Chartiers Hill PC donates greenhouse....

The Chartiers Hill Presbyterian Church of Canonsburg, PA (Presbytery of Washington) is busy constructing a greenhouse!  But this greenhouse is not for their church or the local community - it's being shipped to Haiti to be re-constructed when their group visits in five months.

According to Al Cario, one of the men taking part in the construction, the completed growing structure stands about 15 feet wide, 48 feet long and 8 feet tall. Its purpose is to provide shade from constant sun and protection from insects for young plants.  The greenhouse will be shipped to the New Testament Mission in LaCroix, Haiti.  The mission is operated by Pastor Vaugelas Pierre.  Pierre has spoken at a number of local churches in recent years and several have helped build a medical clinic at New Testament Mission.

The Rev. Don Austin, pastor at Chartiers Hill, said the church is busy financing the project and hopes to hold spaghetti dinners or other fundraisers following Easter "to pay the light bill.  It's not a committee you form, it's a committee that spontaneously came into existence," he said of those working on the mission project. "Everyone who's involved feels very enthusiastic and feels called."

The trip to Haiti is an outgrowth of mission work that began when the remnants of Hurricane Ivan hit the Houston area. The church joined the Interfaith Flood Recovery Team, recruiting church members who had skills to help rebuild damaged homes.

From that effort came a natural progression to trips to the Gulf Coast where those skills were used to help rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.  In April the church will participate in its third missionary trip to Louisiana.  Now the church has branched out into the mission field at Haiti.