It's "an opportunity for us to not just throw money at a problem," but truly help in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

That's why local business owner Joe Luers, owner of Lancaster's Battery Warehouse, is making a special offer to help a Central Pennsylvania-based ministry geared toward Haiti.

In a two-month challenge that runs all of July and August, Luers is matching donations of up to $10,000 to Hanover's Source of Life Ministries.

Source of Life, founded by Haitian-American Jacques Merine, has a school in a small village in southern Haiti, which also doubles as a church building on Sundays. And in 2009, it opened a "safe house" in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, that helps keep children off the streets.

The small village school also provides a meal every day to its 132 students in first through sixth grades, and has a well that provides the only safe drinking water in the entire village.

Luers has been on the Source of Life board since he and fellow board member Vern Annis heard Merine speak in 1998 at Calvary Church in Hanover.

Their church partnered with Merine to build a permanent school building. "It just took off from there," Annis recalled.

The safe home that opened in 2009 was severely damaged in the devastating January 2010 earthquake. Since then, the 12 children and four staff members have had to live in makeshift quarters.

Now, the goal in a new capital campaign that started late last year is to raise $70,000 for a new safe house in Gressier, Haiti, and so far more than half has been raised.

The eventual goal is to have 30 children, 15 boys and 15 girls, as permanent residents. Some are orphans, and some come from families that simply can't provide for them, Luers said.

Haiti can be a tough place to get anything accomplished, Annis and Luers know.

But the efforts with the church/school and the safe house are worth it in a country with so many hurdles to overcome, the two men agree.

"I really believe the components are there for these children to make a dramatic difference in their country as they grow into adulthood," Annis said.

Luers got the idea for the matching grant after "having had a commitment to the children in Haiti for many years," and knowing that the extra funds could greatly help them.

Luers, who's 60 and lives in Red Lion, has been the owner of Battery Warehouse for 27 years.

To help Source of Life's efforts in Haiti, donations may be sent to Source of Life Ministries, P.O. Box 96, Hanover, PA 17331. Checks also may be mailed or brought to Battery Warehouse, 1120 Dillerville Road, Lancaster 17601.

Donations also may be made by calling Source of Life at 334-5405 or visiting www.source-of-life-

ministries.org.