C3 Missions International C3 aLIVE 2008 Event

Raises More Than $1.4 Million in One Evening for World Orphans

Funds will provide housing for more than 600 children and

daily life care for 715 orphans for 3 years

Click the picture of Isabelle & Dony below to see MORE photos

Kansas City, Mo. (September 29, 2008) – C3 Missions International marked a milestone Friday evening at The Clubhouse on Baltimore. During a 30-minute giving explosion, the 500-plus attendees of its C3 aLIVE event combined to give more than $1.4 million dollars to help homeless orphans in Haiti and various Africa locations. One hundred percent of all the money raised will go directly to orphan care.

C3 Missions – a non-profit organization barely four years old started by Kansas Citian’s Mike and Beth Fox to care for some of the more than 140 million orphans in the world – focused Friday’s fundraising efforts primarily on orphans in Haiti. The group had already been caring for more than 1,100 orphans in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, before devastating storms hit, including Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike. Those storms wiped out entire communities, killed nearly 200 people, and left thousands of orphaned and abandoned children with nowhere left to go.

C3 Missions staff, along with its key healthcare partner, Leawood, Kansas-based Integral Life Foundation (ILF), made an emergency trip to Gonaives, Haiti on September 5, amidst the devastation of Hanna and then Ike, after learning that 250 orphans in their care were stranded but safe on the second floor of its facility in Gonaives. The rescue team with C3’s Haitian partners made its way through unimaginable odds – including through areas where representatives from the United Nations wouldn’t go – in order to insure the children had food and water, and to provide basic medical care. During the trip, the C3 team took in nearly 500 more orphans who had no one else to care for them.

Photos, video and blogs from that trip can be seen by visiting www.C3Missions.org and going to “The Fox Report.”

“The devastation in Haiti is beyond belief,” said C3 founder Mike Fox who led the recent emergency trip. “The plight of orphaned and abandoned children around the world is beyond belief. These kids face ‘hurricanes’ of all kinds, all brutal, every day. Their situations are beyond our imaginations, but not beyond our ability to help in very immediate and inexpensive ways. We are thrilled by the outpouring of support we witnessed Friday evening. Kansas Citians are incredibly generous and we are blessed that so many of them are stepping up to help us give these children — who are lacking even the basic necessities of life – a much brighter future. The money raised will provide housing for more than 600 orphaned children in Haiti and Africa, and food, clothing, medical care and an education for more than 700 children for 3 full years. This is just a beginning. Imagine the possibilities as thousands more get behind this combined effort.”

“The fact that there are hundreds of orphan children left homeless – many of whom are seriously ill or injured – without food, water, or parents to care for them is a travesty,” said Dan Tasset, chairman of Nueterra Healthcare and founder of ILF. “We are humbled by the generous outpouring of help and concern. We challenge others around the world to follow Kansas City’s example. And we challenge medical professionals to join us as we bring much-needed healthcare to these children.”

Fox explained that Haiti is particularly vulnerable to devastating floods because of its steep hillsides and deforestation. More than 3,000 people in Haiti were washed away during Tropical Storm Jeanne in 2004. He noted that although some of the orphanages built by C3 were left standing following the recent storms, homes for 200 children that were under construction in Gonaives were destroyed in the storms.

C3 Missions had raised over $200,000 for its Haiti Relief Fund prior to the event on Friday, September 26. Together with the additional $1.4 million plus raised Friday evening, C3 will be part of changing the lives of more than 1,000 children in Haiti, alone.

C3 Missions continues to accept donations for its Haiti Relief Fund. People interested in donating can either call 816-536-8333 or donate online through the organization’s website. Visit www.C3Missions.org and click on “Help Today.”

About C3 Missions International:

Founded in 2003, C3 Missions International is a non-profit organization dedicated to the care for orphaned and abandoned children around the world. C3 works with local, indigenous partners to create orphan homes in a “village” model that provides holistic care and support. Mike and Beth Fox founded C3 in 2003 after a modest donation to help support 19 orphaned children in Thailand. Because a foundation has agreed to cover all the organization’s administrative costs, 100 percent of all donations go directly to benefit the children. By 2006, C3 had eight homes in three countries and just over 500 children in care. Today, C3 has more than 2,000 children in care, with another 51 homes under construction and more than 100 in process, spanning 15 nations in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa. For more information, visit www.C3Missions.org.

About Integral Life Foundation:

Integral Life Foundation (ILF) partners with C3 Missions International. Through a growing number of individuals, families, businesses, and other groups interested in healthcare, ILF facilitates the healthcare delivery for children and focuses on orphan prevention (with budding HIV/AIDS initiatives) in key C3 communities. ILF is the vision of Dan Tasset, chairman of Nueterra Healthcare. For more information visit www.integrallifefoundation.com.

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Press and Media Contact:

Peter Wilhelm

816-536-8333 office

PeterWilhelm@c3missions.org

www.C3Missions.org

Click here to see a C3 Phase I (PDF document)

When you give to the C3 Haiti Relief Fund, this gives you an idea of what we’re doing and will continue to do with the money - ALL of it.
 
I need to run now, but I want to leave you with 2 hard core realities of what’s happening.
 
First, as we returned to Haiti, we sent another team.  C3’s healthcare partner, Nueterra/Integral Life, has launched a healthcare strike team.  We have a goup of docs and nurses from Johns Hopkins headed to Gonaives.  They’re arriving in Port au Prince today, and a helicopter will transport them to Gonaives.  Job # 1:  they will triage and treat - as best they can - the 500 new children coming into C3 homes that we need to build in the wake of this disaster.  Then, they’ll help the 250 children already in our homes.  Can you imagine this burden???  When you’re donating to help, we know we must work smart and not allow our efforts to get swallowed by the need.  I believe this is an example of working smart, and it’s still so much!!!  Thank you Nueterra/Integral Life.
 
Second, the toll of this effort has hit DouDou.  Dony and DouDou mobilized the massive effort - consisting of ordinary Haitians suffering themselves - on the ground we and other organizations are using as the pipeline for a lot of aid.  This effort taxed them beyond belief.  DouDou still suffers repercussions from his head injury last year, and takes medications for this.  With the storms, he ran out of medication.  But he kept pressing to help the children and so many families in Gonaives.  On Tuesday, he collapsed, hit his head, and suffered from seizures.  He’s been and remains hospitalized in PAP.  Please keep him in your prayers.
 
El Shaddai taught many of us that Haitian Christians, whenever talking about plans for the future, will always use the following expression at the beginning or end of their thought:  “si Bondye vle.”  This literally means, “if God wants,” or “if God will permit.”
 
We have a decent “system” going to help under the extremely harsh circumstances, and many plans to help.  For all of them:  “si Bondy vle.”
 
Thanks.  And keep spreading the word.

HAITI RELIEF FUND

Faithfully yours,
Joe & Mike
(from Kansas City)

c3-haiti-relief-fund-assessment-p1.pdf

Click here to read the news story and see the television videos

We got food delivered to Gonaive by helicopters today.  There are now more than 1,000 people living in the children’s village in Gonaive.  All, and many more, were fed there today - many for the first time since Hannah hit.  Our children are doing well.  They have food.  Dony is keeping them inside for the most part to try and keep them safe.

We have 2 trucks with a combined total of about 13,000 lbs of food.  Cross Int’l filled one truck (a huge “thanks” to Cross).  Mission of Hope filled the other.  You’ve read about how Gonaive aid is cut off by ground from all directions.  That’s not true if you equip partners as motivated and selfless as Dony and Louis St. Germain, DouDou, and the entire ESMI team.  Here’s what they’ve organized to get food trucks to Gonaive.  Step 1:  load truck at Mission of Hope near PAP.  Step 2:  drive it about an hour to a town where the bridge is washed out, and stop.  Step 3:  organize a “box brigade” of workers who move the boxes across the river into Vehicle # 2, an empty bus on the other side.  Step 4:  drive bus to area near Gonaive where there’s a large lake blocking the way.  Step 5:  drive off the road and around the perimeter of the lake to an area where the lake is crossable by foot.  Step 5:  mobilize another “box brigade” and transfer the food from the bus to Vehicle # 3, a truck on the other side.  Step 6:  drive the truck into the children’s village.  Step 7:  distribute the food.

If all goes well, this system will deliver about 68,000 lbs of food to Gonaive this week.

Here were a couple of highlights of the day…

1.  Bringing in the children from Caberet I told you about yesterday.  We got mattresses for them.  I don’t think they have any idea what’s going on, other than they know it’s really, really good.  They’ve gone from narrowly escaping death as the river raged through their homes, to homelessness (again), to a hot meal and a new place to live and learn they never imagined possible - all in a span of about 36 hours.

2.  While the children were walking, single file and ever so quietly, through a muddy field to get into vehicles to take them to their new homes, one of the helicopters full of food raced overhead towards Gonaives.  That may not seem like much of an image to you, but to us, amidst this mess in Haiti, this image melts our hearts.

3.  In addition to getting the food aid flowing, we managed to secure a water purification product developed by the CDC. This product will purify filthy water to about 95% pure - very drinkable.  We got enough to clean about 7 million liters of water.  We sent some ahead by helicopter.  The bulk of the rest will be headed to Gonaives via the trucks.

Here are a couple thoughts before getting a little sleep…

1.  We still have a lot of work to do to get ample food to our children and the communities where they live.

2.  We have a LOT more children’s homes to build, and we want to do so quickly.  There are another 300-400 children in the Gonaives children’s village who have no care whatsoever.  That’s in addition to the 250 currently in our homes and the 200 who were waiting for their homes before those homes under construction got wiped out.  And this isn’t scratching the surface.  If we had the resources to build homes as needed in the higher ground near our village, we could have 2,000 plus children there in a flash.  In fact, we plan to do exactly that.  We want to take care of these children, and not wait around to do so.

Please, keep spreading the word and giving to the C3 Haiti Relief Fund.

By the way, I forwarded some pics from Caberet.  If they’re not attached, you’ll get them soon.

Caberet, Gonaives and other footage on the way…

Faithfully yours,
Joe & Mike

Let’s start with great news:  the kids in the south are fine.  They’ll need more food this week.  We’ll get that to them, no problems expected.

As you know from reading the news, Gonaives is essentially cut off from receiving aid.  The 250 children in our children’s village with El Shaddai are fine, and the village is largely dry - one of the few dry places in the Gonaives area.  The village has really turned into a shelter for starving people who know about the village and have faith that they will be fed if they can make it there.  They’re sleeping in the school, the medical clinic, etc…  It’s significant that these people turned to a village for orphans for help, as these children are often discarded and deemed worthless in the streets.  Dony took $10,000 to Gonaives yesterday (Saturday) and purchased all the food he could find at obviously exorbitant prices.  We’re using that food to feed all the children in the village and the countless others who’ve come as our guests.  That food and the water we had stored there should last through Monday.

I assure you that the death toll in Gonaives is MUCH higher than reported, and worsening by the day.  Scores and scores of children have either lost or cannot find their parents or family.  Some people in Gonaives paraded about 300 children into our village yesterday, because they had no one caring for them.  We have nowhere for them to sleep.  Dony and DouDou tried to find them temporary shelter, and asked the adults who brought them to bring the children back on Monday for food (expecting more food will arrive). In all likelihood, we’ll end up taking in these 300 in addition to the 200 for whom we were building homes (before Hannah wiped them out).

We had 2 helicopters booked on Saturday to fly food into Gonaives, and had a distribution network set.  The helicopter pilots couldn’t fly because of the onset of Hurricane Ike.  No helicopters.  No food.

We then tracked down a fishing boat with a willing captain that had capacity to haul about 2,000 pounds of food and 2 passengers.  As soon as we located him and he agreed to let us load the boat and make a run, Hurricane Ike stopped that.  No boat.  No food.

We then devised a plan last night to try and truck food and water into Gonaives via a very circuitous route - about a 16 hour round trip.  We went to bed comfortable that this plan could work.  At least it was worth a shot.  Dony and DouDou were ready to get up early and prepare to go.

Then, in the middle of the night, Hurricane Ike kicked our butts.  We’re staying at Mission of Hope with Brad Johnson in Titanyen (just north of Port au Prince).  MOH, C3, El Shaddai, Cross International, and others are pulling together to deliver aid, and we’re QBing the effort with Dony and Brad from MOH.  At about 2 a.m. or so, we got pounded.  Huge rains.  Huge rains.  When we got up, the weather was relatively calm.  Then we immediately learned about Caberet.

Caberet is about 5 miles north of MOH.  MOH has been working in that community for years.  On Saturday, Caberet was bone dry.  During the middle of the night, a new river formed from the mountains and railroaded through the heart of Caberet.  The river took out many homes and families, and ripped right over the town bridge.  I can’t begin to describe the wide and powerful swath that the river cut through Caberet.  I see that the news is reporting 48 people dead there.  It’s more.  Here’s why I say that.  We went there this evening to visit a makeshift home for about 100 orphans that was right in harm’s way.  While we were there, a man and woman carried there dead, mud-caked, 2 year old boy right past Alan.  They used an empty rice bag as the stretcher to carry his little body.  I can’t imagine how many more little children just washed away.

The 100 children in the homes by the river had their homes destroyed.  Thank God, they heard the increasing volume of the water rush and every single one of them got out and up a hill into a church just before the little they had in this world succumbed to the muddy rush.  When we went to see them, they started singing and praising God.  They sang the entire time - singing and smiling.  Some of the children are sick.  They can’t live in a muddy, open air, rickety structure on the top of a hill with just a little food left.  And they don’t have homes to go back to.  So, we made a real easy decision.  We’re finishing up some homes with MOH.  MIke and I talked to Brad and in about 30 seconds decided that tomorrow every one of those children are coming to their new homes with C3 and MOH.  Every one.  We’ll figure out what to do next after they get here.  Thanks so much to Brad for his heart and for saying “yes” to bringing these children in with no hesitation.  In a 48 hour stretch those children are going to have seen their lives destroyed, and then receive the blessing of their lives - homes they never imagined possible, education beyond their dreams, and the Body of Christ to hold their hands every day in the process.

Back to Gonaives…

Remember, we devised a plan to truck in food and water via a 16 hour round trip route.  Ike washed that plan away with the town of Caberet.  There’s a key bridge on that long route.  Washed out.

We loaded up a truck with about 5,000 pounds, anyway.  Dony and DouDou determined to take the food as far as the Lord would allow.  They got all the way to the outskirts of Gonaives, where a lake of deep water cut off Gonaives from the rest of this wrecked country.  They could go no farther.  There they found around 800 people camped out in and around the lake.  They hadn’t eaten in about 4 days.  Dony fed them all.

Now, as I write this update at around 8:30 on Sunday night, Dony and DouDou are just starting back to Titanyen with the rest of a truckload of food that simply couldn’t be delivered a few miles away, where a couple hundred thousand people are starving.  They’ll get back here early in the morning.

So tomorrow’s another day.  And we’re convinced it will be a good one.  We remain optimistic and trusting in the Lord.

We have the helicopters booked again for tomorrow.  As I’m writing this on Sunday night, the winds from Ike still howl.  The radar tells us there’s a good chance that the weather will be calm enough to fly.  And the pilots, feeling horrible about not flying on Saturday, seem bound and determined to fly.  We plan to start flying food into Gonaives at around 8 a.m.  We should be able to deliver about 15,000 pounds.  We’ll deliver about half of that to our village in Gonaives (which will be secured and safe for landing) and the other half to the UN compound (which will be the other secure place to land).

We will also run many thousands of pounds of food by truck, as soon as the water around Gonaives goes down enough to pass.  That could be tomorrow afternoon.  Maybe Tuesday.  You can see why getting the food and water in by helicopters on Monday is so critical.

Please pray that the winds die down to make these flights possible.  The situation is desparate.

You know what’s hard to believe?  Why in the world are we the ones flying in aid?  Why not the UN?  Why not many other organizations who specialize in disaster relief?  You’d think a bunch of others are providing needed relief, right?  That’s why sometimes we’re all so lax in responding when stuff like this happens.  I’ve been guilty of that.  Well, let me tell you, not a lot of anything is happening in Gonaives.  In order to make sure our kids are cared for and fed, we end up at the forefront of providing more widespread disaster relief just because we’re willing.  I’m not looking for kudos.  To the contrary.  I’m appalled at this.  But, I’ll tell you one thing…  If the Lord can use C3 and its partners and the villages we place to help in disaster relief, then we’ll accept that challenge.  This situation is unacceptable.

Thank God for Dony, Louis, DouDou and El Shaddai.  They have gone to amazing lengths to love and care for the people of Gonaives. They’re right in there with them, and they’re quite literally risking their lives to deliver help to them.  And thanks to Brad Johnson and MOH.  They are providing essential food supplies and selfless support to this effort.  And thanks to so many who have responded to give.

In closing, we can use your help.  We need more resources.  Please give to the Haiti Relief Fund.  We have to get through disaster mitigation mode.  That is costing a lot and will cost a lot more.  And when that’s over, it is CRITICAL that we immediately rebuild and expand to take care of so many who’ve lost their parents or have been abandoned in the chaos.  Our current village ended up handling the water well, because it’s on higher ground just outside of Gonaives.  The water that was there was not there during Jeanne, and simply speaks to how extreme this situation was.  We plan to plant another children’s village in Gonaives, right away.  We plan to implement a disaster relief protocol for Gonaives (not just our children) in the new village.  We’ll use a village for children orphaned by a flood to help prevent more orphans and more death in the future.

That’s it for tonight.

I’ll try and send you some pictures of Caberet.

Faithfully yours,

Joe and Mike

(From Haiti)

The good news is that the 250 children in the Gonaives village are fine and have some food and water for a few days.  We don’t know about the other 200.  The bad news is that Hurricane Ike is preventing the helicopters from flying in the aid drop we’re doing with El Shaddai and Mission of Hope and the Hatian Gov’t.  We can’t start the process until the weather clears in Gonaives - late Sunday at the earliest, and most likely Monday.

We’ll keep you posted.
Joe & Mike

(From Haiti)

The kids in the south have endured much but seem to be safe.

Gonaives is a mess.  BUT, the 250 orphans in our children’s village are ok.  In fact, the water has receded in the village such that the grounds of the children once discarded in this country will become a staging ground for a large relief effort tomorrow (Saturday).  Through the help of Ed Barber, one of C3’s key players in Atlanta, we secured 2 helicopters on Friday.  Dony and Louis and 140 pastors they’ve trained have set the children’s village as a staging ground for (a) relief to our children in Gonaives - 400 of them; and (b) relief to the 300,000 in Gonaives suffering so miserably.  It’s brutal.  Right now, I think it’s fair to say that the most miserable place on earth for a human being to “live” is Gonaives, Haiti.  We’ve secured a huge supply of food and water.  Virtually the entire population of Gonaives have gone without food and water for over 2 days.  We’ll start running about 2,000 lbs. of food and water every hour tomorrow.  I figure we’ll be able to get in 14,000 lbs. plus before dark, God willing.  That will shore up our kids and provide sustaining, life saving relief for thousands others.  The biggest threat to this effort is that the people there are so desperate that they rioting is a real possibility.  These people aren’t animals.  They’re just hungry.  They have children to feed.  What in the heck would you do if you saw a shot at a meal in that situation?  You get that point.  It’s our understanding that the local police and U.N. will secure the perimeter of the children’s village to allow us to stage the relief effort.  A top gov’t official will be working with us in this relief effort, and we’re hoping that seeing what a little weenie organization like C3 can do frustrated by inaction will motivate other “emergency responders” to get off their butts and get some food and water in there.

Time and circumstances permitting, we’ll fly to the south just to check on all of our kids there and take them a load of food. No guarantees.  We’ll just have to see what happens.

Thanks to El Shaddai.  Dony and Louis have mobilized an army for this relief effort.  Their local leadership inspires.

Thanks to Mission of Hope in Titanyen.  MOH, a C3 partner with 16 homes just about finished and full, is providing the food and water and a heck of a lot of logistical support.

Dan Tasset and the Nueterra crew, thanks.  We asked you to get us to Atlanta and, Dan, we asked you last minute to drop what you’re doing and come along to help get the logistics arranged.  You didn’t hedge.  We’re humbled.

Ed Barber, thanks, bud.  For you C3ers, Ed, John Larimer and their crew in Atlanta are really on the start of C3 Atlanta.  Ed stepped up huge.  He got the choppers arranged and got us from Atlanta to the Dominican Republic to meet the choppers to get to Haiti in the morning.  Ed, I wish you were here to watch this unfold.

Enough accolades.  Friday’s a big day.  Please pray for us.  We’re in way over our heads, which is exactly where God wants us to be.

Sorry I don’t have time to report more.  I probably won’t have time to update you until Sunday.

Prayer is good.  Please give, too.  We need to rebuild and we have a HUGE number of children who’ll be orphaned or abandoned because of these storms.  We need to meet this test.

C3 Haiti Relief Fund

God’s in control.  The glory for what will happen tomorrow is His - 100%.

Faithfully yours,

Joe & Mike
from Dominican Republic

We understand that there may be a one day window of opportunity to get aid into Gonaives before the onset of Hurricane Ike.  Tomorrow is that day.  And tomorrow is the day that we are targeting for a significant push for relief when we have Dony inside of the children’s village to help identify creative ways by which we can deliver relief.

Please continue to pray with us.  We will keep you posted.

Faithfully yours,
Joe Knittig
Executive Director, C3 Missions

View BBC Video: Haiti facing storm ‘catastrophe’ (Click here)

C3 Missions International Establishes Relief Fund or Orphans in Haiti
Locally-based organization hopes Kansas City community can help

Kansas City, Mo. (September 3, 2008) – C3 Missions International has established a relief fund for the more than 1,100 orphans it cares for in Haiti.  Torrential rain resulting from Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna has washed away area roads and bridges, stranding the children and making delivery of food and water difficult.

The C3 Missions staff has learned that about 250 orphans are stranded but safe on the second floor of its facility in Gonaives. Another 200 who are waiting for C3 homes in Gonaives are staying safely with pastors and church families. The children in the town of Les Cayes are also safe but the condition of about 360 children in outlying areas is unknown.

According to news reports, the country has lost more than 100 lives to mudslides and flooding since mid-August.  In addition to the devastation from Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna, Tropical Storms Ike and Josephine also pose threats to Haiti. The country is particularly vulnerable to devastating floods because of its steep hillsides and deforestation.  More than 3,000 people in Haiti were washed away during Tropical Storm Jeanne in 2004.

Representatives of C3 Missions hope the money raised from a relief effort will help them secure and distribute ample food and water to and provide shelter for the orphans in its care and many more orphaned children in these areas. Mike Fox, co-founder of C3 Missions with his wife Beth, said, “Our kids in Haiti are stranded and we need to help them quickly. We know it will take significant dollars and volunteer hours to respond. Homes for 200 children in Gonaives that were under construction have apparently been destroyed. In the coming days, we’re bracing for the full measure of the relief and recovery needed. We hope people in the community will step up to help us.”

Those interested in donating to the C3 Missions International Haiti Relief Fund can either call 816-536-8333 or donate online through the organization’s website. Visit www.C3Missions.org and click on “Help Today.”

About C3 Missions International
Founded in 2003, C3 Missions International is a non-profit organization
dedicated to the care for orphaned and abandoned children around the world. C3 works with local, indigenous partners to create orphan homes in a “village” model that provides holistic care and support. Mike and Beth Fox founded C3 in 2003 after a modest donation to help support 19 orphaned children in Thailand.  By 2006, C3 had eight homes in three countries and just over 500 children in care. Today, C3 has 37 homes and helps care for more than 1,500 children, with another 51 homes under construction and more than 100 in process, spanning 15 nations in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.

Press and Media Contact:
Peter Wilhelm
PeterWilhelm@c3missions.org

816-536-8333
www.C3Missions.org
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