When the devastating earthquake hit Haiti on Jan. 12 killing thousands along its path, there was only one place that Greg Barshaw and a team of missionaries wished they could be: in Haiti.  

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” said the member of Valencia congregation Crossroads Community Church. “Most of us felt the same that we wanted to be there for the people.”

Barshaw and his Crossroads team had returned to California from Port-au-Prince just 48 hours before the day of the quake.

The Simi Valley resident is used to seeing the devastating aftermath of natural disasters. But he’s also used to being there to help.

Barshaw was a first responder after Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Asia.

“My heart is always to be there when crises happens,” he said.

From Jan. 1 to Jan. 10, he and seven other missionaries — seven Santa Clarita Valley residents and three from Simi Valley — worked with churches and orphanages in Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince. They built a center to train church pastors, provided orphan care and vacation Bible school.

“There’s a number of children and adults that did not survive,” he said, referring to those the team served in Haiti.

Barshaw and team members plan to eventually go back to Haiti, reconnect with their contacts there and help build permanent structures for orphanages, he said.

“I’ll be going back in March to do some more scouting on what needs to be done and who we can help,” he said.  

Meanwhile Barshaw and Crossroads are mobilizing several other local churches, such as Grace Baptist Church, to raise funds and help with relief efforts. A Sunday collection at Crossroads brought in $16,000 and the church will host a fundraiser in March.

More congregations respond
Crossroads is one of numerous SCV congregations that have responded to the situation in Haiti and raised thousands of dollars for relief.

Catholic churches Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish, in Saugus, and St. Clare of Assisi Parish, in Canyon Country, contributed their recent Sunday service collection funds. In one Sunday, St. Clare raised $15,800 and forwarded it to Catholic Relief Services, said Father Olin Mayfield.

Other religious leaders have urged their congregants to help in whatever way they can.

“Last Friday evening I focused much of our service on the Haiti crisis,” said Rabbi Jay Levy of Or Emet – A Congregation for Jewish Living. “I urged congregants to open the hearts and their wallets and to participate in the Jewish Federation’s Haiti Relief effort, where every dollar raised goes to directly to aid those impacted by this terrible disaster.”