CONYERS--The Haiti Twinning Committee of St. Pius X Church in Conyers collected and shipped medical and school supplies Feb. 10 to its sister church in Los Palis, Haiti.

Marci Parrish, committee chairperson, said that in addition to school supplies and bulk supplies of medicine, the Haitian community needs manually operated sewing machines.

In June 1998 St. Pius partnered with the Catholic parish of Los Palis to encourage mission outreach and a sharing of material resources. Haitian pastor Father Robert Poncet spoke at St. Pius in July 1998. The local committee organizes various activities between the two churches.

The town of about 25,000 has seven mission churches, and schools are run in four of them with a total of approximately 1,800 students. The parish school has 600 children in eight grades. Through the assistance of St. Pius, Father Poncet was able to raise teacher salaries there from $50 to $60 a month.

Haiti is predominantly Roman Catholic and about 75 percent of the population lives in abject poverty.

For program information call Father John Kieran at (770) 483-3660 or to donate items call Parrish at (770) 922-5073.

BOUND FOR HAITI -- (L-r) St. Pius X pastor Father John Kieran and parishioners Ernie Pariseau, Armand Collins, Jay Channell, Mike Miggel and Mike Bardwell load medical and school supplies collected by the Conyers parish for a shipment to their sister parish in Los Palis, Haiti.