Whitewater Crossing Delivers 8 Tons Of Food, Supplies To Haiti

Five organizations partner to provide humanitarian relief.

Photo provided.

(Cleves, Oh.) - Hundreds of children in Haiti will now have at least one highly nutritious meal at school each day, thanks to 16,675 pounds of food being delivered to their village in late summer.

The contribution equates to 110,818 meals, said Joe Porter, communications director at Whitewater Crossing Christian Church in Cleves, Ohio.

Five organizations and hundreds of individuals partnered in the volunteer-based initiative: hundreds of Whitewater Crossing Church members and Whitewater’s Mission Teams; Living Water Christian Mission; the United States Air Force’s Denton program; Children's Lifeline; and A Child’s Hope International/Hands Against Hunger.

 “This was really an inspired philanthropic effort, with more than 350 of our church members coming together, on short notice, to pack food to send,” said Porter. “We give credit to all of the leaders and groups who were involved and fully on-board with our vision to help the children of Haiti.”

100 pounds of bilingual educational materials, 360 pairs of new shoes, and 10 clean water bucket kits were also a part of the delivery.

These items will primarily be for students and caretakers at the newly-built Living Water school located in Highland, a remote village located approximately three hours north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The school is a project of Living Water Christian Mission, a nonprofit that has helped the people of Haiti since 2003. (Whitewater Crossing is a partner Church of Living Water.)

The efforts will also benefit other cities and villages in the region including Gonaives and Marmelade, said Porter, who also are in great need of assistance.

“Highland children will now be able to eat a balanced meal—maybe for the first time in their lives,” said Salonique Adolphe, Founder and Executive Director of Living Water.

The school year starts this month. “Without that food, these children—about 400 of them—would be going without both breakfast and lunch most days,” said Bill Wagner, a Whitewater Crossing Church member who helped coordinate the food pack relief effort.

Wagner first learned about the Haitian school’s food shortage late last year.

Wagner then introduced Living Water to A Child’s Hope International - Hands Against Hunger, a nonprofit located in Sharonville, Ohio. Hands Against Hunger has delivered food to vulnerable children throughout the world utilizing the Denton Humanitarian Assistance Program, a Department of Defense transportation program.

The program allows voluntary organizations to take advantage of extra space on military cargo planes to transport humanitarian goods.

In this case, it was the solution to securely and affordably deliver the food and supplies to Haiti.

“Because the cargo planes were leaving soon at that point, we had to rush to get the food packed and ready in time,” recalled Wagner.

After hearing about the relief campaign, more than 350 Whitewater Crossing church members quickly came together in early January to pack the meals, ensuring they would be ready in time.   

Through a giving campaign in 2017, Whitewater’s generous attendees covered the cost of every meal that was packaged. This fell under two of the seven focus areas of Whitewater Crossing’s Solve 7 initiative—specifically, Feed the Hungry and Teach the Uneducated.

A Child’s Hope International’s facility was also utilized for the large-scale food pack.

Once in Haiti, the challenge was getting the food distributed. 

Children's Lifeline helped to move the 16,675 pounds of food and supplies from the tarmac in Port-au-Prince, to multiple vehicles, to storage—and finally, to its destination.

The shipment of food was first delivered to Living Water in Gonaives, located in Western Haiti in June.

In July, the meals were taken to Highland and are now being given to children at the school. Students range from preschool to ninth grade.   

“If you look at all the groups that came together, and if you look at what we did in total, it’s a God-sized undertaking. It’s amazing to see how these organizations are connected, the resources and capabilities that are there, and how we came together to deliver aid to the people of Haiti,” said Wagner.

“That’s why I say it’s a God-sized problem that was solved through His people.”

For more information at Whitewater Crossing, visit www.whitewatercrossing.org or visit www.whitewatercrossing.org/leaders to contact any leader directly.

To learn more about Whitewater Crossing’s Solve 7 and how you can get involved, visit solve7.org.