Serve Nationally & Internationally

mission central

Mission Central processes United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) "Relief Kits" for use around the world. They also collect supplies for local and national ministries. Volunteers assist with many projects to help send God's love around the world. Meets every other month to work at Mission Central in the morning and then enjoy lunch together. As needed this group also works with the Carlisle United Way to assist in community mailing efforts.
To learn more please contact Jean Yufer at

nomads

NOMADS is a United Methodist affiliate group of 1,200 people, mostly retired couples and singles who travel around the country in their RV's and provide hands on work at UM conference camps, UM children's homes, local UM churches, homeless shelters, mission agencies, and in many communities on individual homes when sponsored by local UM organizations. We also (when invited by UMCOR) go to areas hit by natural disasters to help rebuild homes. But more importantly, NOMADs do Christ's work and glorify God while setting an example that encourages others to serve God also.
Because NOMADs come from various backgrounds, they are skilled in many areas and frequently do new construction, remodeling, maintenance, repairs, painting, office work, gardening, and many other tasks. NOMADs enjoy using their hands for Christ's mission and appreciate the fellowship and lasting friendships of others serving Jesus.
For more information, contact Quinton De Beer,

volunteers in mission (vim)

CUMC is committed to sending teams to help with Volunteers in Mission (VIM). Trips are day, weekend, or week-long that help a community meet an urgent need with some of our sweat and the love of God.
We often partner with UMVIM and UMCOR in regional and natural disasters. To learn about upcoming opportunities to serve beyond our community in disaster relief, contact Quinton De Beer,

haiti

INTERESTED IN GOING TO HAITI?
The unsafe conditions continue to prevent us from traveling to Haiti.
Even though we are unable to send teams to serve in Haiti, we continue to provide financial support for the Mellier School and Living Water Missions. To learn more about our ministry in Haiti, please read our Haiti story below. For additional information or to help support the Mellier School or Living Water Missions, contact Rich Charette,

Sadly, the most recent news out of Haiti is still not good. Competing gangs are carving up the Haitian capital...kidnapping, extorting money, and killing at will. "In Port-au-Prince you cannot see the boundaries, but you must know where they are. Your life may depend on it. Cross from one gang's turf to another, and you may not make it back." Thousands have been forced to leave their homes. They gather in makeshift shelters across the capital. Food and fuel are still in short supply with prices out of reach for most families. There seems to be no urgency on the part of the Haitian Government or the International Community to end the indiscriminate violence.

NEW PARTNERSHIPS
In 2022 CUMC was blessed with two new partnerships: Richwood UMC and Kassidy Eberlan Hyppolite at Living Water Missions

A comment on a mutual friend's Facebook post connected us with Carol Brozosky from Richwood UMC in Rochwood, NJ. Carol has served in Mellier in 2010 and was interested in getting reconnected with the Mellier community. Richwood UMC has joined us in providing support for the Mellier School. Since April 2022 they have been contributing $250/mo to help with teacher salaries.
Living Water Missions - was started by a young American missionary named Kassidy. Kassidy served on mission trips in Mellier before working as an intern at an orphanage near the Mellier School. A few years ago, she started her own pre-school and summer feeding program for children in the Mellier area. Kassidy has been invaluable in helping us to stay in contact with Principal Patrick.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR HAITI MINISTRIES
We are committed to supporting teacher salaries through the 2024/2025 school year. Most schools in Haiti are private and require a monthly tuition. This is the case at the Mellier Primary School. As of September 2023, 96 students are enrolled in school. Very few of those student's parents can afford the tuition. Principal Patrick does not turn students away.
All the funding for Kassidy's work at Living Water Missions comes through donations from churches in the US. As thanks to Kassidy for her willingness to help us stay connected with Principal Patrick we include Living Water Missions as a beneficiary of our fundraising efforts.

HERE'S HOW YOUR DONATIONS HAVE BEEN USED:

Since August of 2022, in partnership CUMC and Richwood UMC have donated $76,500 to help support The Mellier Methodist School and Living Water Missions
Swing set for Mellier community
Living Water Mission's School and Summer Feeding Program
Shipping/Delivery of School Kits and books to Mellier school
Mellier School building project and teacher salaries
Employment for construction workers

SCHOOL MELLIER BUILDINGS
In addition to teacher salaries and day-to-day administrative costs Principal Patrick is faced with maintaining the school’s buildings. The original school was heavily damaged in the 2010 earthquake and had to be torn down. Temporary structures were built to house the school, but time and weather have taken their toll. During our trip to Mellier in January 2019, we helped Haitian workers to make repairs to one of the school’s three buildings. This building was a one room structure that also served as the church from 2010-2015 while the new Mellier Methodist Church was being built. The work involved replacing plywood walls with concrete block, repairing the roof, dividing the building into three classrooms, and painting the exterior.
The other two temporary buildings continued to deteriorate. In 2021 a large tree limb fell on the roof of one of the classrooms and the roof had to be removed. The elements continued to eat away at the plywood sheathing. The structures were beyond reasonable repair and needed to be replaced.
In 2019 we began working with Principal Patrick to develop a plan to repair or replace the older buildings. Thanks to Caz (our interpreter and recent Engineering School Graduate) for his design, we developed a plan to replace the deteriorating classrooms with appropriate structures that could be built at a reasonable cost and provide a safer learning environment for the children.
Construction started in October 2022. As of January 2024, most of the work has been completed. Principle Patrick began using the new classrooms in January 2023. Unfortunately, the current situation is Port–au-Prince is having a far-reaching impact and affecting material costs and availability.

OUR WORK IN HAITI
On January 12, 2010 Haiti was rocked by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Shortly after the earthquake the Haiti Response Plan (HRP) was formed. This plan allowed the Methodist Church of Haiti (EMH - Eglise Methodist d’Haiti) to set their priorities for recovery and rebuilding in collaboration with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) team. The HRP also required a ratio of two hired Haitian workers to every UMVIM volunteer. In May of 2011 CUMC sent its first
team to participate in the reconstruction effort. Since then nine more teams have travelled to Haiti to serve beside the people of EMH.
Over the past 12 years CUMC teams have: helped to rebuild churches in Mellier, LaGonave and Yvon, helped build community centers in Furcy and Sobier, and have, in partnership with Water to Life, provided over 300 Sawyer Point One water filters in Durocher, Sobier and Mellier. Through generous donations from our congregation and other benefactors, CUMC teams have been able to help with funding rebuilding projects,
support school lunch programs, help with paying teacher salaries, provide financial support for Grace Children's Hospital and give employment opportunities to construction workers, drivers, cooks and interpreters.
The HRP ended in October 2013 and though rebuilding efforts were ongoing, CUMC began looking for ways to continue our work in Haiti when reconstruction was complete. We felt that though we had made an impact in each of the communities where we served, we could have a greater impact toward long standing relationships and sustainable community development if we consistently returned to the same community.
We considered each of the communities where we had served and weighed the experiences and commitments of other UMC’s serving in Haiti. We learned that in Mellier, where we served in 2011, there are investments in sustainable community development projects. "Water to Life" distributes Sawyer Point One Water Filters to families in Mellier that do not have a clean source of drinking and Lake Lotawana Community UMC from the Missouri Conference has financed a “Chicken Project" that aims to provide eggs to the local market, create jobs and provide some financial support for the Mellier Methodist primary school.
In January 2018 we returned to serve in Mellier. This trip gave us the opportunity to again partner with Water to Life to provide water filters to families in Mellier and to learn more about the Chicken Project. allowed us to meet with members of the Lake Lotawana Community UMC and learn more about the Chicken Project. Through those meetings we heard about EMH’s Micro-Credit Community Bank Program and learned that the Mellier Congregation was very interested in this program but needed a financial partner. This program managed through the Methodist Church of Haiti provides loans to small business owners who would otherwise not qualify for loans.
A door had been opened for us to partner with the Mellier Congregation in community development and empowerment programs. In March 2018 we received the approval of the CUMC Leadership Council, presented information to the congregation and raised the necessary funds to support a community bank. Our fundraising efforts resulted in extending small loans to up to twenty-five beneficiaries.

MELLIER COMMUNITY BANK UPDATE
In January 2019 CUMC sent another team to serve in Mellier. While there, members of the team had an opportunity to meet with managers of the Micro-Credit Bank Program, Jean Claude Louis (our liaison) and Ronith Edjacin (Methodist Church of Haiti - Micro Credit Bank Manager). We learned that twenty of the twenty-five beneficiaries have accepted their loans. The remaining five have not completed the training or other requirements of the bank. Five of the beneficiaries are men and five of the beneficiaries are not members of the Mellier Methodist Church but are friends of members and loans to these friends were approved by the Bank Committee. We also visited with four of the bank beneficiaries:

The first was Marie Yolaine. She has a soup stand along the busy main road.
Her business is thriving. She is usually sold out of the day’s soup by 10:30
am. On the day we visited Marie Yolaine was selling Bouyon Bef (Haitian Beef
Stew). Marie Yolaine invited us to her home. There we saw her kitchen; typical
of the outdoor kitchens found in rural Haiti. Her garden was a variety of
vegetables and spices.
Myrianne has a small stand located deeper into the village. She sells
cosmetics, toiletries and sundries. He business is off the beaten path but is
successful. Though her stand is small, the micro loan has allowed her
increased her inventory resulting in increased sales. The increased income is
making a difference for her family.
Denise has a stand along the access road to Mellier and to other villages in
the local area. She sells prepared foods (small meat turnovers, hotdogs, fried
chicken and fries) and convenience items. She is grateful for the opportunity
to be a member of the community bank.
Boss Smith is furniture maker. He is not a member of the Mellier Church and
his shop is in the adjacent town of Leogone. Because of the loan he received
he was able to relocate his shop to a more visible location. The resulting
increase in orders has allowed him to hire additional helpers. He also shares
his property with a man who repairs tires.

Check out this video about the Mellier Micro-Credit Bank
Beyond the Micro-Credit Bank, Hens for Haiti funded by UMCs in Missouri is also
empowering the community. Check out this video on Hens for Haiti.

2019 HAITI TRIP
This year in addition to visiting beneficiaries of the bank we helped make repairs to the Methodist Primary School in Mellier. The existing school buildings were built after the 2010 earthquake as a temporary replacement for the school building that was damaged during the quake and had to be torn down. These structures are post and beam construction with plywood sheathing and tin roofs. Weather and time have left the facilities in need of renovation. During our week-long stay we made repairs to one of three buildings. This building was a one room structure that also served as the church from 2011-2015 while the Mellier Methodist Church was being rebuilt. Our team assisted Haitian skilled workers and laborers who were hired to do the bulk of the work. The task included removing the old plywood sheathing, constructing concrete
block walls to a height of three feet, reusing salvageable plywood to re-sheath the upper four feet of the walls, replacing roofing tin as necessary, constructing two partition walls to divide the space into three classrooms and painting the exterior walls.
The CUMC team helped with each of these jobs, assisted in constructing rebar reinforcing for the block sections of the walls and in the familiar “bucket brigade” passed many concrete blocks and buckets of cement. Most importantly though, we worked beside the people of Mellier. Along with the workers, several volunteers from the church joined in the efforts each day… men, women and children. We worked and laughed hard together and in trying to communicate in broken English and Creole we started to build a relationship. Work was not complete when the team departed Mellier, but funds were left so work could
continue for another four days. Because of your generous donation and the contributions of others we were also able to present Principal Patrick with a $4000 donation that will be used to help with teacher salaries.
A comment from one of the teachers put our work on the school into perspective: “It’s good to see the work being done on the school. A beautiful facility has been built to house the chickens for the Hen’s for Haiti Project. It seemed to me that the chickens had a better place to live than the kids had for school.”
See the work and lives changed in our 2019 Haiti Team video.

WHY DO YOU GO THAT FAR TO SERVE?
One week in Haiti can transform the lives of those willing to set aside time and their personal comfort to journey to Haiti to see and love the people they meet.

TEAM JOURNALS & VIDEOS
2018 Team Video of Mellier, Team Journal
2017 Team Journal, Morning has Broken (area of Sobier) video, Sound of the Saints video, with Every Act of Love (community center & water filter distribution) video, & That's How You Change the World (Grace Children's Hospital) video
2015 Team Journal, Video 1 (Overall trip to Haiti), & Video 2 (People and church in
Durocher)
2014 Team Journal, Haiti Trip video
2013 Team Journal, Kings and Queens of Heaven (people and children of Yvon) video, &
Morning Has Broken (area of Yvon) video
2012 Eyes of a Haitian Child (area of Furcy and LaGonave) video
God of This City (area of Furcy and LaGonave) video
Here I Am Lord (area of Furcy and LaGonave) video