St. John Mennonite contingent among volunteers this month in Haiti

Posted by Fred Steiner on February 9, 2011 - 4:10pm

Katie Basinger is talking to young Haitians via an interpreter at one of the Mission Possible schools. Click on image to enlarge.

Last month Icon viewers learned about volunteers at the Mennonite Memorial Home involved in relief efforts for Haiti.

This month the story continues. Thirty-six area residents, mostly members of St. John Mennonite Church, Pandora, along with several others from around northwestern Ohio are either now in Haiti or headed there soon.

Among volunteer work to involve them includes distributing the hygiene packs collected by MMH residents, plus building reconstruction.

The mission trip is through Mission Possible of Findlay, according to Jeff Laing, who is one of the area residents making the trip.

Persons on the list will go to Haiti from Jan. 28 through Feb. 26. Some will spend one week there and others two weeks. Flying from Detroit, the volunteers go to Miami for a layover and then onto Port-au-Prince.

"Most of the work going on there involves completing a new school at Lanzac, rebuilding a school ruined by the earthquake in January of 2010 in Lahatte and distributing the hygiene packs," Laing told The Icon.

Other projects include educating young Haitians about abstinence, sexually transmitted diseases and overall life skills at any one of the many schools that Mission Possible operates.

"Each Friday one team travels to Port-au-Prince to fly home and one group arrives to work and use their gifts. The ultimate goal of these trips is to use our relationships with Jesus Christ to glorify God," said Laing.

For more information, go to: www.ourmissionispossible.org

Area residents who will be in Haiti this winter include: