HIALEAH, Fla. – This weekend, the pastor of a church in Hialeah is kicking off a collection drive to help a congregation and its community members in India almost 9,000 miles away.
At her modest Hialeah church, Life Changers Worship Center, Pastor Nina Fabian is working on a Herculean task.
She’s on a ZOOM call with Poorna Chand, senior pastor at Life Changers Church in Kakinada, India.
“We just appreciate you guys and we’ve been praying for you,” Fabian tells him.
Fabian is hoping the community will help Chand and his congregation with food and medical supplies.
“COVID is very terrible here in India. People are dying outside of the hospital, people are dying on the roads and people are dying in their homes,” Chand said. “Many people are starving to death.”
Of his 300-member congregation, half are sick with COVID-19, five have died and they are also dealing with members in need of food.
“They have called me so many times asking can we help them can we provide assistance to them,” Fabian said.
As India continues to witness a startling case surge with hospitals overrun, India is falling deeper into a humanitarian crisis from COVID-19.
“They need medical supplies and just basic needs, food and simple things. These are just the simple things we take for granted.”
We spoke to Dr. Amita Gupta, professor of Medicine and Public Health, and co-chair of the Johns Hopkins India Institute.
“We are hearing that India has half of the world’s confirmed cases right now and deaths are averaging 3,000 a day. Is this accurate?”
Dr. Gupta said: Yes, these are the official reports and these numbers are likely underestimated by a factor of 5 to 10 times at least.”
“And we are also hearing that food shortages are an issue and that on the ground there are concerns about people also dying of hunger. Is that something you are also hearing?”
Gupta explains why the food situation is so dire.
“We know with disruptions in supply chain and access to essential services in the setting of a lockdown that food insecurity is a reality and a great concern.”
Here’s how you can help.
>Mother’s Day Weekend Collection Drive, Pastor Nina Fabian, Life Changers Worship Center, 5941 Northwest 176th Street, Hialeah.
In need of canned food, diapers, medical supplies. They also need assistance with covering shipping costs to India.
Email: Pastorninafabian@gmail.com, Phone: (786) 457-4503, or https://www.Instagram.com/l.c.w.c._ministries/
>Pastor Poorna Chand, Life Changers Church in India
https://www.life-changers.church/covid-relief
>Johns Hopkins India Institute Covid-19 Emergency Fund
https://indiainstitute.jhu.edu/covid-19-response-relief/
Find out more about India’s humanitarian crisis by clicking here.