PICKENS COUNTY — The devastation that the Jan. 12 earthquake brought to the island nation of Haiti left the impoverished population trying to pick up the pieces of its life.

Many who were able have visited the island, offering to work in medical clinics and cleanup crews. Now those who cannot go to the island can at least send a little hope in that direction.

The state’s Southern Baptist churches have been asked to collect “Buckets of Hope” to be sent to Haiti as part of the convention’s relief efforts.

Each plastic 5-gallon bucket contains enough food to feed a typical Haitian family for a week. The buckets include two 5-pound bags of rice, two 2-pound bags of black beans, two 40-ounce boxes of noodles, one 48-ounce bottle of cooking oil, one 40-ounce jar of peanut-butter and one 5-pound bag of all-purpose flour. The buckets contents should cost around $30.

The association has already collected more than 150 buckets. Others will be turned into member churches on Sunday and collected by the Association Monday before being taken to the Upstate Southern Baptist drop point in Greer.

Dr. Broadus Moody, director of missions for the Piedmont Baptist Association, said he expects to send 250 buckets from the association.

“You have to remember that we are just one of 43 Baptist Associations in the state,” Moody said. “If everyone was as successful as we were, there should be a lot of buckets heading to Haiti”

Ron Duncan, director of missions for the Pickens-Twelve Mile Associaton said he expects to send more than 700 buckets to Haiti.

Duncan, who has just returned from being part of a medical relief team in Haiti, said the actual buckets will be useful to the many who are homeless after the earthquake.

“They can use that to do their laundry, to take a bath, to carry fresh water ... you can even use it for a bathroom, although I don’t think I’d use the same bucket for a bathroom and to carry fresh water,” Duncan said.

Each bucket will have a envelope with $10 attached to it to pay for shipping it to Haiti.

Keith Mincey, mission specialist for the Piedmont Baptist Association, said the Buckets of Hope is just the next step in the Baptists’ disaster response.

“We will still be involved in the rebuilding there for at least two or three years,” Mincey said, “It’s just like it was with (Hurricane) Katrina. We still have people there helping out, although you don’t see much about it any more.”

Another challenge will be responding to the massive earthquake that occurred last weekend in Chile, Mincey said.

“As we speak, Mike Sanders is over there with a team to access what we need to do to help those people,” Mincey said. “We can’t get in touch with him because all the phone lines are down. But when he gets back, we’ll have a better idea of what we need to do next.”