BEEVILLE, Texas – At 4:30 a.m. on May 13, 2010, the vision of South Texas Children’s Home Ministries (STCHM) to help feed Haitian children and families began the exciting but dangerous process of fulfillment.

Weeks of careful preparation by STCHM and their partners in the Dominican Republic had preceded this moment. STCHM collected donations from many individuals, churches and a school, all eager to help, and sent the funds to Pastor Rudy de la Cruz of Quisqueyana Baptist Church (IBQ) in Santo Domingo. As some of the chaos in Haiti subsided, Pastor Rudy and his staff began the extensive process of paperwork and planning to ensure a successful and safe trip across the border into Haiti. This included several trips into Haiti to assess the situation and connect with churches that would serve as distribution points. Food common to the Haitian diet was purchased, including rice, beans, powdered milk, flour, sugar, oil, dried fish and spicy canned sardines called pica-pica.

Reports of riots and attacks by desperately hungry people in Haiti meant extra precautions had to be made. The supplies were divided into 100 boxes and then sealed and stored under the seats of the bus to make them as inconspicuous as possible. Visas and documents were secured, fees were paid, and permissions were stamped. A government official in Haiti, who was the cousin of the pastor in Bouque, Haiti where the supplies were headed, arranged to meet the team on the border at Jimani to help expedite their crossing. With many praying for their safety, Pastor Rudy, two IBQ members, a Haitian immigrant, and Jean Carlos of TIME Ministries began the five-hour trip to the border.

Trucks and buses were jammed at the border crossing when they arrived. With the help from the pastor’s cousin, and after considerable haggling, the “fees” demanded for the privilege of crossing were negotiated down from $2,500 to less than $600. Driving around other vehicles still in line, their bus was allowed to proceed toward the destination.

Pastor Rudy reported that no amount of reading or watching the news can realistically convey the sad and desperate situation of the Haitian people. As they traveled through the countryside, there appeared to be no evidence of the millions and millions of dollars that have been sent by so many countries to help the Haitian people.

“It was the middle of the day, the time for preparing their main meal, but there was no smoke from charcoal fires. No smells of food in the air. Just hundreds of people walking, milling around, hopeless, hungry,” Pastor Rudy said. “They just stood around or moved slowly and aimlessly from place to place, and no one was working. None of the children seemed to be in school, but they didn’t laugh or play. They just stood, with sad eyes, and hunger stamped on their faces.”

The distribution of food was intended for the families of the Baptist church named Iglesia Tabernaculo de la Trinidad but when the team arrived, over 1,000 people had gathered as word had spread that food supplies might be available. To avoid a riot, the bus was parked a few inches from the church door, and the sealed boxes were passed through a window of the bus and taken directly into the church. The inability to see what was in the boxes was also a deterrent to any possible violence. The church provided a safe haven for the supplies, in spite of the damage it sustained in January’s earthquake. Large cracks in the roof and walls have made it unsafe for worship, and the congregation now meets under tarps strung between tree-branch poles.

After all the boxes were unloaded, the pastor of the Haitian church held a short service and spoke words of encouragement to the gathered crowd. As the crowd disbursed, the team left in the bus so that the pastor could quietly distribute the boxes of food to individual families.

“If the provisions of food from around the world would have been distributed through the churches in Haiti,” Pastor Rudy said, “the churches could have delivered the food to their congregations and communities. The bottleneck that is preventing hungry people from receiving the food could have possibly been alleviated. So much food continues to be stored in huge warehouses and crates, and is even rotting on piers, while so many go hungry.”

Back in the Dominican Republic, Jean Carlos reflected on the trip and the efforts South Texas Children’s Home Ministries, IBQ and TIME had made to help Haiti.

“When I helped fill and load the boxes of food on the bus, I thought, Wow, that’s a lot of stuff. But when we got there, it seemed like a drop in the ocean,” he said. But Jean Carlos concluded, “Mejor hacer algo, que no hacer nada.” Better to have done something, than not to do anything.

“We pray that these provisions will be an encouragement to these Haitian Christians and their pastor,” said Joanna Berry, STCHM’s Vice President of Family Counseling and International Ministry. “We want them to know that God and His people have not forgotten them in their distressing situation.”

South Texas Children’s Home Ministries has been involved in international ministry and humanitarian aid for several years, with much of their work centering in the Santo Domingo area of the Dominican Republic. Mission trips sponsored by STCHM offer many different ministry activities and opportunities for participants. Families are encouraged to go on a mission trip together, and individual adults, couples and adult groups are also welcome. STCHM also provides general residential childcare at campuses in Beeville and Goliad, family counseling services in Corpus Christi and Victoria, and job and life skills training for women through the Christian Women’s Job Corps of Corpus Christi.