Mr McLay is going to Haiti on behalf of the emergency relief initiative Project HHH - Hearts and Hands for Haiti.
He will spend about 10 days with Robyn Couper, who worked as a missionary in Haiti for 33 years and returned in May to Cap Haitien for three months.
He will be assessing the work of Project HHH - a medical team was dispatched in May - and looking at options for future work, including agricultural and building projects.
"It looks like housing is desperate," Mr McLay said yesterday.
Mr McLay will meet Haitian civic, health and Rotary leaders and has a letter of introduction from Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton to Cap Haitien's mayor.
Miss Couper was looking forward to having someone "local" arrive.
Mr McLay will return home on July 29.
