Over a year ago, on January 12, was the earthquake that rocked all of us, grabbed our attention, mobilized us to help.

I remember hearing, on an interview on the Catholics Next Door podcast edition, that it would be important to remember Haiti after the hubbub died down. The bishop they were talking to, in fact, mentioned the one year mark. “Remember Haiti next year,” he said. “They’ll still need help.”

I put a little flag in my mind to include something in the parish bulletin, but I forgot. Thanks to the bulletin announcements from the Diocesan Office of Social Concerns, we did have something in our bulletin, though.

It’s so easy to forget after the drama’s over. We all have busy lives, other concerns, new emergencies that grab our attention.

Heidi Jury, who works for Chalice, contacted me a while back about the continuing needs in Haiti. She asked me to post on Facebook about it, but I thought it warranted more attention than that.

Over at Spirit Singing Soul, Heidi writes:

“It’s the women I remember mostly. After ten years, I still vividly see the eyes of two women at a medical clinic in Haiti holding their babies who were so sick from malnutrition. Your sponsorship helps the children you sponsor but sometimes it is their mothers that feel it the most.” – Fr Patrick Cosgrove

Fifteen years ago, Fr Patrick Cosgrove, the president of Chalice, was watching a sponsorship program on television. As he went to phone them to sponsor a child, he stopped and prayed, “Lord, what I want to do is sponsor a child in the Catholic church.” Two weeks later the phone rang with an opportunity to work with a Catholic sponsorship program named CFCA. Fr Pat worked on the board until he started working on his own in 1996 in the basement of a church rectory. The first year, Chalice (then called Christian Childcare International) sponsored less than 500 children. This year, Chalice helped over 42,000 children and aging and was ranked #1 in the International Aid Category in Moneysense Magazine.

This January, Chalice is remembering the Earthquake that affected Haiti on January 12, 2010.  We continue to remember the people of Haiti and pray for God’s continued blessings and protection over them.

There’s an embedded video and more information there. I’ll be joining them in prayer, and I hope you will too.