Dee Lavender Memorial Missions Week 2011
HAITI — While students in Haiti remain devastated by the destruction of their school, students at Lee University rallied together for Dee Lavender Memorial Missions Week 2011 to help raise awareness and money for Haiti. The university partnered with Church of God World Missions to support the La Saline Church project and bring light to an area that is still trying to recover from the earthquake that shook the poverty-stricken country on January 12, 2010. 
La Saline Church of God housed the school that more than 500 students attended before the earthquake. Coincidentally, the original La Saline church was the first World Missions project.
On Tuesday of Missions Week, Lee students gathered in chapel to learn more about Haiti and the call to missions. While they had fun singing along with a Haitian student in Creole, the tone was more serious as the speaker addressed the students. “How many of you feel called to missions in some capacity?” asked Douglas LeRoy, general director of World Missions. An estimated 350 stood in response to the question. He suggested some might even be called to Haiti to help rebuild the church building and school.
Other organizations also offered information to students who were interested in getting involved with missions. Eleven exhibitors set up information tables in the Paul Conn Student Center and remained throughout the week.
While the mission project is different every year, the inspiration behind Lee Missions Week is always the same. It belongs to a former Lee University student, Dee Lavender, whose heart for missions continues to have an impact even after her life ended at the young age of 20. She had fatal complications from a diabetic condition while on a mission trip in Panama. Two decades have passed since that trip, but it was by no means her last moment of impact on the mission field. Her legacy continues to inspire other students each year. While she was not physically among the 350 who responded to a call to missions in the chapel service, it was her story, her willingness to give all, which gave many of them the courage to stand.
You can stand with them too by helping support the project Lee for Haiti #102-9190.
