One day last January, my buddy Andy came by the house with a request. He wanted me to design a business card for him. He had been invited back to Catawba College by the Delphi Society to sell more jewelry. He wanted a more professional looking card to give his customers. Andy and I regularly talk about the four orphanages that he and his wife Susan support in India, Ghana and Haiti. They own a fair trade jewelry import business called Chunky Junk, and sell their necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and hair-pins at festivals and craft shows on the weekends. The net profits from the sales go toward supporting their orphanages. The Indian women who make jewelry for them are paid a good daily wage with reasonable hours. Andy invited me to go with him to Catawba College and help out with a jewelry sale. We had a blast! I figure we must have sold $600 worth of jewelry that day. The Delphi’s were very helpful, and donated 100% of their portion of the profits to helping the orphans in Andy’s Haiti orphanage. Of the four orphanages, the one in Haiti is the one most desperately in need of immediate help. Thirty-three orphans live there with no electricity nor access to renewable clean water. Andy told me that he’s having to buy bottled water for them at a cost of $1.00 U.S. a gallon. During the drive home from Salisbury, he and I discussed an easy plan to fix the orphanage’s foremost problems. The idea was simple. We would assemble a group of people with skills in construction, electrical work, and self-sufficiency, to do something extraordinary for these kids who currently have nothing. We would go to Haiti, purchase the items locally and put the team into action to address their most outstanding issues. At the same time we would distribute food to the orphanage and the immediate community surrounding it, while teaching them how to grow their own food at the same time. Our team is now assembled. On Thursday, March 11th, Matt, Merle, and Noah Joyner, Wayne Bummett, Bill Lewis, Andy and I will be going to Haiti to install photovoltaic solar panels on the roof and “Biosand” water filtration systems to provide clean drinking water from their fouled well. We hope to distribute around ½ ton of food. At the same time I will be reviewing the orphanage property for annual and perennial garden locations. At Catawba College and our church’s international missions weekend, Andy and I were able to raise $1000 of the $5000 the team needs to accomplish its mission. The solar panel system’s installed cost is close to $3000. The water filters will total $1000, and will provide water for the orphans with excess water that can be sold locally as an income source. The food costs are also $1000. This leaves the seven of us to raise the additional $4000 between now and March 11th. Here’s where I could use your help. First off, prayer for our team and for the Haitians is vastly appreciated. We are going to a place considered to be the most hopelessly miserable country in the Western world, where 98% of the people don’t have a 5th grade education and the national minimum wage is $2.60 a day. Don’t just pray for the orphans in Quanamithe, but for the entire population. If there are people desperately in need of God’s grace and blessings, it’s the Haitians. I also need your assistance in raising the funds to make the solar panels and water filtration systems possible. I’ve already paid for my personal transportation costs out of pocket, so your donations will go directly to those projects. To best help you easily make a contribution, I have set up a donation page at my business website. http://CatawbaCoops.com/donate.html When you use your Visa, MasterCard, Discover or Amex card, your donated funds are immediately accessible to the team in Haiti, because most of the vendor companies we will be working with also accept these payment methods. However, credit card donations are not tax deductable because they are made directly to our team. North Wake Church has agreed to co-sponsor our mission. You can make tax deductable donations to the church. Please send your check to: North Wake Church, 1212 S. Main Street, Wake Forest, NC 27587. Be sure to put Andy Lepper Haiti Trip in the memo line. If you have any questions about the trip, either Andy or I will be happy to answer them for you. My number is (919) 526-4573 and my email address is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . You can reach Andy at either (919) 671-6766 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . I am amazed at the rapidity with which this trip has come together. I know that, with your assistance, we can accomplish the task at hand and bring a reasonable standard of living to these orphaned children who have only known hunger and hardship to this point in their lives. Help us to help them. Kindest regards, David P. Bissette P.S. If you are interested in learning more about the CAWST Biosand water filter, check out this website: http://www.cawst.org/index.php?id=128. You’ll get to learn about all kinds of cool stuff like schmutzdecke! I don’t know what the literal translation of that word is, but it sure does sound neat.