Darien's Connection to Haiti: Love A Child

Jan. 12, 8:15 p.m. At the orphanage.

We are all well, but the kids are so afraid that everyone is sleeping outside the orphanage on the ground, huddled in sheets and blankets.

We have had 16 "after-shocks." The smallest was 4.5. Hospitals and buildings have collapsed. One orphanage has children buried under it. Tomorrow, we will go out to assess the wounded and bring them to our Jesus Healing Center for care.

We will keep you posted.  Please continue to pray.

Bobby and Sherry

Darien has a special connection to Bobby and Sherry Burnette, Christian ministers to the poorest of the poor in Haiti, and to the children who live at their Love A Child orphanage in the remote village of Bois Monquette.

It was shortly before Christmas when event-organizer Stella Clarke learned that all 228,096 meals created by over 1000 volunteers at last October's Feed My Starving Children mobile packing event had been sent there.

News of Tuesday's devastating earthquake hit home for Clarke, and she hopes that the Burnettes' story will help guide other Darien residents in their search of ways to help.

"With this news, hopefully someone can help a bit more," she said. "It's nice to know there's a connection there."

Clarke said that Bobby, Sherry and the children are safe but frightened. The much-appreciated rice meals are also intact.

Love A Child is a non-profit Christian Humanitarian Organization, working to reduce the poverty in Haiti. Over 5,000 children are fed and educated each day at Love A Child schools, and additional food distribution programs help feed thousands of Haitian families. They also have a healing center. It's one of the few clinics in the remote village, and it's not far from Port-au-Prince.

"The orphanage directors are going to go and look for wounded people to bring back to the hospital," said Clarke.

Of the 60 countries where FMSC sends the rice meals, Haiti is the number one recipient. The Christian non-profit sent more than 25 million meals there in 2009.

Clarke asks that residents looking to support earthquake victims consider the Love a Child mission. FMSC has also developed an emergency response plan.

Additional information about the organizations can be found online, just follow the hyperlinks embedded within this article and noted at the bottom of the page.