Staff left shoes at their office doors for the day.

Worship participants filled the dining room.

Rev. Feder St. Juste, pastor at Haitian Bethany Church Elizabeth, N.J., shared the story of the Haitian American Baptist response

Virginia Holmstrom, executive director of American Baptist Women’s Ministries, opened the worship/action hour.

Staff at American Baptist Churches USA Mission Center in Valley Forge, Pa., shed their shoes Monday, February 1, to stand in solidarity with their Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ, whose lives, homes and communities were torn asunder by January's massive earthquake.

Shoes were parked outside office doors and cubicles throughout the day as visible signs of the day's spirit of reflection—reflection about the depths of despair shared by hundreds of thousands of Haitians affected by the natural disaster of epic proportion. Walking shoeless throughout the Mission Center, staffers also symbolically helped to carry the burden of grief borne by untold Haitians who lost loved ones.

At a morning worship/action hour focused on the Haiti crisis, National Ministries' Executive Director Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III acknowledged that "we can't know how people feel when they are going through something like this, but we can sit with them through the difficult days. That is what Solidarity Day is all about."

With barely a seat left at the gathering in the Mission Center dining room, the worship/action hour's offering totaled more than $1,300; additional contributions are expected in the coming days. Donations from Chin and Karen Burmese refugee groups totaling $700 will be added to the Mission Center funds.

Wright-Riggins announced that the first $20,000 raised by Mission Center staff will be used to support Haitian American Baptist churches seeking to send members to their home country to help with recovery. Wright-Riggins also announced that the first $10,000 collected will be matched by National Ministries, American Baptist Home Mission Societies.

The Rev. Feder St. Juste, pastor at Haitian Bethany Church in Elizabeth, N.J., and a member of the Haitian Alliance, said that in his church more than 30 people lost someone in the earthquake. Even though Haitian churches are not financially strong, he said, "we have not been sitting and waiting for the international community to help; we have been doing everything that we can to help."

The worship/action hour included a briefing by Herb Rogers—former International Ministries' missionary to Haiti and current special assistant to Haiti—who said, "I am proud of what's happening in Haiti because the Haitian people have taken it upon themselves to help their brothers and sisters. Haitians are helping Haitians."

Virginia Holmstrom, executive director of American Baptist Women's Ministries, demonstrated assembling hygiene kits and baby care kits that are being collected by Church World Service.

At the close of the service, staff sang "We are walking in the light of God."

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