**BELOW IS AN UPDATE FROM COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL ON OUR SPONSORED CHILDREN AND THE STATUS OF COMPASSIONS EFFORTS IN HAITI**

Dear Friends,

We now have more specific information to share with you about the Haiti crisis.

First, I can tell you that Ketnise Doreainvil and Djemson Dorevil do not live in an area where the destruction was most severe.

Because of the extreme challenges in communication and transportation, we are not able to confirm each child's personal circumstances just yet. We will confirm your children's status and provide more information on the Compassion center that ministers to your children as soon as we can.

Be assured Compassion has an effective relief plan that is working very efficiently right now.

• To date, 500,000 pounds of medical supplies, blankets, food and water have been flown to the Dominican Republic to avoid the backlog at the Port-au-Prince airport and shipping docks. We transported these supplies to our warehouse at the Haiti border, and then trucked them to our church partner locations in the Port-au-Prince area for distribution.
• Compassion has also sent a team of doctors, nurses, and EMTs -- men and women who have already started treating patients in an outdoor clinic. The next wave of helpers will include counselors with necessary language skills and a background in crisis counseling.
  

Thanks to our network of 230 church partners in Haiti, Compassion has a system of aid distribution through the local church. This avoids bottlenecks and bureaucratic delays and has proven to be highly efficient. Our church partners know the needs in their communities best. They are the real heroes -- working in the name of Jesus to help those most in need.

As we continue to provide you with information about your Compassion children and our relief efforts, please continue to pray with us for our staff in Haiti as they work tirelessly, going from tent city to tent city to locate children in spite of their own personal suffering and losses.

With your faithful help and support we have been serving the needs of children and their families in Haiti for four decades. Be assured that we are committed to these precious children and will endure this long road to recovery with them.

We earnestly seek your continued prayers during this time of crisis. May God bless you as only He can!

Sincerely in Him,

Dr. Wess Stafford
President

P.S. If you wish to donate, or have already donated, you may want to take advantage of a tax law just enacted. Charitable contributions to assist with the Haiti relief efforts can be claimed as itemized charitable deductions on your 2009 tax return within certain guidelines. (See the House of Representatives bill H.R. 4462 passed Jan. 20, 2010.)