ADVENT MISSION PROJECT: BRING LIGHT TO PUERTO RICO
Early on Wednesday, September 20, Hurricane Maria made direct landfall on Puerto Rico, knocking out power to all 3.4 million residents. Two weeks before Maria hit, Puerto Rico was clipped by Hurricane Irma, a storm whose eye passed just north of the island. Irma left 1 million Puerto Ricans without power. By the time Maria hit, 60,000 people still did not have their electricity restored after the damage done by Irma. That means that, as of today, about half of people on the island haven’t had power for more than three months.
Estimates on when power will be restored to Puerto Rico are unreliable and perhaps even unrealistic. For years the electric company on the island hasn’t had the money to invest in modernizing Puerto Rico’s electrical systems. Even without hurricanes, power outages are frequent on the island. Making things worse: There aren’t enough workers to fix the infrastructure.
What’s happened since Maria has been truly catastrophic for Puerto Rico. After enduring the immediate effects of the hurricanes, Puerto Rican residents have continued to suffer in sweltering heat by day, and to sit in pitch darkness at night. People line up at shopping malls, hotels or government buildings just to charge their cell phones.
Just weeks after the hurricane the mayor of San Juan said in a television interview: “I know that leaders aren't supposed to cry and especially not on TV. But we are having a humanitarian crisis here." She was distraught about lives lost in hospitals due to lack of power. Listening to her expression of anguish I felt like crying too. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and numb in the face of such destruction. Sometimes we just tune out. When the number of victims in a disaster rises, our compassion doesn’t always rise with it. I know this is true of me.
From the Gospel of Matthew, we learn that Jesus began his ministry by standing up in his hometown synagogue and reading from the prophet Isaiah. He read: “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” This Advent season, you have the opportunity to
live & love like Jesus
, to take a small step toward our vision of a
world restored with grace & peace
. You have the opportunity to bring light to Puerto Rico.
For our
Advent Mission project
we are collecting monetary donations to purchase and send portable solar light/cell phone charging systems to Puerto Rican families. The system's light will improve living conditions after nightfall, and its cell phone charger will reconnect users to the outside world (as cell towers are being repaired). Maybe you won’t be saving a life, but your contribution will help restore at least a small piece of normalcy amidst the chaos.
The Advent mission project is for everyone, and we especially welcome all children/youth to participate. Children can pick up a mason jar from the table in the Gathering Space, decorate it, and place their donation in it throughout Advent. During all three worship services on December 16 and 17, children are invited to bring forward their mason jars and after giving their donation, they will then be given an LED tea light, along with their mason jar to take home and use it as a luminary. Adults can participate by placing their contribution in the offering at Prince of Peace with Advent Mission Project in the envelope memo line at any time from now until December 17. Donations can also be mailed into POP or can be done
online
. Greeting cards are also available in the Gathering Space to give someone a gift in their honor for Christmas. Take as many cards as you need for your gift giving.
All donations will be used to purchase the lighting/charging systems from the d.light company, a global leader in solar power for off-grid families. Our goal is to raise funds to purchase 150 systems. Each system costs $30, but
we encourage people to donate any amount to help us reach this goal. If you are planning to donate, consider donating by December 10.
We can place an initial order at that time; those lights will be able to be delivered by Christmas! Take a look at the sample system sitting on the table in the Gathering Space. d.light will quickly ship the lighting/charging systems to Puerto Rico and coordinate with on-the-ground partners in Puerto Rico to make sure the systems go where they are most needed.
Together as the body of Christ,
Julie Skare
Community & Global Ministries Council Leader
