Faiths uniting to help Haiti

The earthquake has brought an outpouring of response from religious communities.

McClatchy Newspapers

MIAMI — Like many who lost family during the earthquake in Haiti, Jude Pierre turned to his faith for solace and wanted to find a way to help.

Recently, Pierre, a Christian from Miramar, Fla., found himself among shouts of Arabic prayers as he packed boxes of canned goods in a Miami Gardens, Fla., warehouse, affixing stickers to packages that read “Muslim Americans Help Haiti.”

“I found out through a friend who sent me a link on Facebook,” said Pierre, 21, who attended the Haiti volunteer day headed by local Muslim groups. “It was just another way to help.”

The earthquake has brought an outpouring of response from religious communities. While large-scale efforts among specific denominations have gotten much attention, many smaller faith groups have joined together for relief efforts. Leaders say faith commands them to help and when disaster hits, theological differences go out the door. Those working on relief include Scientologists, who flew a group from Miami to Port-au-Prince last week, and Mormons and Muslims, who have teamed to send supplies.

“Some people think we should only work with our own, but our prophet said to work with all,” said Sofian Abdelaziz Zakkout, head of American Muslims for Emergency and Relief, a North Miami Beach organization that organized Saturday’s effort with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Last week, the national Church of Scientology chartered a 168-seat aircraft from Miami International Airport to Port-au-Prince that carried doctors, Mormon volunteers and Scientology relief workers, including a handful from South Florida.

“No matter what religion, what creed, it’s our duty to help in situations like these,” said Mercedes Alvarez, a Miami Scientologist who helped organize the effort. The flight included “volunteer ministers” who have been using Scientology physical therapy techniques to assist victims, but Alvarez said there were no plans to proselytize.

On Friday, Tony Burns, who serves as an elder in South Florida’s 15,000-member Mormon population, toured a warehouse of 160,000 pounds of tents and supplies his church headquarters in Salt Lake City was delivering from to Haiti via workers from Islamic Relief USA.

“It’s not what you may expect, but good people must come together to alleviate suffering,” said Burns, who said he was interested in teaming with local Muslims to collect donations and goods.

On a smaller level, Beth Torah Jewish schools in Aventura, Fla., are joining this week with Amor en Accion, a Catholic lay group, to collect supplies, from food to medicine, for Haiti.

“I knew help was needed and this was the right resource,” said Kathy Pierre of Miami Lakes, an Amor en Accion member who is Jewish.

The weekend after the earthquake, Rabbi Eliot Pearlson of Temple Menorah on Miami Beach stood in front of the congregation at Church of the Open Door in Liberty City, preaching on the Book of Exodus, relating the suffering of the ancient Israelites to that of Haitians. Already involved in interfaith work, he was scheduled to speak at the church as part of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day activity, but changed his sermon to encourage donations to Haiti through the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

“We look at our brothers and sisters in Haiti,” he said, “and unless we want to be counted among the people who sit and do nothing, you have to work like God did and bring people out of their misery.”