When something is broken, someone must help. We call these “someones” Plywood People. These people cover windows, mend fences, and patch holes when no one else is around. They care for the poor, hurting, orphans, widows, and injustices. They are forced to innovate in the midst of chaos and see beauty in the broken. They are entrepreneurial as a means to cope with suffering. Plywood People are those everyday heroes fighting injustice and restoring their communities.
This defines Beverly Maier. While earning an income working for an insurance company full-time and being a grandmother, Beverly also pastors Calvary Free Methodist Church, a Haitian congregation in Lansing, Michigan. A little over a year ago, she took her first three week trip to Haiti, taking some money and a few supplies towards education and building needs for those in the southern part of Haiti. Her words upon return: “No electricity, no running water, no television, magazines, newspapers, computer and no brain clutter while in Haiti has had an enormous impact on me. Do I cry for Haiti? Truth is I cry more for us now. I am changed.” Just last week, she took her second trip with 2 college students. They left Haiti less than 4 hours before the earthquake hit:
“This time, upon arriving in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, there was something different in the air. Absent directly outside the airport were the throngs of begging, hungry children and men and women. Present was a very strong sense of peace and a spirit of hope in the faces of those who apparently were there to greet the arriving passengers. Upon leaving to go back to Michigan, while tired and hungry, we were filled with joy over the accomplishments and experiences we had during the last eight days, anxious to share with others back home the defining moments of our trip to the south of Haiti.
As we sat awaiting our flight, we playfully conspired made-up stories we could share about how Erik skinned his leg, and how I cut my finger and how both Susie and I got bruises. We plotted tall tales of kidnappings and heroics that never happened as explanations, each time the tales becoming more refined. We were also bringing back a passion for the Haitian people we had come to know and love.
As we boarded to come home, it was 85 degrees and sunny. Not a sign of what was to come. Boarding was different than it was last year, only a short time after the hurricanes. This time, we boarded from the second floor of the airport rather than the ground floor and rather than walking the tarmac to the plane, we walked through the mobile, covered bridge from the terminal to the plane. People were orderly and the conversations among the people appeared to be pleasant and light.
As I sat on the plane waiting to take off and during the often turbulent flight home, I was filled with love for my Haitians from my congregation back home. I missed them and was anxious to get back to see them. I was filled with pride for them as I thought of the struggles it took for many of them to come to the U.S. and to learn the language and become employed and educated, and how almost all of them were supporting families there and also supporting family members still in Haiti. I spent time thinking of how our relationships had grown so close during the last five and a half years when I first met them. I thanked God often in prayer as I sat for blessing me as their pastor and friend and making me a part of each of their families. All was well with my soul.
Then shortly after our 90-minute flight ended, our lives were forever changed. Sitting in the terminal at Miami, not too long after our arrival came the startling “Breaking News” that Haiti had been struck by a devastating earthquake, followed by one earthquake after another, and many, many aftershocks. I grieved and mourned even before the truth could be revealed about whether our Haitian families in and around the quake area were spared. I knew that not one of our Haitian families back home could say none of their family members were even close to Port-au-Prince. The wait would be long and hard. I needed the time between flights and the long ride home to think and to pray and to beg and to plead with God, who I knew without a doubt was with us and with them. The thought kept recurring that Haiti had been crying out for decades for help and it seemed few cared. Now the whole world was listening and even more importantly, they were responding. That is my hope.”
Beverly and her church gathered Wednesday evening for prayer and to support one another. They immediately decided that they did not want to sit around and wait. They want to raise funds and they want to find an organization they can connect with to go to Haiti and help in the rescue and recovery. They encourage you to give to established organizations who are working to assist and restore Haiti. You may also give through their church: Calvary Free Methodist Church, 820 N. Washington Ave., Lansing, MI 48906. Designate Haitian Mission Fund and 100% of your money will go towards Haiti relief.
