing. We already have a reliable network of people and transportation, led by Pastor Maxeau, ready to immediately help those affected by this crisis, just as we did after the 2010 earthquake. If you would like to give, please donate now to Aid and Relief.

Serving with you,

Joseph Williams, CEO