RAY AND WORLD YOUTH SERVED NEED YOUR HELP!

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Dear Family, Dear Friends,

I am writing this letter to all of you with a very heavy heart. 

But this heart is filled with equal parts sadness and shame.

I am now humbly seeking the help of 160 churches in Georgia to each make a contribution of $250 towards the post-Hurricane Matthew relief efforts in the Jérémie area. 

On a random Saturday or Sunday, it’s only $5 per worshiper in a congregation of 50 people.  The $40,000 will go mostly towards food and antibiotics to fight cholera, with anything left for the support of schools in the area.

If you didn’t know, the Republic of Haiti is the ONLY nation of freed slaves in the world.  We fought, we bled, we died for our freedom in 1804.  And when we said “never again”, the rest of the world abandoned us.  And we responded loudly, proudly, “so be it”.  The result of our pride is that we were left alone on a beautiful island, with no literacy, no vision to govern, no recognition of our freedom.  Over 200 years later, we have now become the poorest country in the Northern Hemisphere.

But for all these 200 years and more, we never cared.  We had our country, our freedom, our pristine beaches, our sweet Barbancourt Rhum, and we didn’t care.  We would never ask for help, and whomever tried to force us into conformity, we would brandish our sharp machetes and scream, “come take this machete if you can, koupe tèt boule kay!”.  It is this proud fire burning in my belly that made me shrug after the 2010 earthquake that killed over 300 Haitians and think that we’ve been through worse.

But the bad luck continues…  Hurricane Matthew leveled the southwestern city of Jérémie, Haiti, displacing 80,000 to 120,000 poor souls, most of whom had fled to the city after the 2010 earthquake.  And for the last nine months, they have struggled mightily with lack of water, food, clothing, as well as a restart of the cholera epidemic.  Forgive them if they don’t ask, for they are proud.  But as I now have the shame of need, I will ask for them.

I am Claude-Raymond René, a first generation Haitian-American, proud son Jean Raymond of Jérémie, proud grandson of Jean Antoine of Jérémie, a child of freed Haitian slaves, a child of The Republic of Haiti.  I humbly, shamefully ask for your help in restoring my pride.

With Commitment, With Compassion, With Character,
Ray Rene
Vice-President, World Youth Served, Inc.
A 501c(3) Corporation