KENMORE: Kenmore Haitian church collects items to aid in earthquake relief

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February 6, 2010

By Neale Gulley<br><a href="mailto:gulleyn@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Neale</a> The Tonawanda News Sat Feb 06, 2010, 12:44 AM EST

A Kenmore church with an all Haitian congregation was on hand Friday for a fundraising event at Niagara University.

“We were there to answer questions, having been to Haiti, and provide information ...” the church’s Treasurer Steve Hosler said.

Yuvatha Community Church, which meets inside the Kenmore Presbyterian Church on Delaware Avenue, runs two missions and a hospital in Haiti. Hosler grew up in the island nation where his father was a missionary, and said though he and his parishioners here are like everyone else trying to gain access to the country with a crippled transportation infrastructure, as many as a thousand items were collected Friday and will be sent to aid in relief efforts there.

“All of us would like to be in Haiti but can’t be. We decided that we would collect some goods to send to Haiti,” he said. “It was toiletries, snack items, cereal, peanut butter are the main things needed. We were able to collect probably a couple hundred, maybe a thousand items.”

“Hearts for Haiti” was hosted in the school’s Gallagher Center beginning at noon Friday. For Hosler, however, similar efforts are a regular part of the calendar even before the devastating earthquake.

“It has made it a lot easier to raise support and be able to (collect) things to send there,” he said.

The church is part of the greater Church of God, he said. One member, a doctor in Indiana who splits his time in this area, is heading down to the church’s hospital despite having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Hosler said Dr. Vick Binkley has only months to live and will spend at least three weeks of it treating earthquake survivors in the hospital just outside of Port-au-Prince.

“Our hospital is actually seeing a lot of earthquake patients,” Hosler said. “Probably this is his last trip ... He will spend at least three weeks of that time helping out down there and saying good-bye (to friends there). He was able to hitch a ride on a cargo plane.”

At the event Friday, held from noon to 2 p.m., he and colleagues collected items like food and personal hygiene products now in dire need.

The college had urged participants to donate non-perishable food, as well as soap, toothpaste and first-aid items.

Bracelets and baked goods were also being sold to raise money for Haiti. Niagara University’s James McCutcheon helped administer the event.

He can be contacted at jm@niagara.edu.

Contact reporter Neale Gulley at 693-1000, ext. 114.

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