The Southern Baptist disaster relief assessment team is back in Miami and meeting with the assessment team from the Florida Baptist Convention to formulate the long term Southern Baptist response to the Haiti earthquake disaster. I think we can anticipate recommendations that will keep Southern Baptists busy for the long haul but that may also be a bit different than the kind of disaster responses we’ve had in the past.

The assessment team has already signaled that it is unlikely that we will be sending down feeding units as we have in response to hurricanes and other disasters. Instead, it is more likely that we will do food distribution through Haitian Baptist churches that will allow families to pick up food staples and prepare it themselves.

Because of the difficult conditions as well as the difficulty in providing logistical support in the short term, our first teams are going to be made up of those individuals who are “tent dwellers” and can pretty well fend for themselves even as they help others. I suspect we will quickly be moving into building and repair mode once we are able to get full-fledged teams there.

Right now, it is still difficult to get people into Haiti. Commercial flights have not resumed and when they do, priority is going to be given to Haitians who were out of the country when the earthquake struck. The relief system is getting better by the day, though, and within a few weeks there will probably be a more solid aid infrastructure in place.

For the moment, the best thing that we can do as Southern Baptists is to give financially. Dr. John Sullivan of the Florida Baptist Convention, which has had an active partnership with Haiti Baptists for 15 years, says $20 will buy 100 pounds of rice to help feed the Haitian population and rice is what is needed there most right now.

There are several channels for sending funds to support Haiti relief. I definitely encourage people to give through a Southern Baptist organization, though, because 100 percent of your gift will go to Haiti relief. Unlike with other charities, administrative costs are already covered by foundational support of the Cooperative Program which allows all Haiti gifts to be used directly for relief.

There are already stories coming out about how Baptists are making a difference in Haiti, including one from Kentucky Disaster Relief Associate Coy Webb, who shared how the Southern Baptist disaster relief assessment team was able to deliver much-needed supplies of baby formula to a medical clinic caring for children across from the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince. The director there had been praying for a miracle that supplies would arrive before babies died. God is good all the time!

For those who would like to give for Haiti relief through the Kentucky Baptist Convention, you can give online through the KBC Web site or by sending a check to Kentucky Baptist Convention, P.O. Box 856300, Dept. 124, Louisville, KY 40285-9900. (Indicate “Haiti disaster relief” in the memo field.) Kentucky Baptists can also give through their churches simply by designating the gift for “Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief – Haiti.”

In addition to giving, you can also be preparing to go when the doors open. There will be much work to do for a long time so you can think now about when you might be able to go in the future. To go with a Kentucky Baptist disaster relief team, you will need to go through training to be certified so if you are not now a trained volunteer, plan to participate in an upcoming training session.