Community Director

INDIANA KNIGHTS SUPPORT
HAITIAN SURVIVORS

Members of the Indiana Knights of Columbus have joined with state and local councils from around the country as well as Canada in sending funds for Haitian earthquake relief. Almost two weeks following the tragedy, $144,000 dollars have been donated for the relief effort and expected to go higher. This number includes $50,000 from the Supreme Council located in New Haven, Connecticut.

Catholic relief services have a large presence on the island nation and report the death of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince as being among the hundreds of thousands killed. Churches have been destroyed in this mostly Catholic nation and many priests have been injured or killed in the earthquake. Roads, schools, and hospitals have been destroyed. This very well may prove to be the most costly natural disaster in lives and property in the Western Hemisphere in the past 100 years.

Hundreds of Catholic churches from around the country have had long relationships with the Haitian churches and continue to send aid. Indiana Knights have also been actively supporting this relief effort. In the past they have responded during floods, tornadoes and ice storms here in Indiana without hesitation, as well as hurricane Katrina, sending money and manpower to aid the re-building effort. It will take years to rebuild Haiti.

Indiana Knights might consider taking this tragedy and join with Catholic Charities in providing foster homes or adoption of Haitian children left without parents or a roof over their heads; for that matter, left without a future. Inquiries can be made with your local Catholic Charities office with regard to adoption or foster home possibilities.

We speak often about Pro-Life and usually associate the mission with the protection of the unborn. Here is an example of an opportunity for Indiana Knights to reach out in love to protect the living, the most at-risk Haitian children of this tragedy. As the dust settles and the numbers of homeless are better understood, the greater will be the need for agencies to have somewhere to protect these children.

Every day we hear news of children being air lifted out of Haiti with critical injuries, amputations, and infections. When they are stabilized where will they go? The recently orphaned still in Haiti; where will they go? We knights stand for charity, unity and fraternity. The most important of these attributes is charity. There will be many months ahead where Indiana councils can walk-the-walk and demonstrate everything the Knights of Columbus stands for. The needs of the Haitian people in food, shelter and health care will be on-going long into the year and Indiana Knights of Columbus need to stand tall and be all that we can be in helping this most impoverished nation.

Try to imagine no sanitation, no running water or electricity. Your home is destroyed and what little possessions you have are gone. You face the possibility of malaria, cholera and other dangerous diseases. Phones don't work and roads are destroyed. You can't get to work and you can't check on family members. Did I mention the rainy season is right around the corner?

Thank you brother Knights on behalf of the State Council for all that you have done so far in relief efforts in Haiti. Keep up the badly needed prayers and keep up the council involvement in this effort. As the news begins to become background noise, we Indiana Knights must keep vigilant to the needs of the Haitian people.

Bob Hartenstein
Community Director
Indiana Knights of Columbus