Thousands of Haitians who literally didn’t know where their next meals were coming from can now take a deep breath. YWAM workers in St. Marc, Haiti raised funds to run a hot meals program for the next few weeks, giving victims of the August 29 tropical storm time to get their lives back together.

On Thursday alone, some 1,075 people were registered to receive a daily hot meal for the next few weeks, while additional pledges continue to pour in for many more, according to Terry Snow, YWAM Haiti director. All of the victims being served these meals either lost their homes or can’t yet return to them due to the severity of the damage. The strategy is simple: identify those who sustained great losses during the flooding, provide them with daily meal vouchers, then use only local vendors so that the local economy can begin churning back to life.

“The vendors are very pleased with the success and the people are very satisfied with the food,” Snow said. “People are praising God, happy and thankful.”

YWAM workers, themselves still digging out of feet of mud at their various centers in Haiti, have thrown themselves into the recovery effort. In addition to the hot meals program, they’re also distributing family food packs. Each pack costs $45 and contains 30 lbs. of rice, 10 lbs. of beans, five lbs. of corn meal, two packs of spaghetti, four cans of sardines and 12 oz. of cooking oil, “a good supply to get them restarted,” he said. The YWAM team will also send 125 family packs to an area so devastated that it is still not accessible by vehicles. Meanwhile, YWAM staff are drying out office papers using tables with fans and transporting 10 truck loads of mud per day from their property.

If you would like to give to the "Hot Meals" or "Family Packs of Food' projects or to any other hurricane relief efforts in Haiti, please make your US Check payable to YWAM Haiti and mail to YWAM Haiti , PO Box 236, Akron, PA 17501. If you would like to send a team to assist in the relief effort, please contact hurricane_assist2008@ywamhaiti.org. To view updated videos of relief progress, please visit www.ywamhaiti.org.