9th Annual Heavenly Hosta Sale

The 9th Annual Heavenly Hosta Sale, hosted by the Haiti Medical Mission Task Force, will be held rain or shine on Saturday, June 2, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and Sunday, June 3, between services and from noon to 2:00 p.m.

We will once again feature the number one-selling perennial, Hosta, and other plants. We will offer variegated, blue, green, red-stemmed, and yellow-gold hosta in many sizes, from dwarf to giant, in a range of prices. A dedicated group of master gardeners will be on site to answer questions.

Volunteers are still needed for both days of the sale! If you can help, call Cindy Calhoun at 734-429-9145, or cinbrumar@aol.com. Do you have hosta you’d like to donate to the sale? Please drop off your plants in Monteith Hall no later than Friday, June 1, at noon. Combine your love for gardening with your desire to help support our continuing work in Haiti.

Task Force Background and Mission

The Medical Mission Task Force was established at First Presbyterian Church in 1999 in cooperation with the Medical Benevolence Foundation, the largest and oldest of the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly-validated mission support groups, to provide opportunities for members to carrry out Jesus Christ's commission to heal the sick. The Task Force chose Haiti as its focus because Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and its proximity to the U.S. makes travel relatively quick and inexpensive.

The Haiti Medical Mission's goal is not simply to deliver health care and related services, but also to empower and support Haitians to meet their own health care needs. Members are developing long-range, sustainable mission partnerships with the following organizations in Haiti:

• Hopital Ste. Croix (Holy Cross Hospital), Leogane, Haiti
• Faculte de Sciences Infirmieres de l'Universite Episcopale d'Haiti (School of Nursing, Episcopal University of Haiti), Leogane, Haiti
• Pazapa Center for handicapped children, Jacmel, Haiti

How to Get Involved

The Haiti Medical Mission Task Force will meets in 2011 at 6:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of January, March, May, September and November. Twice yearly trips for medical teams are announced on the website through the First Press church newsletter. Anyone interested in the work of the Task Force is invited to attend or request to get on our eamail circulation. For more information, please contact Lisa Kerr Johnson, chair, at drj8@juno.com or 734-665-8299.

To make a financial contribution, please designate your check to First Presbyterian Church, MMTF Fund, account #2705, and sent to:
First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor
1432 Washtenaw Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

To make a financial contribution for Earthquake relief, send a check to First Presbyterian Church with "Earthquake Relief" in the memo line.

An article by Jeanne Burger, just published in the Journal of Christian Nursing, about Haiti and the FSIL nursing school that members of First Presbyterian were instrumental in developing, is available at the link below. It describes Haiti and how the nursing students and graduates have been able to help Haitians respond to the earthquake and improve their health care. The descriptions of how Dean Hilda Alcindor has inspired the students to do this are inspiring to the reader. Members of First Presbyterian continue to be directly involved with the development of FSIL. First Presbyterian Ann Arbor continues to support efforts in Haiti with donations as well as personal and team visits.

The full article, “Positioned for Impact: Haiti’s First Baccalaureate Nursing Program” is available free until May 6 at the Journal of Christian Nursing.