July 23, 2008
Dear Family, Friends & Sponsors:
Greetings of the SUMMER SEASON to you!!! Trust you are all well and enjoying the summer! It has been a while since we wrote to you and as usual there is so much to tell. We hesitated to even write this time of year because we know so many folks are on vacation, but we are trusting this email will find those who it should, so we’ll just get on with it.
School is out for the summer in Haiti and it was a busy successful year. We had about 1600 students in all this past year with 9 schools in 8 villages. The school in Thiotte is just about finished. It is one large room, for church on Sunday, with moveable walls which can divide it into 10 classrooms during the week. We are putting a second floor on the school in Chabin for the first year of High School.
We had bought books for some of our schools last year only to find that they are bringing in a new system in Haiti and we need to turn those in for credit and purchase new books for the next year. Each school will have less books, but the books will be bigger. We are still working out figures as to what all that will cost, but have been assured in the long run it will be cheaper.
We took on a new school this past year called Raymond School. This is a school that a year ago closed its doors because it could no longer afford to stay open. The director and owner of the school sought us out, pleading with us to give them assistance. In faith we took them on, though it was a tough year. When tropical storm Noel hit many of the families in this school and the other schools lost homes, cattle, crops, and loved ones. Some student’s marks reflect this. Their marks started off well, but after the devastation of the hurricane, the marks suffered as the students, their families and teachers struggled to recover from heart wrenching losses.
We have just taken on another school in Basin Bleu, which makes 10 schools in 9 villages and 2300 students by September. WOW, PRAISE THE LORD! What an opportunity to further the Kingdom!
Sometimes people say to us “Wow you are doing a wonderful work there, I could never do anything like that”. We don’t consider this an option. Read Matthew 25:31 to 46, this is Jesus’ words talking about the final judgment. It says he will gather all the nations together and separate them like a shepherd divides the sheep and the goats. The sheep he will put on his right hand and the goats on the left. To the sheep he will say “come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you feed me, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger, I was naked, I was sick, I was in prison etc… and you gave me food, water, took me in, clothed me, ministered to me. It doesn’t say you were hungry and you fed you, it says “I was hungry and you fed Me”. Jesus says doing this unto the “the least of these” is doing it unto Him, and the direct result is… “entering the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”.
Jesus talks about not doing this for “the least of these” and being classified with the goats and going away to “everlasting punishment”. That sounds like life and death stuff to us and sounds like a deciding factor for inheriting the kingdom. It’s pretty easy to decide what to do.
We have been given an opportunity to not just further the Kingdom, but to enter the kingdom. We are totally blessed every day to get to do this. We also give each and every one of you the opportunity to be blessed in this way by helping us in this work. So many of you have answered this call already, we hate to ask for more. We still need your help. We are going to Haiti again in September and need to have about $10,000 raised before we go.
Our funds are down, as this past winter we were not able to raise as much funds as previous years, due to one large storm after another canceling fundraisers. But the need in Haiti still goes on no matter what happens here in Canada. Please pray about this need and consider helping, even the smallest donation can help. Sometimes people say” I can’t give much so I won’t give at all, it will only be a drop in the bucket”, but that is just it. It will be a drop IN the bucket.
PRAYER REQUESTS
Safety as we continue fund raising and preparing to go to Haiti and of course safety once we are there.
Protection for Haiti from further disasters.
Continued provision for all the needs in Haiti.
Continued opportunity to further the Kingdom through ministry to the people of Haiti, and in Canada.
Thanking all of you for your faithful support in Prayer and Financially.
Take care and God Bless
Miles & Rosemary Blair
P.S. Pastor Placide, our right hand man in Haiti, is in Canada from July 16th to 29th he will be speaking this Sunday at the CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF MINTO, 819 Pleasant Drive.
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June 25, 2008
The Daily Gleaner - Heart for children
Published Wednesday June 25th, 2008
Fundraising concert | Rosemary and Miles Blair are holding a fundraising country gospel concert to help raise money to feed and educate the children of Haiti
By LORI GALLAGHER
 Music brought Miles and Rosemary Blair together and now music is one of the ways they help the children of Haiti.
The couple, who run the charitable organization Blair Hope International Inc., are holding a fundraising country gospel concert on Saturday, June 28 at the Salvation Army on St. Mary's Street.
The event, which gets underway at 7 p.m., features the band True Country as well as radio station CJRI's Ross Ingraham as emcee.
Special guests include The Four Friends, Tom and Nancy Donovan, Reid Merritt, Barry Sullivan, Brent Hickey and Keith Young, as well as Miles and Rosemary Blair.
A freewill offering will go to help feed and educate the children of Haiti.
"We've had a lot of concerts over the years and have raised a lot of funds that way," says Rosemary Blair. "We're constantly fundraising." ...
Read the full article at The Daily Gleaner web site.
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