Church groups offer to help

Although the devastation in Haiti is far away from the north country, churches and religious organizations in the area plan to ask members to give money and goods at services this weekend.

According to most officials, it won't take much prodding to get people to donate.

"There's been just a flurry of e-mails, so we can, by this Sunday, have a grass-roots local response," said the Rev. Beth O. Benham, superintendent for the United Methodist Northern Flow District, which includes more than 80 churches from Chateaugay to Pulaski.

"The big push will be this Sunday. We have a couple of warehouses in the U.S. where relief supplies are ready, so they can immediately go out," she said.

Tuesday a magnitude 7 earthquake hit outside the country's capital city of Port-au-Prince. Reports say it was the largest earthquake to hit the country in 200 years, and estimates of the dead and missing range in the tens of thousands.

United Methodist churches in the area will be sending checks to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the Rev. Mrs. Benham said. She said people can donate food as well since the organization stockpiles goods at its Louisiana headquarters.

"It sounds like this is such a disaster it is going to deplete the stockpile," she said.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg is asking all of its parishes to dedicate collections Sunday to the crisis. The Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Ogdensburg will be sending the donated money to the Catholic Relief Services.

Sister Donna M. Franklin, director of Catholic Charities, suggests that no matter where people donate, they donate checks to organizations with which they are familiar to avoid being scammed.

"Goods get stuffed in warehouses, where they can get stolen, et cetera. If they send donations, it bypasses all warehouses and it's a much more effective way of assuring that relief goes right to the people in need," Sister Donna said.

With Haiti being almost 80 percent Roman Catholic, Sister Donna said, the diocese has been very responsive to the crisis.

"We're getting many, many calls from parishes, and in the history of our doing domestic relief, the people of the north country are extremely generous," she said.

Myron D. Andes, interim minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Canton, said the church is having an informational session on the crisis Sunday, and is asking people to send checks to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

"This seems like a big one for people," he said. "Mostly we've had a lively e-mail response. This seems particularly catastrophic as this in our hemisphere and close to our nation."

DONATION CENTERS

■ The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee at P.O. Box 844001, Boston, Mass. 02284

■ Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Ogdensburg at 6866 Route 37, Ogdensburg, N.Y. 13669, with checks as "Haiti Relief"

■ Northern Flow District United Methodist Committee on Relief at P.O. Box 272, Heuvelton, N.Y. 13654