Holy Trinity Parish, though a local congregation, understands its mission to include the global community. Below are some of the ways that parishioners at Holy Trinity are living out that mission.

Fr. Deneke Visits Haiti with Food for the Poor

Fr. Deneke recently visited Haiti with Food for the Poor (http://www NULL.foodforthepoor NULL.org/portdepaix/). Their visit was documented in the blog Water-Life-Hope (http://waterlifehope NULL.blogspot NULL.com/).

Recently while Father Deneke and parishioner Ed Buckley inspected clean water wells in Haiti that Food for the Poor has provided through contributions from Holy Trinity and elsewhere, they had an opportunity to visit the Ft. Liberete prison near Cap-Haitien. While there the group was able to obtain the release of a prisoner who had been imprisoned for nine months for stealing rice. At his release a ceremonial feet washing took place to affirm God’s love for those who suffer. Afterward, he was given new shoes and personal items.

Clean Water Project in Haiti

Holy Trinity is pleased to support the Clean Water Project in Haiti in cooperation with Food for the Poor (http://www NULL.foodforthepoor NULL.org/portdepaix), a global relief organization. Thanks to this exciting initiative, over 300,000 people in Cap-Haitien and Port au Prince have clean drinking water now. Formerly, they relied on rainwater collected in open ditches near sewage.

A similar project for 13 wells in Port de Paix was completed in the spring of 2009. Funding from Holy Trinity provides thousands of people, including many children, with clean water. The vestry committed over $7000 from the parish Clean Water Fund for this purpose. (One well costs $4,075.) Additionally, parishioners gave over $21,000 and $1000 was been designated from the parish funds for Millenium Development Goals by the Youth Council, following a vestry request that young people determine where a portion of the funds should go.

For updates on the installation of the 13 wells paid for with Holy Trinity funds, see these two reports from Food for the Poor’s Port De Paix Water Project:

• Port de Paix Water Project – Update 1 (download PDF) (http://holytrinity NULL.episcopalatlanta NULL.org/doc/Haiti_Clean_Water_Update)
• Port de Paix Water Project – Update 2 (download PDF) (http://holytrinity NULL.episcopalatlanta NULL.org/doc/Haiti_Clean_Water_Update_2)

Locations of Wells and Cisterns

Click for larger image (http://holytrinitydecatur NULL.org/images/haiti/haiti-water-wells-cisterns NULL.jpg)

Honduras Outreach

Through Honduras Outreach (http://www NULL.hoi NULL.org/), Holy Trinity partners with Los Hornos, a village in Honduras. Honduras Outreach is a non-profit, non-denominational, organization based in Decatur. More… (http://holytrinity NULL.episcopalatlanta NULL.org/Content/Honduras_Mission NULL.asp)

Teleios Foundation Babushka Program

Holy Trinity Parish supports Alexandra Petrovna Byelavskaya, a 78-year-old scientist living in St. Petersburg Russia, through the Teleios Foundation’s Babushka Program (http://www NULL.teleiosfoundation NULL.org/). Elderly women are the poorest segment of the population in Russia and double digit inflation year after year has rendered savings and pensions inadequate. The support Ms. Byelavskaya receives provides basic food, medicine, medical support and the services of a social worker. For more information contact the Teleios Foundation, PO Box 7213, Shrewsbury, NJ, 67702.

The Millennium Development Goals

“We are the first generation that can put an end to poverty and we refuse to miss the opportunity.” – Vijay Amritraj

Inspiring words, yes, but can he be serious? Aren’t hunger and poverty tragic but unavoidable facts of life in certain countries? They don’t have to be, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) address these and other urgent concerns with measurable goals and targets. They challenge us as people of faith to change these realities for so many in developing countries.

Millennium development goals focus on our citizenship in a global world. They invite and challenge us to give 0.7% of our income to accomplish these goals by the target date of 2015. This small percentage is the amount of the gross national product of all the rich nations it would take to accomplish the MDGs by the target date of 2015. (Currently the United States gives approximately 0.16% of GNP.) Even the poorest of us live in greater wealth than the one-sixth of the world’s population who live on less than one dollar a day. Giving 0.7% is proportional. It might require some sacrifice, but it is achievable, and with less than one percent of what we have, we can lift people out of extreme poverty. Over 800 million of the earth’s citizens go to bed hungry every night.

In what has become a major mission and evangelism emphasis of this General Convention, The House of Deputies joined the House of Bishops on June 18, 2006, in supporting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and urging parishes, missions, congregations and dioceses across the Episcopal Church to work for their implementation. The MDGs are an eight-pronged declaration that has at its core the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by the year 2015. Holy Trinity is joining in the effort, and commits itself to addressing the MDGs in ways large and small.

The Millennium Development Goals are:

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Create a global partnership for development with a focus on debt, aid and trade

You can learn more about the Millennium Development Goals as well as “What One Person Can Do” from Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation (http://www NULL.e4gr NULL.org/index NULL.html).

Heifer International and Food for the Poor

Holy Trinity’s Youth Council, with the support of the vestry, has chosen two of the global ministries the parish will support in 2007: Heifer International (http://www NULL.heifer NULL.org/) and Food for the Poor (http://www NULL.foodforthepoor NULL.org/).

Heifer’s mission is to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth. They envision a world of communities living together in peace and equitably sharing the resources of a healthy planet. Heifer’s strategy is to “pass on the gift.” As people share their animals’ offspring with others – along with their knowledge, resources, and skills – an expanding network of hope, dignity, and self-reliance is created that reaches around the globe. This simple idea of giving families a source of food rather than short-term relief caught on and has continued for over 60 years. Today, millions of families in 128 countries have been given the gifts of self-reliance and hope.

Food for the Poor ministers to spiritually renew impoverished people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Established in 1982 as a 501(c)(3) corporation, their goals are to improve the health, economic, social and spiritual conditions of the men, women and children they serve. Food For The Poor raises funds and provides direct relief assistance to the poor, usually by purchasing specifically requested materials and distributing them through the churches and charity organizations already operating in areas of need. In this way, the organization serves the poor with dignity and ensures the most appropriate use of donors’ funds.