Two of Morning Star’s leaders, Bob Bixby and Jeremy Scott, will be returning to Haiti on March 15-22. This time they will be taking along Jeremy’s wife Anouk Scott, Jack Bender, and Joy McCarnan.

The team’s work will be divided between crisis counseling and manual labor. Jeremy and Jack will be distributing tarps to church congregation members and helping people clean up debris. Anouk, Pastor, and Joy will focus their efforts on communicating care and lasting Hope to the Haitian students and faculty of the nursing school there in Leogane (where Pastor stayed before as a French-speaking chaplain accompanying a medical/trauma team of Haitians and Americans).

These Haitian nursing students have been working as “first responders” since 1/12 when the earthquake first hit, ministering to people with emergency medical needs in spite of their own devastating losses. What they’ve been experiencing and witnessing has been taking a toll on them, and now is a chance for us to try to minister to these people and lift them up–not just physically but emotionally and spiritually.

If you are able and willing to give financially toward the needed tarps or the team members’ travel costs (approx. $700/ticket), you can do so through Global Grace in one of two ways:
1) Donate via PayPal online; or…
2) Send a check to Morning Star, Attn: Global Grace
3430 Colony Bay Drive | Rockford, IL 61109

The remaining boxes of formula and medical supplies stored in NY have been shipped out by FedEx. They are en route down to the DR then will be trucked directly to Leogane to be received by the Drs. Charles. The shipping is being graciously financed by Donna Auguste (of the Leave a Little Room Foundation), a contact of Jodel Charles who led the team on which Pastor served. You can see photos of the pallets’ preparation and those who worked hard to get them transported here.

Pictured here are Rick Bovell’s uncle - Colin Bovell; Larry Morant, a member of Jamaica-Queens Wesleyan (where the items were stored before shipping out); and Lunique Dyl, Jodel Charles’ cousin, who resides in NY. They were all very instrumental in the project’s successful completion.

Thank you for praying for Jeremy Scott’s trip to accompany the 2nd drive supplies to Haiti. His hopes were not only to be able to see the supplies safely delivered, but also to be able to spend a couple days with Pastor on-site in Leogane, Haiti at a critical time in the work there. God has made that possible! See photos here.

Here is a small album of photos from today’s efforts to ship out as much of the collected stuff today as possible. It took both brains and brawn to combine items like baby bottles, a medical equipment sterilizer, crutches, canes, beef jerky, trail mix, and energy bars into a mere 7 boxes. Check out this album and several others on the Global Grace “fan” page on Facebook.

Jeremy Scott flew out of O’Hare with the boxes tonight (1/28) and hopes to accompany them not just to DR but on into Haiti (by Fri.pm, 1/29) and spend a couple days there with the team.

from Jennie Bixby (Tues.pm, 1/26) - “Thankful for the answers to prayer. My heart is heavy after talking to Bob this evening. Bob’s last 24 hours: he felt a large after-shock that knocked down more buildings, went to see an orphanage, a baby was born at the clinic, searched the village for a baby bottle, and another baby is fighting for her life at the clinic. He said that the team can’t believe it’s only Tuesday. He said, ‘Each day seems like a month.’“

We are so thankful once again for the great response to the need for contributions - this time for crutches, canes, and food.

612 energy bars (estimated over 67 lbs)
347 granola & treat bars (over 27 lbs)
15 lbs trail mix
30 lbs beef jerky
12 lbs beef sticks (Slim Jim type)
18 lbs nuts and dried fruit
50 pair of crutches
12 canes

Due to complications with the initial plan for getting these supplies to the Dominican Republic, we had to look into alternatives. The overall purpose is still in place - to get the supplies from the DR to Haiti and then to the team - the trick is getting them all to the DR!

After looking into USPS, UPS, and other options, we discovered that, ironically, flying the cargo down with a passenger via Delta would actually be the cheapest and quickest option! You may recall it was Delta who in the past graciously waived baggage fees for the team Pastor is with; and they have been doing this for other humanitarian aid efforts toward Haiti.

So Jeremy Scott will be flying with the supplies to the DR on Friday. He’s praying he’ll also be able to board the small plane with the supplies to fly on in to Haiti and meet up with Pastor Bob briefly as they unload the supplies.

Want to know how to help? Please pray! Pray that Delta will again waive all baggage fees, since we have between 15-20 boxes to take. Pray that Jeremy would be able to go into Haiti and see Pastor, even if only for a few hours. Pray also that both Jeremy and Pastor would get some good contacts for the future ministry we’d like to have in Haiti - maybe even this summer.

Thank you again to all you generous donors – both of materials requested for our first and second drives, and of the financial support which enables us to carry out these projects. If you are still interested in giving financially, it is possible to mail a check or donate online via PayPal/bank transfer/credit card. Global Grace will also continue to process contributions like those already collected. Ideas are welcome; different items may be needed in the future, too, as needs in Haiti shift, or as opportunities open up.

From Jeremy Scott:
Thank the LORD we found a much-needed portable autoclave (medical sterilizer) to send down to Haiti.  (The team has been having to sterilize everything manually by boiling lots of water.) There are a few other things that I would like to send with it tomorrow:

1. Power bars - the 200 cal. kind.  Variety would be nice.  The team members have very limited food supplies and they are getting pretty hungry throughout the day.
2. Beef jerky
3. Dehydrated meat
4. Crutches and canes - (there are a lot of amputees)

This is all time-sensitive - we are sending things down tomorrow. SO! The church building will be open for drop-by donations from 5-10pm tonight (Mon.), and from 8am-noon tomorrow morning (Tues.). We know this is short notice, but any help would be appreciated.

Below is a picture from Sunday; Pastor Bixby has been learning to dress wounds in addition to his chaplaincy/French responsibilities. Please keep praying for the whole team - the needs are overwhelming, and everything is very raw and taxing emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually.

Today there’s more news from Leogane, Haiti, where you may have heard that our pastor is serving as French-speaking chaplain with a Haitian medical team. Below is a note that was sent to Jennie Bixby by the gentleman who is leading the medical team: update from Haitian medical team in Haiti (23 Jan.2010) on the Global Grace facebook page discussion topics

Hey guys,

So as Susan said, we landed safely, thank God. A generous donor has not only paid for our chartered flight here but also for our stream of shipments of equipment that’s coming from Denver and from New York. AND for the coach bus that’s carrying the 5 thousand so pounds of supplies we brought with us.

We ate Spaghetti last night, had a debriefing session where everyone was introduced to my mom and dad and family and retired for the night. This building has withstood 60 + aftershocks so we stayed in it last night. After the bus arrives today though and we have our tents, we’ll probably set shop outside like everyone else here.

We’re in Leogane in the dorms of the nursing school. Everyone is busy helping out and there are a LOT of wounded, lots of fractures, amputations and our team is already working hard. They’re eating, staying hydrated and in an upbeat mood. There are teams from Minnesota, Iowa, Japan, Tennessee, Kansas, Atlanta, and contingents of UN troops all around us so we’re not alone but supplies are still few. Thank God we have more on the way.

Continue to pray for us, hopefully I’ll have some pictures in the next update. If I can today I will, if not definitely tomorrow.

Later and lots of love from everyone on the team!

Jennie added at 5pm this evening that she heard the team’s bags have arrived! They are all working hard to help the victims there. There are lots of bones to be set and surgeries to be done.

Praise the Lord that the New York traveling team just arrived safely back in Rockford around midnight, Friday night. Thank you for praying for them!

Pastor Bixby arrived with the Haitian medical team in Haiti (see updated entry below), and they were escorted to a compound outside of the city. They came to Port-au-Prince on a small plane, so the bulk of their gear has not yet arrived. The things the team was carrying are needed desperately, so please pray that their baggage and supplies will arrive safely and soon.

These men (Jon, Jeremy, and Rick) are currently driving through the night toward New York City (they’re in our prayers, especially considering they’ve been working all day and are driving through ice storm conditions).

All in all, from 3:30pm Tuesday up till 7pm Wednesday–Rockford and neighboring communities helped Morning Star gather 118 boxes full of medical supplies and formula (approx. $250,000 worth!). The plan now is to drive the donations to NYC to be taken with a team of Haitian medical personnel to three clinics in Haiti. Delta Airlines has approved the medical team to carry for free as many supplies as they can gather by the time their flight departs Friday morning.

So “Team Haiti” has hit the road to NYC…and it seems it will be icy and long. But while we pray for their safety, we are also overwhelmed by the blessing that they were able to carry so much out with them. Morning Star people, local hospitals and clinics, local media stations, classmates, neighbors, coffee houses, retirement communities of Rockford—THANK YOU for your proactive generosity. Several people faraway sent unexpected financial donations online, totalling about $400, which will be very helpful toward financing this road trip and toward future Global Grace endeavors. THANK YOU.

For those of you who would like to see photos from this whirlwind collection endeavor, check out this album.