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Happy New Year To All !
I reflect back to
exactly one year ago from today:
January 1/12/2010 -Global Effect had just completed
a great year of mission and humanitarian work in the
Dominican Republic. God had blessed our efforts as we
ministered to the very poor and oppressed communities
around the city of La Vega. We had successfully
partnered with small struggling churches to execute our
community transformation strategy and we were seeing
much fruit, things were going very well. In 2009 we had
hosted leadership retreats for men, ladies conferences,
held baseball clinics, worked with micro-enterprises on
business development, distributed water filters to areas
without access to clean water, spoke in churches, taught
our "Character Counts" program in the public schools and
performed a variety of other outreach events and service
projects. Things were cooking!
My feeling last January 12th were that all things were
well and we were eagerly preparing a full slate of
programs and projects for 2010.
Then It Happened:
While our staff was meeting on a beautiful day in
Tuscaloosa, a horrific 7.3 Richter Earthquake
suddenly struck Haiti and in less than 1 minute the
poorest country in the Western Hemisphere was almost
totally destroyed! In less than 1 minute, over 250,000
Haitians lost their lives and millions more lost
whatever they called home and all their possessions. For
a country beset with poverty beyond comprehension, the
unimaginable had just happened. It was this countries
worst nightmare.
We were a growing organization with an exciting set of
plans for 2010. We had talked about Haiti, we knew that
it shared the island with the Dominican Republic. We
worked with Haitians who lived in the current
communities where we served and even spoke about one day
moving into Haiti. But God changed our hearts and
attitudes very quickly! After the tremors subsided and
as we watched the horrific aftermath, we knew we must go
to Haiti and FAST. With millions left totally
homeless, their hearts broken from losing family members
and friends, hungry and thirsty, struggling to make it
through each day, we felt the overwhelming call to GO!
One critical area of need we knew we could help with was
by providing much needed water filters. So we quickly
made arrangements to travel to Haiti through the DR,
deliver our water filter buckets and find a location to
build a factory to produce many more. The video on our
website homepage was made on our first trip.
Unfortunately, no video, pictures or words can come
close to describing the sheer devastation, sadness,
agony and hopelessness we encountered. It became clear
very quickly that God wanted us in Haiti for more than
just water filters. There were poor hurting people
everywhere who needed a smile, a kind word and a helping
hand. Ministry opportunities were everywhere!
Needless to say, 2010 was both very challenging and
inspiring. We have since travelled many times to Haiti
while continuing our projects in the DR. Without the
prayers, encouragement and generous financial support of
ministry friends and partners like yourself, Global
Effect could never have reached so many.
In an attempt at brevity, I will just list some brief
highlights of our work this past year:
Haiti
Helped build a water filter factory in Jacmel, Haiti.
Raise funds for over 5,000 filters, providing clean
water for up to 50,000 for 5 years!!
Ministered and evangelized to thousands in tent cities
and showed the Jesus film.
Spoke in many Haitian churches.
Provided support and orphan care in Port au Prince and
Jacmel.
Provided consulting with city leaders in Jacmel on job
creation and rebuilding efforts.
Developed strategic partnerships with a number of
Haitian organizations.
Various other service and outreach projects.
Dominican Republic
Hosted a huge conference for men in Jarabacoa with
attendees from all our communities.
Distributed water filters in Los Reilles, Soto and Los
Soros.
Started a prison ministry.
Conducted many baseball camps.
Started a community ladies sewing ministry.
Funded a community bakery, Bread of Life, for jobs and
community support.
Spoke in various churches.
Hosted community cookouts.
Taught "Character Counts" in public schools to over a
thousand students.
Finished the purchase of land for El Ranchito Community
Center.
Encouraged, challenged and equipped our 4 churches for
local outreach.
Various other service and outreach projects.
Please pray for Global Effect in 2011. There is
so much work to be done and the needs are so urgent. We
have many partners we are working with and almost 20
service trips already scheduled. We also have numerous
fund raising events planned throughout the year to help
fund our critically needed programs and water filter
distributions.
As I sit here in Jacmel Haiti exactly one year later,
I am amazed at God's goodness and blessings. Like so
many others, I could be critical of the Haitian
government, the election process and the lack of
rebuilding progress. But today, I choose to be thankful
at how we have seen God work in incredible ways and for
the many thousands of lives that have been changed and
impacted by the efforts of Global Effect. Please
consider a financial gift and/or becoming a regular
supporter of Global Effect. You can do this by going to
our donation page.
Thank you for being a part of the Global Effect family!
We love you and forever appreciate any and everything
you have done to help us.
God Bless You and
Your Family in 2011,
Bart Smelley
Executive Director
Global Effect
** By the Grace of
God, our vision continues to be:
Bringing Hope, Changing Lives and Transforming
Communities
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