Church members prepare for Haiti trip

Lauren Estes

Hartselle Enquirer

A team of Falkville church members sees a trip to Haiti as much more than a mission trip, they view it as a life-altering journey.

Donna Schrenk said this next trip is planned for May 27-June 3 in which their will have 15-20 people attending and taking part to help the natives of Les Cayes.

“We want to help the folks of Les Cayes, Haiti and Camp Mahanaim,” Schrenk said. “We will take part in running a sports camp for some local village kids in the area. We hope to be able to work with our local missionaries Rod and Deb Wray along with their daughter Katie and bring some much-needed joy back to the area. And we are looking forward to sharing some Jesus with them! We would love to be able to take some special things to them when we go.”

Schrenk said she and her husband and many other members of Fairview-The Grace Place look forward to gathering the materials they plan to ship to Les Cayes and donate to them.

The hurricane that came through Haiti last October basically wiped Les Cayes off the map, along with several other areas,” Schrenk said. “We also look forward to shipping them lots of donated items on a shipping container at some point this year. Last year we did this and it cost us about $1000.00 to ship the items to Les Cayes. The local people there have nothing and we are striving to help make that better. We need the public’s help to get it done.”

Some of the attendee’s for this trip include: Joel and Donna Schrenk, Gail Elledge, Sid and Stran Sawyer, Carla and Bryant Dolan, Alan and Rebecca Summerford, Karly Alexander, Drew Harper, Edna Woodall, Caroline Partlow, Rachel Johnson, Chelsey George, Tabotha Reed, and Schrenk said she’s waiting on the final response of three others.

When asked where Donna’s passion for Haiti and recent interest in mission work came from, she said she felt the calling after reading a book.

“I read a book called ‘Miracle on Voodoo Mountain’ and I immediately felt the call to go to Haiti (the book was about Haiti),” Schrenk said. “I had never felt the call for missions outside of our area. Joel, being a football coach, always has “missions” for us! But the calling was so strong I immediately closed the book and told Joel I was going to Haiti. He told me not to jump so fast. Then he read the book and had the same calling. We tried contacting the girl/organization that wrote that book, but we could never get a response. So we started asking friends of ours that had been on mission trips to Haiti before and Camp Mahanaim was brought up. It is a Sports Camp, so that was right up our alley.”

The area the family selected to visit and give their time too recently suffered tragedy from a hurricane, after getting hit last October. This gave all the members another reason to go back and work again.

“The people there had nothing to begin with, but after the hurricane, the villages are basically non existent,” Schrenk said. “We are diligently trying to raise money for the trip. They requested that we bring items like three crafts for 200 children, tennis shoes, soccer balls, etc. We will also be taking Dum Dum suckers, mini boxes of raisins, handmade diapers, blankets, and other items.”

Some of the main reasons for the fundraisers the team will be holding is because of the shipping costs for the items they are sending the people of Haiti.

 “When we returned last year we did a Haiti Collection Drive,” Schrenk said. “We envisioned collecting enough items to ship to them and transporting it to the sea container in the Falkville football trailer, pulled by Joel’s truck. Instead, we had to hire a semi truck to transport the eight pallets of items that were collected. Those items were shipped and have been distributed to people since the hurricane hit.

We are anticipating and are already collecting things to ship again. They need everything, clothes, shoes, blankets, pillows, literally everything. The cost to ship the items last year cost about $1000.00 by the time we shipped them and sent some things by airmail. This is the reason we have so many fundraisers going on.”

Some of the upcoming fundraisers and events include:

Mon., March 10, at 6 p.m. at Old Town Coffee Shop in Hartselle, we will host a game night (Bunco) that will cost $20 to play.
The dinner, game and prizes will be included in the evening. 

Mon.,March 13, from 4-8 pm at Village Pizza in East Limestone: A portion of the sales for the evening will be donated to our Haiti fund raiser.

Tue., March 21, at 6:30 p.m. Java Jaay in Decatur: Paint Party benefiting Haiti.

Saturday, April 8, all day-Yard Sale/Garage Sale in Falkville and a vendor set up fee of $25 to benefit Haiti. Any sales made will go to the vendor. Donations above the $25 fee are strictly voluntary.

Sat., April 8: Pancake Breakfast/our house 178 West Pike Road

Fri., April 21- Spaghetti Supper at New Life Church

Sat., April 22, Mystery Dinner to benefit Haiti, and we are still working on this project.

Schrenk said they are selling bed sheet sets, Belk Charity Sale tickets for April 29th sale, Papa Murphy’s gift cards, MixedBags.com items, and will have either a Yeti cooler or a Big Green Egg to auction off. 

For more information, or to donate, contact Donna Schrenk at 931-551-6816.