End of year 2020 – Thank you

The pandemic changed life significantly for all of us, but it didn’t stop us from continuing our work to help the poor in Haiti. Because of our many years connected with the people in Cap Haitian, we were able to fund projects and continue the feeding program even though travel was not possible.

We are grateful that our friends in Haiti have stayed healthy with respect to the pandemic. It’s unclear exactly why but the % death rates due to COVID-19 are not as high in Haiti as we’ve experienced in the U.S. Unfortunately, the pandemic has had secondary effects such as extended school closings, a reduction of international aid, and an impact to support industries for tourism and missionary visitors. One thing that we’ve noticed is that it has become harder and more costly to send money to Haiti. Our team there worries about kidnappings and violence in just receiving money. Thankfully, everyone has remained safe and our programs have provided needed aid in this troubling time.

Highlights of the 2020 programs:
– Infrastructure projects that impact to the quality of daily life
– Feeding the hungry
– Support for children
– Health kits and medical bill support

Our sister organization, Foundation Patrick Charles, organized two very successful infrastructure projects for us, one in January and one in July. In January, we helped a church build the walls enclosing the building. Churches often serve as schools during the week, temporary shelters for the homeless, and as well as a central distribution point for food to the poorest. In July, we built 4 public toilets. The toilets are great new feature in the community and yet they are so basic; just a huge permanent outhouse that can be emptied as needed. We’ve had lots of new requests for this same project in other parts of the city and we will plan to build two more toilets in January. There are just so many people living without access to running water or toilets. This kind of project makes a huge impact on the day to day life of the poor.

Foundation Patrick Charles continued to provide a feeding program throughout the year to address the continuing problem of starvation and malnutrition in Haiti. We gave away 195,000 meals in 2020, that’s an increase from last year of 60%! Food distribution included multiple days a week of hot meals to the poorest in the community as well as rotating support to churches and communities with dry beans and rice distribution.
Children continue to be a focus of our work in Cap Haitian. We provided scholarships for many students to attend school. The two children of our deceased friend Patrick, continued living with their aunt and grandmother. We continue to provide food and financial support for them.

Often when we work in Haiti, we will be approached by people in desperate need of medical care they cannot afford. While this year, we couldn’t visit hospitals to offer and pay for prescriptions; we did help pay the medical bills for some needed surgeries and hospital care for several people recommended by our team in Haiti. And at Christmas, we distributed over 200 health and hygiene kits.

As always every dollar of your donation supports the work in Haiti. Nothing is deducted for administrative costs, bank fees, insurance, or the cost of our travel (if and when we do get to travel again). Thank you for your continued faith and support for this work in Haiti. We could not do it without you.