Tuesday, September 27, 2011

OUR BLOG IS MOVING AND EXPANDING!

We are loving this blog idea, so we are moving the blog from just "helping haiti" to something we can use indefinitely. Our new blog is UUDavisMindsHandsHearts.blogspot.com.

All the posts from this blog have been imported to the new one, since Haiti is what "started us off!" in the blogosphere.

Steph

Sunday, September 25, 2011

THE GRAND TOTAL!

DRUMROLL PLEASE! After an amazing year of fundraising, having a donor match what our kids collected, and some very generous families giving in the great spirit of the UU "open minds, helping hands, and loving hearts," our grand total raised for Haiti was


  $6,235!!!




This is amazing!!!!! We have surpassed the total for the general collection for both adult worship services!

That will result in $3117.50 for each charity (the UU Service Committee's Haiti projects, and Real Hope for Haiti.) I can't wait to send these checks off!!!


Today we voted during Spirited Worship for what our collection will serve this new year. The result (not surprising with kids involved) was ANIMALS! So we will be researching a good charity to help animals.


THIS CONGREGATION IS AWESOME!


PS - this blog will be moving to a new home....uudavismindshandshearts.blogspot.com. We will be blogging about each spirited worship collection each year!


When the new blog is ready I will provide a link.


GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!!


Steph





Friday, June 3, 2011

Fundraising Year is Coming to an End

It has been truly remarkable, what generosity we have seen at the Davis UU Church this year. Our hopes have been far exceeded and we have, as of May 23, raised $4,171 for Haiti. It's amazing! And wonderful! We still have one Social Service Sunday to go, this Sunday, where the kids will get sponsors and do a Sport-a-thon (if we don't get rained out!). Every jumping jack, basketball basket, and cartwheel will be counted and the kids will turn in their money the following week at the end-of-year carnival! They did the Sport-a-thon last year when we raised money for Solar Cookers International, and it was a big hit.

We would also very much like to try and do one more church lunch sale sometime in June, for one last punch to the Haiti Fund! We know everyone at church likes to eat! :)

Over at the Haiti Rescue Center, things are unfortunately very busy in their Cholera House.


They have seen a huge spike in cholera patients recently and are going through dozens of CASES of IV fluids in 24 hours.



Cholera is not so much in the news anymore, here in the US, and frankly I kind of thought it was fading. But after reading the Rescue Center blog, it is most definitely not. Please go check out their recent posts. It's very sobering. These are things that happen in our world that our privileged children need to see. These are illnesses they will never know about, most likely, in our society. But they need to know that it exists, it's real, and in our web of life, the children of Haiti are just a strand or two away from us.

Here is a quote from the blog:
We need gowns for the kids.

The lady in the blue dress in the picture worked a 13 hour shift today.  When she got off she came and told us we needed some more gowns.  I told her we would find someone in the village to sew them tomorrow.  She wanted to go find someone to sew the gowns, so they would not charge us to much money.  She just spend another hour walking and finding two people to begin sewing the gowns.  She wants to save as much money as she could so we could have funds to buy other supplies.  We are going to cut up plain white sheet that we have in the clinic for material.  We can get a dozen sewed for $17.50.  I would like to have 7 dozen that would be $122.50 for 84 gowns.

The Rescue Center always has opportunities for people to send things that they need. What can you do to help? Even the smallest thing might be the biggest help! Your donations have certainly been a huge help, I am still amazed at how much has been raised so far! You guys are awesome!

We will update you again when we have a new total!

Blessed be...

Monday, April 11, 2011

Another Big Project by Real Hope for Haiti

I wanted to share another big project that Real Hope for Haiti supports. One of the main environmental problems in Haiti is massive deforestation, due to the production of charcoal which is the primary source of cooking fuel for most Haitians. This is a good slideshow about the topic.

Real Hope for Haiti has a tree nursery and routinely plants trees all over the Cazale area to try to help restore the vital green canopy that has been lost. Here is a video tour done by Lori, and you can find posts about their reforestation project on their blog. Peruse around their blog for all KINDS of info on Haiti and all of RHFH's projects.




UUSC also has a video on their website, "Haiti, One Year Later" that talks about the grassroots projects they have.

Your donations are so appreciated. Give as much as you can, we have until mid-June to try to reach $4000!!! What a feat this would be! :)

Look for another lunch to be held before the end of the church year to raise more money!

Stephanie

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

UPDATE!

Check out the counter at the right! It USED to have a top level of $1500 but NOW it has a top level of $4000! This is because we hit $1500 and our anonymous donor at church MATCHED IT! Plus with the addition of the funds from the Around the World lunch and our regular Spirited Worship collection, we have hit $3346!!! I am SOOOO EXCITED!!!

So now, I have changed the top limit of the thermometer to be $4000 because I think we can do it!!!

Let's have $2000 to take to each of our charities!!!!

Thank you all who have so generously donated so far!


I thought it would be nice to remind everyone that the Haiti Rescue Center, one of the two charities we are collecting for, has a wonderful blog. It sometimes makes you laugh, sometimes makes you cry, but ALWAYS touches your heart. They have recently begun telling the stories of the staff who work there. It's a different perspective on the Rescue Center, and definitely worth reading. By donating to our collection, you are helping them, too.


Here is Benita's story

Steph

WOW!!!

I am ecstatic to report that our Around the World lunch raised $300 for the Spirited Worship collection, for Haiti. YEAH! Our total amount raised now is well over $1500, probably more around $1800. With the anonymous donor matching the $1500, we are now at a whopping $3300 for the Haiti Rescue Center and the UU Service Committee! I think we can make it to a grand total of $4000 by the end of June. This would be beyond awesome. If you are so inclined, please donate in the sidebar of this blog!

I will post an actual total after confirming with the church office. So look for an update!

Steph

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Comfort Dolls for Haiti

I will let this slideshow speak for itself! Kids at UUCD you have made some kids in Haiti very happy!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Latest News

Hello everyone, sorry for the long time with no update! Lots has happened!

We have a fabulous anonymous donor at church who will MATCH our donations if we can get to $1500 by the end of the church year (June). So then we would have $3000! $1500 for each of our worthy causes.

Won't you help us get there? Click the donate heart in the sidebar! All funds go to help the needy in Haiti!


The UUSC has announced their first work trip to Haiti, which will be a medical trip to serve Port au Prince and the central plateau. This is for medical personnel only. You can read all about the trips, which are a week long and scheduled for April and another for May, here at UUSC's Haiti work trip page. There will be upcoming trips also for those who are not medical workers. This is a great opportunity to serve in a wonderful country that needs your help!

We plan to have another lunch in March, as part of our Social Service Sunday. The kids in Religious Education will be helping to make ethnic foods which will become part of our lunch. There will be foods representative of many cultures. If you are interested in helping to cook for this lunch, please contact Stephanie here. All money raised during this lunch will go toward our Spirited Worship Haiti Fund.

The Haiti Rescue Center has a brand new website. Please take the time to peruse it and familiarize yourself with the amazing work that they are doing in Haiti. The many photos of the children in the Center will remain in your heart for a long time, like those below of Emmanuel. Look at the difference!




Please check back, I will update again more often!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Update and Recipes!

Hello everyone! We hope that many of you had the chance to try some Haitian food last Sunday after church. We (Leonie, Vonita, and Steph) had a great time cooking and sharing with you, and it seemed like the food was well-received! You have helped our Spirited Worship collection grow SO much....we collected $165 for the lunches. WOW!!! We hope that we can have another lunch after the first of the year.

Our collection currently sits at $362. This is fabulous! Please think of us whenever you have an extra few dollars to donate. The Rescue Center in Haiti has been massively busy treating cholera patients. Thankfully, the stream of patients has slowed somewhat. They have saved MANY Lives...as they do every day!

On the Unitarian Universalist Service Commitee's front, they are urging people to fill this form out on their website to contact their congresspeople to help pass the:

Haiti Empowerment, Assistance, and Rebuilding Act

  • Establish a coordinator position at the State Department, to increase oversight and accountability
  • Develop recovery plans that are “in line with the needs and aspirations of local populations”
  • Ensure that communities are at the center of the process to build permanent and sustainable housing for those displaced by the earthquake
  • Support sustainable livelihoods and local food production
  • Address security needs, including protection of women and children
  • Increase opportunities for all children in Haiti to access education
  • Authorize multiyear recovery funds
Please go there as soon as you can and fill this out...time is of the essence!

Now for the recipes.....

We would like to offer you the recipes from the Haitian lunch! I will start with the Sos Pwa Nwa (Black Bean Sauce) and the Mais Moulin (Haitian Polenta).

 These recipes all came from the wonderful Haitian cookbook called "A Taste of Haiti."

The Sos Pwa Nwa recipe is NOT vegetarian, it contains a slice of bacon (really adds to the flavor) but the bacon can easily be left out and then it will be VEGAN.

The Mais Moulin is vegetarian. It contains butter but if one uses a non-dairy butter substitute it would then be VEGAN.

If you are more of an internet person, you can make these two dishes as I made them from my friend's blog. Here is the Sos Pwa recipe, and here is the Mais Moulin recipe. She has some other Haitian recipes on her blog as well, find them here.

Hope you enjoy! I will get the other recipes posted for you in my next blog post. 


Blessings!

Monday, November 15, 2010

More Cholera Pics

Please pray. Please donate. Help the Rescue Center. This horrible epidemic is going to get much worse before it gets better.