Epworth partners with International Child Care (ICC) to bring aid and support to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We have provided financial support for nearly 40 years, and have been sending work teams since 2008. Our recent focus has been providing continuing education to community rehabilitation workers at Grace Children’s Hospital in Port Au Prince, Haiti. Members of work teams from Epworth include health care providers, as well as pastors and construction professionals. ICC is recognized by the World Health Organization as a leading provider of quality health care programs to Haitian and Dominican children and their families. Grace Children’s Hospital is the ICC’s flagship hospital in, but there are also 130 satellite clinics throughout the country. The Community Rehabilitation Workers program ( – the first of its kind in Haiti began in 2011 and operating in the DR for over 20 years –) provides services to children with disabilities. Epworth also supports Pure Water for the World in Haiti, which installs wells for clean water. Waterborne illnesses are responsible for 2.4 million deaths every year and 90% of them are children under age five.
Wings of the Morning is a medical aviation ministry based in Lubumbashi, the second largest city in Democratic Republic of Congo. Epworth’s connection to the ministry began in 19XX, when the ministry’s pilot, Gaston Ntambo, came to the United States for college and found his calling in aviation. Gaston stayed with Epworth members during his training and the church provided funding to help him become a pilot. Gaston and his wife Jeanne are certified missionaries of the United Methodist Church. There is little transportation infrastructure in North Katanga province, which is served by Wings of the Morning. More than 6 million people rely on Gaston and his plane for transportation out of dense jungle and remote areas to hospitals in the city, for the delivery of pharmaceutical and supplies to villages and towns, as well as the transportation of pastors, missionaries, and volunteers. In 2012, Epworth participated in a fundraising initiative by the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist. The goal was to raise $500,000 to help Gaston by a new plane. Collections were taken at the Annual Conference at Lakeside, OH, and when the results were tallied, over $1 million had been given to Wings of the Morning. Epworth plans to continue to support Gaston and Wings of the Morning through medical missions providing care to villages that do not have clinics or doctors.
Heifer International empowers families around the world to turn hunger into prosperity by providing healthy animals as both food sources and reliable income. A sheep, for example, has wool that can be carded for fabric, and the female offspring of one family’s sheep can be given to another. Milk from cows, eggs from fowl, and honey from bees can be sold at market for income as well as used to feed a family. Epworth offers the congregation three ways to help Heifer
International each Christmas season: purchase an animal in the name or memory of a loved one; purchase Heifer Christmas cards, books, and accessories; and empowering the children of the congregation to fill small “arks” with coins that will go toward the purchase of an animal. Epworth has been selling Christmas cards and filling “arks” for over 20 years. We hope to expand the Heifer giving program into an Easter opportunity as well, and visit the Heifer Project International Global Village in Howell, MI. Supporting Heifer is a great family outreach and giving project. All ages can make a difference.