Haiti (MNN) — Bright Hope
International needs groups and individuals to sponsor and assemble "Hope Packs" with school supplies for needy children in Haiti. These special Christmas presents will go to kids
who are receiving an education through 17 local churches which partner with Bright Hope.
"I'll guarantee you most if not all of the kids in these communities will not have a gift this
Christmas," said Bright Hope's Craig Dyer. "And what we want to do is have a gift that is not only practical, but a
little fun."
The Hope Packs are part of the
second phase of Bright Hope's "Hope4Haiti" project. It's goal is to provide holistic
physical, spiritual, and economic transformation through local churches in
communities where the average person earns less than one dollar a day.
The physical phase involves
providing meals for students in the 17 communities. So far, Bright Hope has been able to supply
food for 13 schools; more help is needed for the other 4. The economic phase will fund a microloan
program in Haiti, and the spiritual phase is
the Hope Packs. Each Hope Pack will
include a Scripture verse and a children's Bible written in Creole.
"Never underestimate the Word of
God to make an impact on people's hearts," Dyer said. "I've been down in Haiti when we've
distributed these, and it's amazing to see…the parents and the kids all gather
around, and they're looking through the books. Some of the parents who can't read
can understand from the pictures the stories of Jesus… And some of the kids
can actually read it to their parents."
Hope Packs will also include
school supplies and practical items such as crayons, pencils, paper, rulers, T-shirts,
toothpaste, and toothbrushes. This phase
of the program will also provide chalk, chalkboard paint, bicycles, and other
educational materials for the teachers in all 17 schools.
Bright Hope's goal is to send
5,000 Hope Packs to children in Haiti, and your help is needed. If you are planning a Christmas party for a group
of 20 or more people, that would be a great opportunity to pack at least 20
Hope Packs. If you are unable to pack 20
Hope Packs, you can sponsor a Hope Pack for $30. Bright Hope will pack, decorate, and ship the
gift for you.
God is already using the
Hope4Haiti program to impact Haitian families. "We've heard it time and time again in each one of these phases, how
people have not seen it coming from an organization in America, but actually
from the Lord," Dyer explained. "So we
know that people here are thanking God for these, and we…have seen people
increase their faith because of the assistance that we're able to [provide]."
You can sponsor a Hope Pack at
Bright Hope's Web site. To learn how your
group could pack the gifts, call 224-520-6100.
