From January 15, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010 11:23am -Posted by John
I do not know Fr. Giroux personally, however many close to me in the faith community do and extremely kind words are spoken of him.. Please do keep him in your prayers...
Frank Chavin is a friend to virtually the entire Windsor and surrounding community.. My wife and I had the privilege of having Mr. Chauvin come visit our home about 10 years ago... After he retired from being a Detective with the Windsor Police several years ago, he focused all his efforts on aiding the poor and impoverished in Haiti, including he and his wife adopting an orphaned child, and has been organizing mission work ever since...
Quake Kills 4 at Chauvin's Orphanage; Priest From Windsor Still Missing
Source: http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Quake+ki....1669/story.html
By Don Lajoie, The Windsor Star, January 15, 2010 10:40 AM
Three girls and a staff member at an orphanage run by retired Windsor police detective Frank Chauvin have died in the earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday. Chauvin said Thursday he was told by Najla Thybulle — the granddaughter of Paula Thybulle who manages his operations in the capital Port-au-Prince — that the girls who perished were some of “the older ones” he knows well. But, he added, their names were not immediately available. Chauvin said a long-time orphanage employee was reported dead and two others are missing. He said he believes some of the other girls were injured, but could not confirm that. The orphanage, located in the heart of the earthquake-ravaged city, sustained structural damage, but was still standing, he said.
“It’s tough news,” said Chauvin. “At least 67 of the girls are OK.… That’s my main concern right now. With the size of this earthquake … I could have lost them all.” Najla Thybulle reported the surviving girls were all terrified by the violence of the earthquake. Her grandmother’s home, high in the mountains above nearby Petionville, was severely damaged by the quake, with the walls cracking and the roof buckling. She has been living and sleeping in her car since the house was evacuated just after the quake struck Tuesday.
Chauvin said Paula Thybulle would try to make it into the city Wednesday to view the damage at the orphanage and, if possible, attend to the girls’ immediate needs. His Foyer des Filles de Dieu (the home of God’s daughters) orphanage was established in 1988 to care for orphaned and abandoned girls between the ages of 18 months and 18 years. Chauvin said a clinic he runs is being overrun by the injured from the surrounding neighbourhood. He wondered how long the supplies could last. “They’re going crazy at the clinic,” he said. “People are lining up outside.” Meanwhile, Rev. Rene Giroux, a Catholic priest from the diocese of London, remains missing.
A news release from the diocese Thursday said Giroux, who was a pastor at many churches in Windsor and Essex County, has not been heard from since the quake struck. His last known location was the shantytown of St. Michel in Port-au-Prince, located on a mountain side near the epicentre of the quake. Giroux has worked in Haiti since the 1980s, providing schooling for 1,200 students, childhood nutrition programs and weekly health clinics.
A group of 22 missionaries from Leamington and Montreal who were in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake struck are preparing to return home after making their way to the neighbouring Dominican Republic. Youth pastor Michael Olewski, of First Baptist Church in Leamington, said he heard from the group Thursday. “They’re coming home,” Olewski said. He said the group and the church have decided to continue their work in Haiti by other means. They will begin loading trucks in Leamington with emergency aid supplies to be sent to the Caribbean nation.
He said transport trailers will be set up at the Leamington McDonald’s parking lot to accept donations of such items as bottled water, canned soup, medication including children’s Tylenol, hygiene products, bagged rice and beans and baby supplies, flashlights and batteries, rubber gloves and masks. Donors are asked to visit www.fbcleamington.com.
The Windsor-based aid group Hearts Together for Haiti is also in the initial stages of planning a trip to Port-au-Prince within the next several weeks to offer assistance. Chairman Steve MacDougall said about a half dozen volunteers, which he hopes will include trained medical professionals, could travel at the end of February. He said the projects they would take on would likely be small in scale and specifically targeted, rather than open ended.
MacDougall said volunteers could help out with medical treatment and making repairs at Chauvin’s orphanage or offering help at Giroux’s Haiti Mission in the neighborhood of St. Michel. In addition, he said, the group will try to establish a sponsorship program for 25 families. “We’ll identify 25 families that we can help and do some fundraising,” said MacDougall. “It would be $50 a family per month and do it on an ongoing basis, enough for a couple of years.”
He said the new program would be separate from the group’s ongoing operations in the north of Haiti, where it runs a school and food programs in the village of Deppe. Donations for earthquake relief will be kept in a separate bank account from the funds used for other HTFH programs. MacDougall said the team selected will be led by volunteeers who have extensive experience working in Haiti and logistics and planning will be set up well in advance, including accommodation and transportation. “Our one concern might be fundraising and sorting out the logistics,” he said. “But I see it coming together. I have no doubt we’ll do something.”
Frank Chauvin said his motivation for getting involved in Haiti began during his first trip to the impoverished island nation in the mid 1980s when he saw a mother and her severely sick child at a clinic in Port-au-Prince. He said the image of the suffering mother and child haunted him when he returned to Canada and he decided he had to become involved. He chose female orphans because of the vulnerability of girls in Haitian society. His charitable work, which includes a clinic as well as the orphanage, is supported by tens of thousands of dollars in donations yearly, mostly from Windsor and Essex County.
© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star
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Letter From Fr. Giroux Sent From Haiti Last November
Source: http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/op-ed/letter+from+Haiti/2262968/story.html
Greetings from Haiti. Last year we had 1,200 students enrolled in our five parish schools. These are known as "presbyteral schools" that attract the poor of the area. Parents scramble to meet the $12 a year tuition, and the expense of uniforms and school supplies. There are also state schools but they are too few while the private schools are too expensive for the poor. Without aid, there would be massive exclusion from an affordable education for the majority. This past summer, there was an attempt to raise the minimum wage from $2 to $5 a day. There are about 25,000 factory workers in the industrial parks in the city. After prolonged debate in parliament, the proposed raise was reduced to $3 a day.
The workers took to the streets in a massive walkout. A riot was imminent. However, they returned to work without violence. In a free-wheeling world economy in crisis, poor countries like Haiti with chronic unemployment and meagre wages are reduced to a state of misery. In late summer, 450 people attempted to leave this misery by boat, only to be intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard and immediately returned to Haiti.
The country suffers from an excess of imports -- food, clothes and other consumer goods. Countries like Brazil, the U.S. and Canada have devised a way to transform sugar cane and corn into ethanol which has a 25 per cent agro content that brings about an increase in food prices. Instead of supporting Third World countries, we exploit them with our new technology. Free trade without social conscience and responsible stewardship drives the nail of misery even deeper. Ten years ago, our schools had grain foods but now we have none. Apparently, surplus grain is destined to fuel machines and starve people. The trade-off is horrendous. To leave on a positive note, efforts are made to improve the roads between the five cities so whatever is grown can be marketed among the urban population.
Canada is a major contributor to building a road connecting Plateau Central with Cape Haitian -- Haiti's second largest city. In Port au Prince the U.S. is upgrading the network of roads that connect the shanty town neighbourhoods. Most of this work is manual labour providing much-needed employment. They are also upgrading the canal system to protect against flooding during the cyclone season. They are building facilities that transform rainfall into drinking water. To conclude, Haiti, like many countries, requires leaders who give priority to development where it is needed the most -- among the poor.
Fr. Rene Giroux is a parish priest who served in a number of churches in the city and county. He has lived and worked in Haiti the past 17 years and is active among the poor.
© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star
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Friday, January 15, 2010 11:57am -Email From John Sent to Several Close Friends
Seriously considering going to Haiti in February with Frank Chauvin to help out... I can offer help rebuilding the construction skills that I have... I know Frank well enough to offer to team up with him.. Would need to run this by Greg first, and would need a person to stay here at Don Bosco Home with Greg to help out while I am gone to help out here.. there are a few who could do this.. What do you think? Read the article before answering... Praying about it...
God bless, John
http://thydailybreadforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=petitions&action=display&thread=601
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Friday, January 15, 2010 1:56pm -Posted by John
"The Windsor-based aid group Hearts Together for Haiti is also in the initial stages of planning a trip to Port-au-Prince within the next several weeks to offer assistance. Chairman Steve MacDougall said about a half dozen volunteers, which he hopes will include trained medical professionals, could travel at the end of February.
He said the projects they would take on would likely be small in scale and specifically targeted, rather than open ended.
MacDougall said volunteers could help out with medical treatment and making repairs at Chauvin’s orphanage or offering help at Giroux’s Haiti Mission in the neighborhood of St. Michel. In addition, he said, the group will try to establish a sponsorship program for 25 families."
Praying about possibly joining this team in February to help rebuild... Please pray with me... I will keep you posted...
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Saturday, January 16, 2010 10:56 -Posted by John
Update: Still no word on the whereabouts of Fr. Giroux.. Prayers continue..
Please take a moment to watch this video, presented on the Hearts Together For Haiti website even before this weeks devastating earthquake.. This is the local organization I would be going with, should I discern that it is indeed God's will for me to go to Haiti the end of February... Please take a moment to listen.. These poor people NEED help... They had barely anything even before the earthquake.. What do they have now?
Hearts Together For Haiti
http://www.htfhaiti.org/Hearts_Together_for_Haiti/Mission_%26_Mandate.html
Please remember the 3 young girls and 1 worker from this orphanage who died this past week in your prayers...
I want to help and I feel that I can help! I realize just this week I came on the forum asking for prayers because of personal health issues, and perhaps it may seem contradictory that I would even think of traveling right now to a foreign land to jump into such a terrible situation under these circumstances but the truth is, I can help..
Look, here's the thing... Unlike many capable adults who perhaps would love to come forwards to volunteer but simply cannot because they are 'bound' to home, work, relationships, etc... my situation is a bit different.. Yes, I have 2 teenage children who I love dearly and thus could not or should not be gone for a very long period of time, however, weeks down in Haiti would be feasible... I am self-employed with very little work that seems to only come in here and there in spurts and never enough to even say I have steady work.. I live at Don Bosco Home and have responsibilities here.. However, a replacement to help out here while I am gone should be easy to obtain if this be God's will, He will provide..
I want to help! And I feel God pushing me to go help! I have 20 years experience in hands on building that can be extremely useful down there once the clean up and restoration begins... As for my health? Well, the other day was a wake up call that I simply need to take better care of myself... Diet, routine, and exercise.. Whether I am doing it here in Canada or down in Haiti there should be no difference.. And as for my eyes? I'm no blinder now then I was two months ago or even a year ago, and if I do end up blind, well, then we cross that bridge when we get there and again, I see no reason why I should allow that to prevent me from helping where I can help...
The way I see it, if everyone in the world said, "Well, I have this going on, or I have that going on" and thought this way, no one would be down there at all trying to help.... If Mother Teresa worried about "this or that" she would have never went to Calcutta.. This is where I am at with it... This is where my heart is.. To go and help where I can help... Most people have strict ties that bind them to 'home' and cannot simply go down there no matter how much they may want to... I have nothing stopping me from going, at least for a 'duration' and I really feel called to go help...
Continuing in prayers...
God bless, John
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Saturday, January 16, 2010 11:21am -Posted by John
Thanks Shalom, and everyone for showing me such tremendous support as I continue to discern.. And you're right Shalom.. At this point I would say it's just a matter of having it approved..
I just want to quote from the above video as I really feel that Mrs. Spratt said it best ... and again, this was said even before the earthquake!
"If we don't help them the world will lose a whole nation."
- Marcia Spratt, HTFH Sponsorship Coordinator
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Saturday, January 16, 2010 8:00pm -Posted by John
A few of you already know this via email.. Earlier today I spoke with Fr. Beaune and he has given me his blessing to go to Haiti for a period of 8 to 10 days sometime in February with the organization Heart's Together For Haiti (see link below) which will be to help re-build a medical clinic in Port-Au- Prince .. I have also been in contact today with the organization Hearts Together for Haiti.. still many details need to be clarified and will be as information continues to come in.. As you can imagine, it is extremely chaotic in Haiti right now so it is difficult even for the coordinators to get a handle on how to organize everything for this pending trip.. However, as it now stands it looks very much as though I am indeed going to Haiti along with them to assist in any way they can utilize me.. Please keep us in your prayers, and especially, please keep Haiti in your prayers..
God bless and again, thank you for all of your support,
John
Heart's Together For Haiti
http://www.htfhaiti.org/Hearts_Together_for_Haiti/Mission_%26_Mandate.html
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Sunday January 17, 2010 10:41am -Posted by Shalom
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Our forum brother and friend John (aka John-boy) is preparing to go to Haiti at the end of February with a well established and highly creditable charitable organization called Hearts Together For Haiti.. He has the blessing and approval of his spiritual director, and the utmost support and backing of Greg Mailloux, founder of Don Bosco Home where John lives, as well as the support of his own family to go and do this... The date is not determined as of yet, however it is looking most probably to happen in late February.. Plans are now being made for John to join a small team of local volunteers to travel to Haiti during this time for a period of 8 to 10 days to help set up a medical clinic in Port-Au-Prince..
In order for John to travel with Hearts Together For Haiti to assist in the restoration and set up of a much needed medical facility in Port-Au-Prince, which as it now stands is now the most likely project for him to be involved with, funds would be needed to get him there and back safely.. Namely, to pay for his air flight... As well, Hearts Together For Haiti themselves as an organization are in great need of donations at this time...
John himself will be making pleas for donations in his own neck of the woods locally at prayer groups and in his Parish community as well but also humbly comes to all of us with a plea for financial help ... In the whole scheme of things, it should be very feasible to achieve a financial goal to do so, as the cost's are relatively cheap in comparison to traveling elsewhere in the world... And though nothing is clear yet, due to the current situation cost's to travel to Haiti could even be substantially lower.. However details are not clear yet.. John will come on and update us as time passes and more information comes in..
If anyone is interested in helping to get John to Haiti and feel that they can afford to contribute, please do by simply sending a donation to Hearts Together For Haiti, with the attached words "This donation is to help get John Christenson to Haiti with your organization" John asks that you do not send any donations directly to him as this money would need to go directly to Hearts Together For Haiti anyway... Here is their website and contact information:
http://www.htfhaiti.org/Hearts_Together_for_Haiti/Mission_%26_Mandate.html
Send donation to:
Hearts Together for Haiti
1400 Cabana Rd West
Windsor, Ontario,
Canada N9G 1C4
Also, please know that even if you are unable to make a financial contribution, your prayers for our team to get there and especially for the poor of Haiti most of all are extremely important and greatly appreciated as well!
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Sunday, January 17, 2010, 12:37pm -Posted by John
FR. GIROUX FOUND ALIVE!!!!
http://www.windsorstar.com/
A Windsor priest who runs a mission in Haiti has been found. Pauline Subity, the niece of Rev. Rene Giroux, says he called her at about 7 a.m Sunday morning. She says he's safe and has food and water, but is sleeping outside the mission. Giroux, 76, was missing since the island nation was devastated by an earthquake which left over 100,000 dead. "Our prayers have been answered," said Vera Arkell, local co-ordinator for Giroux's mission in Port-au-Prince. Arkell said Giroux managed a brief call to her, letting her know he was alright. She said he didn't have the stamina to walk to the Canadian embassy but was not injured.
There was a lot of damage to the area, she said. Mark Atkinson, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic London Diocese, said additional details will be released later this morning. Giroux ministers to the poor in the Shantytown area of Port-au-Prince, located near the epicenter of the earthquake. Giroux has ministered to the poorest of the poor in Haiti since the early 1980s, Atkinson said. Even though he retired in 2001, Giroux continued to spend much of his time and energy in Haiti, Atkinson said. His initiatives have included establishing a school nutrition program and a weekly health clinic staffed by a dentist and two general practitioners.
Meanwhile, Bishop Ronald Fabbro appealed for prayer for those affected by the devastation. “Along with funds, prayers are urgently needed at this time for the victims and their families,” Bishop Fabbro wrote in a letter sent to all parishes last week.
© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star
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Monday, January 18, 2010 9:58am -Posted by Hopper
As you all know our John-boy has a generous heart and he felt the Lord's call for him to help the poor people in Haiti....but not only in Haiti - he wanted to go when Hurricane Katrina hit in the gulf and other disaster areas...but it was not feasible for him to go at those times. Now he sees that an opportunity has opened and he is free to go help out. This link is also in the prayer section but I thought I'd post it here so it would not be missed. See this link as there is an address for those of you who want to donate. Donations to be sent directly to the organization and ear marked for John Christenson. (this is for airfare expenses out there)
http://thydailybreadforum.proboards.com/....play&thread=610
God Bless, and God bless John Boy.... P.S. hope you have access to a computer so you can write to us down there....
Hopper
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Monday, January 18, 2010 12:40pm -Posted by John
Thank you both Hopper and Shalom for rallying together on my behalf and on the behalf of Hearts Together For Haiti.. As well, a big thank you to all who have been coming forwards and showing tremendous support in this endeavor.. I do not know if I will have access to the internet, however, of course you know that if I do, I will be keeping you informed as I am able to.... Also, I will be keeping a journal and writing daily, one I've already began as of a few days ago...
Details are very sketchy right now as Hearts Together For Haiti arein the very early stages still of planning and organizing this trip so I am not able to go into any specific details just yet.. But again, as information comes in I will keep everyone up to date and informed..
As already mentioned by Hopper here on this thread, Shalom on another, and myself at various times, I am fund raising on behalf of Hearts Together For Haiti.. A portion of this fund raising will be used to for expenses to get me to Haiti with this wonderful team. However, generosity and charity does not and should not stop there. When we head to Haiti we will be bringing a very large shipment of goods with us, food, clothing, especially medicine, and so that in itself has costs... Even in a time like this there are still cost's when you go to do something... In a perfect world for instance, it would be nice if the airlines flew aid workers down there for free or if hotels put volunteers up for the night free of charge, however, also in a state of emergency often anything goes, and so again, there are still cost's in order to get the help needed to the people in most need there...
You know, just a few years ago on Good Friday during the Stations of the Cross as he made his way along the Way of the Cross Pope Benedict directly addressed the unavoidable issue of world poverty spoke the following words while meditating at the 9th Station.. These words I have never forgot, and they have so much to do with why I feel called to go to Haiti, therefore, I will share them with all of you, my friends..
"Where is Jesus in agony in our own time?
In the division of our world into belts of prosperity
and belts of poverty ... this is Christ’s agony today.
Our world is made of two rooms:
in one room, things go to waste,
in the other, people are wasting away;
in one room, people die from surfeit,
in the other, they die from indigence;
in one room, they are concerned about obesity,
in the other, they are begging for charity.
Why don’t we open a door?
Who don’t we sit at one table?
Why don’t we realize that the poor
can help the rich?
Why? Why? Why are we so blind?
Pope Benedict XVI during Meditation at the 9th Station along the Way of the Cross, Lent 2006
Please know that even if you are unable to make a financial contribution, your prayers for our team to get there and especially for all the poor of Haiti most of all are extremely important, in fact, just as important, and are greatly appreciated as well!
