I’m going to take a break from blogging about the Legislature and *ahem* other ridiculousness and talk about something close to my heart: Haiti.

The man on the far left in this picture is Pastor Terry Lough of North Pleasants Apostolic Church in St. Marys, W.Va. He is pastor of the church I grew up in all of my life and attended until I moved to Charleston over three weeks ago.

Our church has had a close relationship with Haiti since the early 1980s. Several of my uncles, aunts, and cousins have traveled to Haiti over the years, helped build churches and schools, and have shown compassion to a people who rarely receive it.

Our church’s focus has been the mountain peoples of Haiti. So when the earthquake hit, Pastor Lough knew he had to do something. He had just returned from a trip to Haiti last fall, but the church took up an offering and he made preparations. Other churches connected to ours donated thousands of dollars. With those donations he traveled to the Dominican Republic, joined other pastors, made arrangements to rent a truck, and purchased supplies.

Michael Erb of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel writes a great piece about Pastor Lough’s trip and the sheer amount of supplies he purchased:

The pastors found and rented a 30-foot box truck and a driver to take them and supplies into Petit-Goave. The group purchased about 4,000 pounds of rice, 1,000 pounds of beans, cases of cooking oil, canned meats, crackers, flour, sugar, bottled water and other basic food necessities. Lough said they also managed to secure a diesel generator and diesel fuel, a gasoline-powered generator, a lighting system, tents and tarps for the homeless and a water filtration system.

St. Marys pastor returns mission of mercy in Haiti – NewsandSentinel.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Community Information – Parkersburg News and Sentinel

One interesting story from the trip involves the group bumping into a U.S. official in Port-au-Prince who happened to have a water purifier system and gave it to Pastor Lough. They traded bottled water for a machine that can purify as much water as needed. That is one heck of a deal.

At the base of the mountain is the town of Petit-Goave. The pastors unloaded the supplies and surveyed the damage. Now donations are being gathered and preparations are being made to take work crews to Haiti to help rebuild the schools and churches.

If you’d like to help donate, call North Pleasants Apostolic Church at 304-684-7675. The attention is on Port-au-Prince, but there are other parts of Haiti that need your help, especially the mountain people.

Remember to stay tuned to West Virginia Watchdog for the latest in news from the 2010 West Virginia Legislative Session.

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