LIMA, OH (WLIO) - A local organization is looking at ways to help the Haitian people who have come to this area looking for opportunities. The Lima Chapter of the NAACP says there are four areas they are going to be focused on to help the people who have left Haiti during its political uprising to seek asylum in the United States. Pastor Ron Fails says the Lima Chapter will be watching out for housing and workplace discrimination, that would be overcharging for rent or underpaying workers from Haiti. The group also wants to educate the Haitian people on the cultural differences to help them assimilate to living in West Central Ohio. Fails is also challenging other faith-based institutions to adopt families and to do mission work within their own communities.
“And there are many ways you can help, i.e., for example, we provided transportation for Haitians to get to and from work. I found their work ethic to be top shelf and they are not here to have a free ride or looking for someone to take care of them. They are looking for opportunities in the same way we did when we arrived here,” says Pastor Ron Fails, President of the Lima Chapter of the NAACP and Pastor of Grace Church Ministries. “And so the Bible says, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ And it is from that point of view that we approach them in the same way that we would approach anybody.”
The NAACP Lima Chapter has set up a hotline for churches or organizations that would like to help out. People can call (419) 516-1122.
