FMSC Meals to Our Haiti GVCM Orphanage

We have wonderful news! Five Oaks is sending a full container of food (272,000 FMSC meals) to the GVCM All God's Children Orphanage outside of Mirebalais, Haiti!! This past March, Feed My Starving Children designated the All God's Children Orphanage as an official food distribution site.  Five Oaks Church will be sponsoring the shipment of one full container of FMSC meals to the orphanage each year. The circle is now complete. We will pack the food at Five Oaks Church during our FMSC events, ship containers to the orphanage, and finally send teams of Five Oakers to help distribute that food to malnourished children in Haiti's Central Plateau. The first container is scheduled to ship May 2016.

A little history and background: Back in 2005, Five Oaks Church began its partnership with Global Vision Citadelle Ministries, led by Pastor Yves Prophete. At the time GVCM was renting some land and a small shack to house orphaned children from the area of Fedja, Haiti. The conditions for the orphans was deplorable. The one room shack served as sleeping quarters, school and pretty much everything else for the kids. We committed helping GVCM acquire land and to building an orphanage building. Here is a photo of the old orphanage:

Between the first building mission in January 2006 and August 2009, when we cut the ribbon of the main orphanage building, over 200 different Five Oakers traveled to the building site in Haiti and gave of their TIME, TALENT & TREASURE to make the orphanage building a reality. Many of those people volunteered several times over several years.  

The mostly complete main orphanage building.

We continued to send building teams for a couple more years building the orphanage wall and support buildings. The All God's Children Orphanage is now a complex of buildings serving newborns to 17 year-olds. There are, as of today, 106 orphans housed there. The orphanage is the main school for 225+ local kids, and a school of 14 deaf orphans was moved to the campus. Five Oaks has since transitioned from sending building teams to sending teaching and evangelism teams. That effort continues to this day. Our next Haiti Mission will be from July 30 - August 6, 2016. Five Oaks Church has also supported the welfare of the children, the orphanage / school operations, and staff with ongoing financial support.  

The All God's Children Orphanage campus.

Approximately 3.5 years ago I started working with Yves Prophete, and various FMSC staff to forge a partnership between FMSC and GVCM. Five Oaks began packing meals with FMSC in 2008 and it seemed like a natural partnership to get those meals to the GVCM orphanage in Haiti. Haiti is the poorest country in our hemisphere and indeed, many FMSC meals go to Haiti. The bulk of those meals, however, go to Port-au-Prince. The orphanage is in Haiti's Central Plateau and we could not find a local distribution point near that area. I will not bore you with the details and red tape, but now that partnership is a reality. With the 272,000 meals the orphanage will receive, we know that the orphans and school children in the area are protected from the recurring famines that sweep through Haiti. The food also gives GVCM pastors and missionaries license to enter villages throughout Haiti to spread the Gospel.  

I consider this development the most important brick we laid since we set out to Impact Haiti back in 2005. The orphans are housed and now we know that they are fed. Glory be to God for orchestrating all of this!!

- Jerry Meras, Director of Outreach

Haiti Child Sponsorship Drive a HUGE Success!

I want to take a moment to send out a gigantic "Thank you!" to all who felt God's calling to care for the orphans of Haiti! These kids truly are the least of these. For the past two weekends we displayed photos of the orphans from the GVCM All God's Children Orphanage just outside Mirebalais, Haiti. We asked our congregation to select an orphans photo and story and to make a financial commitment of $35 a month to provide them with food, clothing, medicine and an education.

So many of you came through in a HUGE way to help provide a future for children growing up in our hemisphere's poorest country. Over the past two weekends we saw 19 orphans gain sponsors! That brings the Five Oaks total to 35 sponsored orphans. We more than doubled the number of kids we are supporting monthly.

These are the things that make a tangible difference in our world. I am so proud to be part of a church that is truly concerned with being the hands and feet of Christ to a hurting world. I am so proud to call Five Oaks my church home!

I want to thank Ron & Lesley Schlegel, our Haiti Impact Coordinators, and Sarah Bowers, who has an incredible hearth for these kids. Sarah provided us with the photos and stories and tracks our GVCM ChildVision sponsorships.

The opportunity to sponsor an orphan in Haiti is always open. Contact Sarah Bowers,  sarah@gvcm.org, and she will answer all your questions, introduce you to your child and set-up your sponsorship.  

Below are some photos of our newest sponsors. We were not able to get pics of all of our sponsors. If I left you out I sincerely apologize. You are all heroes to me.

Psalm 82:3 (NIV) - Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

- Jerry Meras, Director of Outreach

Celebrations and Thanks @ Impact Ministries

Hello Five Oaks,

Last night I met with our Impact Coordinators, and as part of our meeting, we went over all the Impact projects and events that Five Oaks Church has been involved with recently. The list was impressive! I am so thankful that God chose to use me in the position of Missions Pastor for Five Oaks Church. Just thinking about how blessed we have been to bring Christ to so many and to have the privilege to make a differences in people's lives from our quiet little corner of the world.

This is a short list of the events we celebrated:

• Summer Mission to Camp des Cimes in France - My wife, Patti, led her first service team of 8 short-term missionaries to work the Youth English Camp from July 2 - 21.

• Haiti Mission Trip - The Schlegel's led a team of 12 to the All God' Children Orphanage outside of Mirebalais, Haiti. From August 8 -15, they taught Spiritual Gifts, delivered food to local villages and helped grow the church in Central Haiti.  

• Karen Backpack Drive and VBS - This past August, Five Oakers packed 100 + backpacks with school supplies and toys for the children of newly arrived Karen refugees from Burma and Thailand.  The Bryant Small Group also hosted a VBS for the Karen children at the Brittany Apartments in St. Paul.  127 children attended the VBS and 23 made first time decisions.

• Hearts & Hammers - On September 19, a large group of Journeymen, their family and friends got together and rehabbed a home for a couple in need.
  

• Team World Vision - Twin Cities Marathon -This past October 4, Five Oaks once again partnered with TWV to run the TC Marathon and raise money for water projects in Africa. The Metro area TWV teams together raised over $500,000 for clean water. Many of the runners were first time marathoners including our very own Dan Lukas. 

• Feed My Starving Children - Woodbury 4 Million Meals Mega MobilePack - On October 10, from 6:00 - 8:00 pm, over 500 Five Oakers came together to pack meals for FMSC. Together with other volunteers, we packed just over 385,000 meals in a two hour period. That is still a FMSC record for number of meals packed in a single shift. Those meals are now on their way to Haiti and Nicaragua. By Sunday night, Woodbury had come together to pack 4,066,200 meals. That is over 11,000 children who will fed every day for a year!   

- Jerry Meras

2015 Haiti Short-Term Misison Trip

This past August, Five Oaks Church sent 12 short-term missionaries to Haiti to work with our partner Global Vision Citadelle Ministries at the All God's Children Orphanage outside of Mirebalais. We have partnered with GVCM since 2005 and continue to support their efforts to spread the Gospel, care for orphans and grow the church throughout Haiti. 

About Haiti:   

From a historical, cultural, and political standpoint, Haitian people have struggled for survival amidst controversy and opposition. The Lord is making a difference through His Word and His people. There is much more that needs to be done.

• Haiti – the poorest nation in the western hemisphere
• Land size – about the size of the state of Maryland
• Population – 7.6 million
• Most Haitian people live on the margin of social life in inhumane conditions

Below is an update from Haiti Team Leader, Ron Schlegel:   

Haiti Trip Update

A Five Oaks team just returned from another successful trip to All God’s Children Orphanage in Haiti.  Time was spent mentoring the children on Godly traits and helping them learn their spiritual gifts.  The team also worked on small projects at the orphanage and handed out rice and beans while preaching the Gospel to remote areas of the country.  A videographer followed the team to capture all the activities.  If you wish to learn more about this trip, or come on a future one, please write to Haiti@FiveOaksChurch.org.