Serving Haiti is a marathon, not a sprint.  And Servants for Haiti is in it for the long run.  So is Lisa Clemetson.

Lisa is the adoptive mother of Roody, a current resident of Kingdom Kids Orphanage (KKO), one of our works in Haiti.   As any good mother would, Lisa wants the very best for her son.  But with Roody so far away, that’s a tough task.  She and her husband Todd visit their son as often as possible, but that leaves long stretches of time when he is beyond their care.  Her solution to the dilemma was to raise money so that SFH can hire another caregiver at KKO.  And she’s found a very meaningful way to do it.

Lisa is training to run a marathon and is enlisting sponsors for her trek.  As of this writing she’s only been at it for less than a week, but she’s already more than half way to her goal. With a recent promise of a matching gift up to $1200, that puts her way beyond it.

To learn more about Lisa and her marathon, go to her blog, “A Drop in the Ocean“.  There you’ll hear from a lady who is walking her talk.  More accurately, she’s running it.

Running for Haiti

Perhaps Lisa’s actions are prompting you to consider ways to raise funds and help Haiti in its marathon toward hope.  Talk to us.  We can give you ideas and practical help, such as setting up a payment system similar to what Lisa is doing.

Reports are coming in from the latest team to return from Haiti. We will add some short comments over time as we receive them from the folks who traveled there from June 24 to July 2, 2010.

Here’s an observation from Rebecca, who joined one of our teams for the first time:

It was my first trip, but it won’t be my last. The despair of the country is overshadowed by the Haitian peoples’ joy and thankfulness for life. There is so much we can learn from them.

This insight is from Carolyn, a veteran team member, after her first post-earthquake trip:

Even though I knew most people were living in tents, I was still taken aback to see the massive tent camps in place of the poorly constructed houses that stood before. One thing most people don’t think about is how permanent this situation is going to be for the Haitian people; tents are now being numbered and turned into permanent addresses. Haiti has always been in great need, but now the need is greater than ever.

This is a very important point to remember, motivating Servants for Haiti to work that much harder for the long term recovery of Haiti.  Your help, either through donations, fund-raising efforts, or participation on a work team, will be a key part of that work.