Bags of Hope

I'll bet you're like me when you heard about the latest Christchurch Earthquake.
Stunned. Horrified. Sickened.
That's three big earthqakes since September, for those of you in other parts of the world.

Three earthquakes squishing up tonnes of silt liquefaction through lawns and roads and homes.

Three times having to clean it all up.

Three earthquakes toppling homes off cliffs.
Three earthquakes smashing irreplaceable architecture.
Three earthquakes destroying water and sewerage lines to thousands of homes.

Thousands of people using portaloos for nearly a year. Old people. Pregnant women. Little kids.
Thousands of people without running water.

Thousands of people waiting for the verdict on whether their suburbs will be bulldozed leaving them... where?

Thousands of devastated people living in limbo, shaken awake by aftershocks, every tremor reinforcing the insecurity of their lives in the wake of three earthquakes.
One was bad enough.
Two was heartrending, devastating.
But how do you come back from three?
How do you find the heart to do it all over again... and hope that this time is the last time?

I sit here in my safe house with its running water and indoor flush toilet watching the stories every night on TV and feel... helpless.

So when I got an email from a reader asking for my help to share a way to bring hope... of course I jumped at it. Here's her email...

Hey, My name is Kerry aka KezHarry, and im an avid follow of your blog

I was wondering if you could at all help me/us/chch with your blog, we have started an wee project (massive project really) in our church in rangiora, we are only a wee church but one with a big vision and a huge God! so he has set the mandate to bless east chch with 10,000 bags of hope, a huge task when there is only 150-200 of us in our church.

Hope, Faith and Love, we are stepping out in all three and man does chch ever need Hope! recent new reports have been so sad seeing their wearing disposition.

...in the september quake we sent teams of people into kaiapoi area, plus loads of baking etc and worked there with everyone else for a few days.
obviously the feb earthquake effected everyone and we really hit the ground again but this time in full force areas and one of our church members helped set up and organised 'the rangiora earthquake express' which brought food and water via private and army helicopters into the eastern suburbs and sumner, it was the weirdest sight seeing helicopters flying over every 20mins.



We also called our big brothers and sisters in at Hamilton Life [church] and they sent down 35 people to help out, we hired 2 diggers and with heaps of strong backs we shovelled out 45 properties in the east, we also put on public breakfasts in parks which people could come and get a free hot feed. Plus there has been so many individuals doing their bit too.


At every earthquake we have sought God to guild us in what to do and this time around its the bags of hope.


For every earthquake I have felt a bit usless, I was 9 weeks preggy in September, 9 months preggy in feb and now i have a beautiful wee 11 week old boy that needs me, so shovelling hasnt been the way for me, so baking and emailing it is!


...


"Bags of Hope" might not remove the silt or fix the water supply. But it does send a message of solidarity to these stricken families from the rest of us. It says, we haven't forgotten you, we give a damn.
The artwork contained in the bag (in the red and black Canterbury colours) will be a visual reminder of that.

Each cellophane bag will contain:

 A block mounted art piece (with sponsors name and town/city on the back)

 A block of Chocolate

 4+ Coffee/Hot Chocolate sachets

People can sponsor one bag or hundreds. Each bag will cost around $NZ5. A sponsor's name and hometown will be on the back of the artwork so the recipient knows it comes from a person, not just an organisation.

 

Here's how we can help these guys in their mission to give a "Bag of Hope" to 10,000 families in the eastern suburbs of Christchurch...
 
 Visit the Website with all information and links to the Facebook page & Twitter
 Sponsor a bag, or a few. Online donations can be made via this fundraising page
Thanks guys.
♥

Images found on GoogleImage