September 2024 Update
Haiti continues to be a chaotic country. The gangs seem to be continuing their rampages despite the Kenyon soldiers and Jamaican soldiers joining ranks in Port au Prince. The problem is that the gangs outnumber the soldiers. The summer seemed to have some quieter times, but again as fall comes around the gangs seem to be heating up. Thank God that our sisters and students are safe.
Beginning in May….
The Haitian Outreach Leadership Team with the assistance of local volunteers began sorting stored clothing and backpack items into rooms to prepare for our summer backpack assembly program in the hall of St. Bernard parish.
Volunteers from the parish, Associates of the Sisters of the Presentation of BVM, employees of Enterprise Bank, as well as new faces came to help prepare items for the student’s backpacks. We are grateful for all the helping hands.
Ellen and her family are long-time sponsors for Mitchela in Haiti and comes to see us every summer. She has sponsored her since she was a young child. She is now 16yo and starting H.S.-2 this year!
We finished our backpacks in August. Packed everything in closets, cleaned the hall and it was ready for the Religious Ed. class to take over the hall in September.
We lost some students again this year, because they are unable to walk to school or finish a year of learning. We are grateful to those sponsors who sometimes have to accept a new student to sponsor. What is important is that the children go to school and graduate from high school. Our sisters provide a wonderful education for the children.
We hope to be able to ship our 61 bins on/around September 14th. Thanks to Eagle Shipping! The price is holding steady. Please pray for a safe voyage and transfer to St. Marie Convent in Port au Prince, Haiti. Of Note: We were very low on size medium girls/teens clothing this year and just made the deadline.
Of Note: We were very low on size medium girls/teens clothing this year and just made the deadline.
The organization, “Days for Girls” again contributed 75 kits for our young woman in Haiti. Thank you for assisting us to teach young woman about good hygiene and health.
It is amazing to see how the children grow and get taller each year. Todd, one of our website developers is working on putting the pictures on the website so you can take a look at everyone. It takes hours to label the pictures and then get them on the site. Thank you Todd & Mary for your expertise with this.
Mary and I did not get very far updating the website. We hope to continue that task this winter. Updating information is very important. You can always find our most recent newsletter on our website.
We hope to send pictures of the students, thank you letters and data sheets, to sponsors around Christmas time. This shows sponsors that we are in contact with the children we support directly, and they received their backpacks. We still need to obtain the letters and data sheets from Haiti. DHL has been very restricted and it is taking more time than we thought to obtain what we need. Ever ready Magdala and Sr. Cadet wait for the pick up to send off these precious documents to us in the USA. We thank our sponsors/donors for their generous donations to these children for tuition and “rice money”. It is what keeps them and us going.
We are looking at taking two high school graduate students who want to attend technical school, refrigeration classes and nursing. We always need help to keep these students in class. Universities are expensive everwhere!
Our seminary student moved to a Jesuit school in Haiti after the fire at the seminary and has had some illness this year. Not surprising in Haiti. He is doing much better and we
are still working on getting him into a seminary in Canada or the USA. Please keep him in your prayers.
We had a young man, Jonathan, graduate from technical school in August 2024 (refrigeration) and expect another who is studying electronics to graduate June 2025. We do our best to help students who ask to attend universities and greatly appreciate sponsors who help us make it happen. Without all of your generous donations, we would not be able to assist university students to graduate in our program. This is an expensive undertaking, as many of you are aware. We are very proud of these students and their accomplishments!
We continue to explore opportunities to receive funding to assist our sisters and the children in Haiti. We are hoping to get another grant to put solar electricity in Saut D’Eau school and the Technical school on St. Marie grounds. We can’t even imagine what it is like not to be able to flip a switch and the lights go on. We take so much for granted here!
We will again donate funds to Sr.Verlaine Cadet for her breakfast program at Lilavois and to Sr. Marianne Duvil to continue the snack program in Damassin school. We are unable at this time to send funding for a third school. We strive for this goal in the future! These programs are life-saving for the students who participate and receive something to eat. Children need food and nutrition to be able to learn and grow.
We are privleged to have Sr. Marianne Duvil visiting Massachusetts at the end of September. We hope her visit will enlighten us on the issues in Haiti and brainstorm on solutions. Our sisters devote all their lives to teaching and helping these children under
many terrible conditions. These brave woman are always giving of themselves for the children and each other 24/7! God bless you all and keep you safe and healthy.
Come one Come all!
A Pancake Breakfast is planned for Sunday October 6th at 9am and 11am in the St. Bernard at St. Camillus church hall. This breakfast is sponsored by The Highlands Nsg & Rehab. in Fitchburg, and proceeds will benefit Haitian Outreach food fund.
The cost is $5.00 per person and $10.00 for a family of 4. A basket raffle will be held and the winner will be drawn on Sunday after the 11am seating!
Created by the students of the 3rd Grade at St. Bernard’s Elem. School with the assistance of their Art Teacher-2024!
Please extend a warm welcome to our newest leadership team member. Betsy has taken on the task of keeping an eye on Pauline and the financials for Haitian Outreach. The only problem Pauline has is not sending all our funds to Haiti to help them all! Welcome Betsy!