photo by Special to The Outlook

Haitian trip: The Rev. Dick Stark speaks during a previous trip to Haiti.

Church to rebuild Haitian school

By Lea Ann Stewart (Contact) | Alex City Outlook

Published Sunday, January 24, 2010

The Rev. Dick Stark and members of Faith Temple have been involved in various ministries in Haiti since 1994 and hope to return early next month.

Stark or other members of the church have travelled to Haiti four times with two of those trips devoted to planning and constructing a much needed school.

Barely eight years after its completion, the school in Darbonne was totally destroyed by the earthquake last week.

“My heart sank when I heard the news that the school we had built in Darbonne had been destroyed by the earthquake. The building was hardly 8 years old,” Stark said. “The school in Darbonne was a symbol of the compassion of the people at Faith Temple toward the less fortunate.”

The school is part of the New Missions organization, which has provided school uniforms, hot meals and an education to more than 9,000 students since its beginning in 1983. New Missions is centered in the Leogane Plain, between Carrefour and the city of Leogane. Carrefour has been recognized as the epicenter of the quake. Leogane, a city of over 150,000 has lost 90 percent of its buildings.

“Of the more than 70 buildings in the New Missions organization, more than half were destroyed or rendered unusable,” Stark said. “We have put together a team to leave Feb. 6 to go and help and have another planned for March.”

Remarkably, they know of only four students and one teacher from the school that were killed.

The team leaving Feb. 6 is a small initial contingent that includes stark along with a civil engineer and a contractor. They will be conducting assessments of damaged structures to determine whether they need to be torn down or could be repaired. Also they will be involved in erecting temporary housing and temporary schools.

“By building the school in Darbonne we extended not only the reach of education but also the reach of the Gospel since many of those to whom education was now open would also hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Stark said. “We will not rest until we have seen the destroyed school building replaced by another that is as good or better than the last one. For more information or to make a donation, call Stark at Faith Temple at (256) 234-6421. Those that prefer to donate directly can do so to the following address: New Missions, PO Box 2727, Orlando, Fla. 32802-2727.

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