A PERSONAL NOTE FROM DR. TERYL BROOKS

First Presbyterian Church of Pine Bluff has been involved in Haiti for many years through our support of the Presbyterian Medical Benevolence Foundation and its many ministries in that country.  We have also actively supported the Haiti Education Fund (founded by Frances Landers in El Dorado) through the Magi’s Market.

During my 18 years on the MBF Board of Trustees (including being President in 1999 and 2000), I made a total of six trips to Haiti.  In 2000, a group from our church went on a mission trip to Mombin Crochu, an isolated hospital in the mountains.  Pauline Cherry, Mark and Jeff Price, Bill Ross, Monica Minyard, Wayne Buckley and John Crenshaw (First Methodist) were members of that group.  My last visit to Haiti was in 2001, when I found myself stranded in Port-au-Prince for three extra days because of 9/11.

 Even before the current disaster, Haiti was “another world” of poverty, despair, corruption, and lawlessness.  On my last trip to Hospital Ste. Croix, I passed a dead man on the side of the road.  On the way back to Port-au-Prince later in the day, I passed the same dead man, but now all of his clothes had been taken.

As bad as things are in Haiti, as Christians we can never give up.  There is no point in trying to send things to Haiti.  They will either never arrive or, the moment they were left unattended, they would be stolen,  The best thing we can do is support our Presbyterian organizations that have some hope of making a difference.  There is no Presbyterian Church in Haiti—our partner there is the Episcopal Church.

 Please visit the MBF web site (www.mbfoundation.org) or that of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (www.pcusa.org/pda) to find out how you can help bring relief to the people of Haiti.

                                                                         Blessings,

                                                                         TERYL BROOKS, MD