I’m continuing to follow news from Morocco through Kristi Roberts’ Facebook page. For those of you who missed the news, Kristi, Clark and Annelise are safe in Rabat. One of our preschool teachers is a native of Morocco and she also reports that all of her family is safe.

As you probably know the damage in the most affected regions of central Morocco was severe. More than 2,000 people have been killed. Many houses and other buildings have been destroyed.

There has also been horrific flooding in Libya, which has taken more than 11,000 lives.

If you would like to be of assistance, you have many options. These three organizations are doing work in Morocco (and in one case, Libya, also). The International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement (www.ifrc.org) is working in both countries. World Central Kitchen (www.wck.org) is on the ground in Morocco. And, Kristi Roberts suggested one additional organization that is working with quake victims in Morocco. The High Atlas Foundation was started by Peace Corps volunteers (www.highatlasfoundation.org). They work specifically in the area affected by the quake. They know the lay of the land, the organizations, the leaders, and the needs.

If you’d like to donate through St. Thomas, you may do that as well. Please go to https://stthomasmcleanva.org/giving/donate and select “Donate to Support Disaster Relief in Morocco and Libya.” You can also write a check with “Morocco and Libya” in the memo line. As we’ve been asked by several of you to include some funds for Libya in this fundraising, we’ll direct any funds we collect to Red Cross/Red Crescent.

Please keep the people of Morocco and Libya in your prayers.

Peace,

Fran