At Food For The Poor, we’re blessed to have dedicated and loving board members like Dr. Lynne Nasrallah. This educator has served on our board for nine years and often travels with us. She also chairs the Orlando “A Celebration of Hope” gala, which builds homes for destitute families in remote areas of Haiti. She recently wrote about an experience she had in Manneville, Haiti.
As we stepped off the van, Enock, a prayer warrior, greeted us with these words:
“Blessings on all who come to visit us today. We ask that God be with you and protect each one of you. Your visit shows that you have much love for people in need. We thank God and Food For The Poor who have already provided us with some new homes. We pray that your visit will bring us more blessings in the near future.”
Then our Haitian brothers and sisters began singing, as if they were in a great cathedral, “How Great Thou Art!” We pilgrims joined in chorus with our eyes a little misty. After the welcoming song we walked hand-in-hand with the children and saw the deplorable living conditions of Manneville:
- Hovels with leaky roofs soaking families’ meager collections of clothes
- Cobbled structures with walls that opened up to the winds and rains
- Shelters of tin and wood with children sleeping on the mud floors
On every pilgrimage with FFP, we visit the lonely, the poor, the homeless, the disabled, the orphans. In reaching out to what some consider outcasts of society, we actually encounter something bigger than ourselves. We encounter God, our Father!
When we have the honor to build or paint a home for a poor family, we become witnesses to an amazing miracle. The family who receives a safe and sturdy Food For The Poor home is immediately transformed. It’s as if that family literally comes out of the darkness and into the light. It’s a light that emanates from God, Himself.
Simultaneously, as pilgrims our hearts are softened and forever touched by this exchange of joy and hope. And as we all (pilgrims, FFP personnel and donors) obey the command to love one another, we’re assured of mighty blessings from our Father.
Give your love today to Eugine, who Dr. Lynne met this year in Jamaica. Eugine suffers with a heart condition which prevents her from earning a steady income. As a result, the family lives in a very dilapidated shack that leaks profusely and floods when it rains. Donate to build Eugine and her family a home: www.foodforthepoor.org/eugine.