Feb 3, 2010

Decorah church is raising contributions for Haiti

Posted: 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 2nd, 2010

Decorah Covenant Church at 115 Washington Street has agreed to serve as the local collecting site for "Helping Hands for Haiti," a campaign to raise dry formula, milk, wet ones and diapers for Ruuska Village, a Christian orphanage located 7 miles from Port-au-Prince.

The church is accepting donations of powdered formula, dry milk, diapers and wet-wipes between the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m through Sunday, February 14th. Donations will then be taken to Florida, from where they will be transported to the orphanage. Cash donations can also be sent to Helping Hands For Haiti, 1003 Grand Street, Guthrie Center, IA 50115.

The project is the brainchild of former Decorah resident Kim Grinna, and actually began this fall prior to the earthquake. Kim's sister has adopted several orphans from this orphanage in the past and Kim's niece has been working at the orphanage since August of 2009.

Kim challenged her own children to try to feel the pain of the orphans in Haiti for just one day. After watching a video about conditions in pre-quake Haiti the family was moved to start this project. Their initial goal that was 500 cans of powdered formula along with other desperately needed items such as dry milk, wet ones and diapers. However, the needs of the orphanage have increased tremendously following the earthquake, so Decorah resident Andrea Carlson decided to expand the Haitian milk project beyond the original Des Moines area to include Decorah.

For more information, please contact Andrea Carlson (382-1409) or Kim Grinna (641-332-2396).

www.decorahnews.com

3 comments:

  1. Today I brought a flyer to my workplace (Ortivus) informing 30+ people about the Haiti formula drive; I dropped off my donation of diapers, formula and wipes yesterday to an overflowing cart of donations at Decorah Covenant Church; I pick up my daughter at Team Rehab where a "Helping Hands for Haiti" flyer also hung; and tonight I read an article in the Decorah newspapers about the effort. My family plans to visit the orphanage in June, and I was contacted by a Luther assistant soccer coach/Young Life leader originally from Texas wanting to know more about this orphanage for a possible visit this May to help. ...where did this all start???? From a 13-year-old boy asking what could he do and a mother wanting to encourage the pure intentions of her son's heart. Grant, see what God can do when you open your heart to Him!?!? AMAZING!!

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  2. Can I mail cans of formulas to these addresses ? I live in Massachusetts !

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  3. You can mail them directly to me at: Helping Hands for Haiti at 1003 Grand St. Guthrie Center, IA. 50115. Or you can write a check to me, and I go about once a week to buy formula. This way you don't have to spend so much on shipping. Make it out to Helping Hands for Haiti if you choose this option. I have 5 pallets in my garage ready for the semi to come pick them up. So this is the central location where we are gathering everything. Thanks

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