Provision

Yesterday Nicolette gave a beautiful talk at Grace giving the details of the provision of supplies for Haiti. Here is my furiously noted transcript:

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Nicolette takes the stage nervously. I immediately recognize her lithe frame and funky black glasses. Nicolette is a Shands Neurological ICU (Intensive Care) nurse. She spends her days with some of the most heart-wrenching patients in the hospital, so when she says that her mission trip to Haiti last year with Ed Lockett really touched her heart, she says its from the perspective of one who has already seen much suffering. As Haitian politician and intellectual Georges Anglade once said "If we can just move Haiti from misery to poverty, we'll have done a lot."

The experience really touched Nicolette's heart and since then she has felt a strong connection to the "Island of Contrasts." So when the earthquake hit on January the 12th, she didn't even consider whether or not to sign up with her home church, Grace United Methodist, to volunteer in whatever way she could. The magic letters RN -registered nurse - behind her name brought her to the attention of the World Missions staff and it wasn't long before she found herself with the title of Medical Coordinator and in charge of securing donations of supplies -- and no idea what to do about it. But as Pastor Denny pointed out, "God doesn't call the equipped, like the stuttering Moses, he equips those He calls."

Not really expecting much, Nicolette asked her boss if she could put a box in the staff room to collect donations. A friend offered to go down to Supply and Distribution Services - a floor something like a library of racks and racks of medical supplies and department in its own right - to ask if they could have a cardboard box for donations.

"What for?" asked one of the workers.

"We're collecting supplies for Haiti."

"Oh, I think I have something for you. Meet me at 10:00 tomorrow at the loading dock with 2 vans."

Nicolette could hardly believe her ears. The next day she would hardly believe her eyes.

"From here on over is for you, for free." The supplier gestured to an entire wall of boxes - easily a semi-truck's worth of materials.

Nicolette clearly couldn't take it all, so she began furiously sorting. Gangrene and crushing wounds were most common so that would mean priority on bandages, antibiotics and IV fluids.

"Oh hey, I've got a man over there, Mr. Turner, who wants to help you." Nicolette looked over to see a semi-truck pulling up. "He says that if you box it he'll load and move it."

"Wow, we could certainly use it, but I'm not sure that we have space for all of this stuff."

"Yea, I understand. But he says he'll donate the use of his warehouse too."

Later she would realize that they needed a fork life and dock plate as well, and Mr. Turner would go on to gladly donate not only those items but 5 days of his services as almost 100 volunteers from both Grace at Forth Worth - a predominately white church - and Passage Church - a predominately black church with a large Haitian population came together to organize the supplies for the workers in Haiti. 21 pallets of rice and beans from these churches, another two semi-trucks of medical supplies and labeled simply "third world" were also donated by Mr. Turner and his wife who had been collecting them through the years for just such a time as this. All of these materials would be boxed into 20 foot containers to be shipped by barge to those who found themselves so desperately in need of compassion and grace.

After even just the use of his truck, Nicolette and Grace church would have been thrilled to promote the generosity of Mr. Turner and A1 Shipping - his personal business. But he was adamant that he wanted no form of recognition. In fact, I only found out his name and that he owned a business by interrogating another volunteer after the fact.

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¹"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

²"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:1-4