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HAMPERS FOR GRENADA
The Christmas
cakes were loaded last of all. The hampers will be taken to
Grenada on fishing boats, the same way aid was sent to the island in
Hurricane Ivan's wake.
(Photo: Laura Ann Phillips.)
Christmas in Grenada will take on a very different face this year, but
Living Water Community, Barbados, (LWCB) hopes to make it a cheerful one for
some Grenadians.
By
Christmas Eve, fifty Grenville families will receive the gift of
well-stocked hampers from Living Water's Barbados Community. Businessmen
Peter Hoyos and Jonathan Morgan, both of whom coordinated the transport of
LWCB relief supplies to Grenada following Hurricane Ivan last September,
will again look after getting the hampers to the still-struggling island.
Missionaries from the Eternal Light Community, stationed at Mount St Ervan
Retreat Centre, Grenville, will look after distribution.
Living
Water's joint restoration team of members and volunteers from the Trinidad
and Barbados communities were based at the retreat centre during the weeks
following the hurricane's onslaught. While there, they conducted a survey of
200 families in the area, and the Barbados community committed to providing
Christmas hampers for 50 of those families and individuals.
"In the
time we spent in Grenada, we developed a kind of family connection; that's
why we wanted to do this hamper project," said LWCıs Barbados Mission
leader, Rosemary Scott.
"It's
not just names on a list; it's like they are part of our family. So, we hope
that the hampers will not be seen just as food and goodies, but our love and
concern for our new family and for their well-being."
The
Barbados branch of the new "family" shared the responsibility of collecting
for and packing the Grenada-bound hampers. Some community members drafted
the assistance of their relatives and friends and assembled hampers
themselves. Others chose to help compile those hampers which were
unassigned. Day by day, teams of volunteers - including members of Living
Waterıs youth group - packed hampers and wrapped donated toys at the
communityıs small storage area.
"We can
never express our thanks for the tremendous outpouring of generosity we have
seen for the people of Grenada in the last few months," said Scott. "When we
took on the responsibility of the hampers, we could never have imagined how
people would have responded. It's impossible to call names because there are
so many we donıt even know; they just heard about the project and
contributed.
"Whether they provided just a few items or entire hampers or Christmas
cakes, all came from the generosity of people, and we just want to say a big
thanks!"
(by Laura Ann Phillip - LWC Member, Barbados - Dec 2004)
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