WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Crucial support for people caught in the middle of chaos in Haiti often comes from communities like Winter Haven where the El Shaddai Community Church has been trying to get goods to those in need, but the chaos has made it even more difficult.
RELATED: Tampa-based Project Dynamo starts mission to bring Americans in Haiti back home amid gang violence
“Haiti, it's always on the news, it's either a hurricane and then they send a lot of resources and they never reach the people or it’s an earthquake," president of El Shaddai Ministries International Pastor Dony St. Germain said. "But this situation is totally different, it's worse.”
St. Germain described the dire circumstances he saw for himself just a few weeks ago, as violent gangs began seizing control of the country.
“People are living in fear, at the same time they are hungry and food supplies in other parts of the island are quadruple in price,” St. Germain said. A million people have fled the capital city of Port Au Prince to survive, according to him.
He says his organization has been providing money to churches and pastors on the island so they can buy food and provide shelter for displaced people.
At the same time, with ports shut down, clothes and goods they’ve stocked at their Winter Haven church, have no way of getting to those in need.
“We can’t even send our containers, we cannot even send anything,” he added.
A crisis unfolding that may force many people off the island weighs heavy on the hearts of Haitian Americans in Florida.
RELATED: Is a 'mass migration' of Haitian immigrants headed to Florida? What state, federal officials said
“They are worried about their family members. I have a pastor here and we just opened our arms to receive him because the gang went and took his house and took everything that he owned.”
St. Germain is not optimistic the situation will resolve without major intervention, but he’s keeping his mission alive to help as many Haitians as he can.
“That's why we are pleading for the outside world to come alongside us. And number one is how we can feed the people,” St. Germain added.
If you want to help the church and their mission, you can find out more here.