Seymour Church Donates to Haiti Relief Effort

By Brooke Stevenson
brooke@seymourherald.com
    A Seymour church is doing its part in helping the Haiti Relief effort.
    The Council of St. Paul Episcopal Church will be sending a special donation to Episcopal Relief and Development (ER-D) to assist in the organizations work in the ravaged Caribbean nation of Haiti.
    On Jan. 12 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit ten miles away and six miles below the capital city of Port-Au0Prince, leaving 300,000 homeless with an official death toll of 70,000 and rising as of Tuesday night.
    Significant aftershocks have also rocked the capital with the strongest registering at 6.1 on Wednesday.
    St. Paul Church Council Treasurer H.E. (Pete) Walburg said that ER-D also felt the effects of the earthquake.
    “They had a church, an orphanage, a hospital and all that kind of stuff in one compound and it was all destroyed,” Walburg said. “So they have to rebuild it and of course the first thing they have to do is get food and water to the people.
    The St. Paul Church Council approved a donation of $200 from the church’s general fund, Father Henry Swann donated $100 from the Clergy Discretionary Fund and church members donated $300 during Sunday’s service, making for a total donation of $600.
    This is no small task considering that St. Paul only has 40 members.
    “We are only a worshiping community, we are not even a parish,” Walburg said. “It went very well.”
    The church also has other causes they had been working on before the earthquake. Members have donated two pigs so people can start their own businesses and they are also collecting money for Malaria Nets for Life.
    “Episcopal Relief and Development is all about healing a hurting world,” Walburg said, “and our intent is to try to make donations to the ER-D Fund to secure that aim of healing a hurting world.
    “Everyone is trying to help out however they can, that is about all you can do.”
    The ER-D will be working with its Haiti contacts in three different phases, Rescue, Relief and Recovery.
    To learn more about ER-D or to donate through the organization go to www.er-d.org.
    To contact St. Paul Episcopal Church either call (865) 577-1255 or email worship@StPaulEpiscopalChurch.org.