The following is a letter being sent to all those who contributed to the Grenada project. Once I wrangle all the email and home addresses, you’ll get your own special copy:

I wanted to write to all of you to thank you for the donations you gave for Grenada. I realize that any time you give away wealth, it is a spiritual victory. Our lives sometimes seem very much controlled by what we own and how much we are worth. When we give that away, it breaks any claim that those possessions have over us. Thank you again for giving and pray that God will continue to bring others who will contribute.

Our time in Grenada was not quite what we had expected. We honestly had expected to travel down, do some construction work, take some pictures and return. Unfortunately when we arrived, we found out that Pastor Easton was waiting on some architectural plans to arrive so that the work could continue. We waited and waited, and they finally arrived on our last day on the island.

While we weren’t able to do construction work, I feel like our time there was definitely not wasted. Another reason to make that trip was to document the damage done by the hurricane and return to the U.S. and continue to raise money. I took several days over the course of our time there to shoot pictures and came back with what I think is a good representation of the damage there.

I want to take a little bit of room here to describe what has been happening on the Island since the hurricane. All of this description is from people who were on the island during the hurricane and have been there since.

Hurricane Ivan hit the island of Grenada on September 7th, 2004. Most of the wind meters on the island broke at 150 mph. There was said to be some tornado activity along with the hurricane, making the damage even worse. The storm hit at 2pm and lasted most of the day until nightfall. Even after nightfall, high winds and rain kept people under what shelter they had left. When morning came, the damage was evident. Trees were uprooted and flung through the air, roofs were ripped from their buildings, utility lines fell, buildings were destroyed, people injured and killed. 39 were killed as a result of Ivan, though everyone I talked to said the deaths continued on through the months as people died from exhaustion and grief.

Those who describe the storm say they have never seen anything like it. It’s true. Grenada hasn’t seen a major hurricane since Janet in 1955. The weather reporters were making small note of it, claiming the storm would miss the island. It wasn’t until very late that people began to prepare. Trevor Modest, who is the Forensics Investigator for the island described actually being able to see the wind: “I’m going to get a degree in this because people off the island don’t believe us. I’m not talking about the debris in the wind or seeing flying objects. You could see the wind.” He likened it to looking through a prism where everything is distorted and shifted slightly. That’s what it was like looking out of their shelter.

During the hurricane Trevor and pastor Easton gathered people in the church, running out to grab more people and bring them to the building. It was during one of these runs that pastor Easton’s home blew completely away and Trevor’s home was almost completely destroyed save a basement area where both he and pastor now live. After the hurricane, there were up to 15 people staying in that lower area which probably measures about 300 square feet.

Thankfully, the roof of the church stayed on because a tree had fallen on it and pinned it there. The church is not safe to be in and is planned to be demolished once a new one is built.

The damage to the island is hard to describe. Some communities were wiped away entirely. Others had very little left other than some concrete pillars and foundations. You could hardly see a building with a roof on it. The national cricket stadium that was built to house the world cricket championship was destroyed along with the soccer stadium behind it. Most buildings in St. George’s, the capitol city on the island, lost a roof and those that didn’t were still heavily damaged. 90% of housing on the island was damaged or destroyed with 100% in some areas. 90% of the hotel rooms on the island were damaged and job losses in the tourism sector reached almost 60%. Preliminary losses in agriculture were not heavy, though most of the island’s crops were destroyed, causing problems for future crop years. The island of Grenada produces a third of the world’s nutmeg, which will not be viable for close to a decade. A vine previously held in check because of the thick canopies on the island is now spreading over everything. The vine is choking out most vegetation and causing major problems for the repair of the agricultural industry. The damage caused by Ivan is twice the country’s Gross Domestic Product. If the United States suffered damage of twice its GDP, it would cost 22 trillion dollars.

Since the hurricane, Trevor and Pastor Easton have been essential to the work done in Fontenoy. They have organized a community council that is working to ensure that homes are repaired and that aid is applied in all the right places. They have been the ones who have gone to the government to ensure that Fontenoy is on the proper order for the restoration of utilities (there was still no power or phones while we were there), aid dispersement and materials lists. Many in the community have correctly attributed the progress Fontenoy has made to Pastor Easton and Trevor. There are many other communities who have not been able to mobilize and work together like Fontenoy.

The project for the church is far more expensive than I had previously thought. They need to build a new church building, tear down the old building, and build pastor Easton a new home. Every time we send a team to Grenada, the cost lowers. The total cost will be much lower if people are aware of the need and are sending teams to do the work.

While I was there, I made a covenant to Pastor Easton and his congregation that I would continue to work for this project, that I would continue to pray for them and their community, and that I would be sure to raise awareness of their situation. Often we move from one need to another without fully seeing one through.

I have begun contacting people who have expressed interest in Grenada to ensure that they are working towards making a trip, or if they have already gone, working towards continuing the process of raising money. I’ll be sending out letters asking for opportunities to speak at churches, denominational events, and colleges…whatever. I want to make sure that I’ve done all I can and that I can’t look back and wish I had done more.

I won’t be asking any of you to contribute to Grenada. You already have, and pastor Easton was very thankful. The money we took with us was enough for him to continue the work on the site and buy some things he needed. What I will ask you to do is to continue to raise awareness with me. Talk to your friends, neighbors, etc. Show them this letter, show them the Caribbean website, show them the pictures from the island. Ask your pastor if he would like me to come and speak. Anything to get people aware of the situation is good. Below I’ll have a list of websites and phone numbers of people you can call that will be helpful to you if you need any more information.

Please continue to pray for me as I work towards this effort. More importantly, please continue to pray for Pastor Easton and the church in Fontenoy. We want to be able to complete this project and we want it to be because of the generosity and work of the church. Prayer is needed for that to happen.

Thanks