The gathering was not a celebration but a lamentation marking the one-month anniversary of Haiti’s earthquake — a disaster that many in Haiti believe Brutus predicted. But she thinks her country can rise from its travails.

According to Communications Secretary JoAnne Brown of the SDAC of Boone, the church’s presence is felt throughout the Hispaniola Island. Haiti currently boasts a membership of 300,000 hailing from hundreds of churches nationwide. The church also oversees the operation of 167 hospitals and 450 clinics throughout the country as well as a handful of educational centers.

Some of the missions have operated here for decades, converting generations of Haitians and helping to develop the country, and that has made for some skepticism of the newcomers’ motives and methods.
Dale Winslette, 51, a volunteer with Give Me Shelter Ministries in Shalimar, Fla., which has been providing food and medical and dental care in Haiti for the past four years, said there were many missionaries who were mostly interested in returning to their churches with grand stories of good works.

ADRA expects to feed 10,200 people per day by providing 1,700 food rations. Each ration includes 55 pounds (25 kilograms) of rice and can feed up to six people for several days. As part of the food distribution strategy, only women are being allowed into the distributions sites to receive food. This will help ensure that the food is redistributed equitably among families, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP).