June 2023

Share & Connect Quarterly Newsletter

NEW Kindergarten Building Increases Enrollment

Three NEW Safe Classrooms for 76 Students Ages 3-5 years old

Enrollment increased by 24 children in Bon Samaritain 3 "Kindergarten" classes

(in Haiti, Preschool is called Kindergarten 1 and Kindergarten 2,

then Kindergarten 3 is like our American Kindergarten.)

THANK YOU to all donors especially Bethesda-by-the-Sea for Grant of $20,000, Good Shepherd Tequesta for $17,000 and St Paul's Key West for $10,000!

Your gifts have provided their dream building designed for the special needs of very young learners giving the opportunity to learn through instruction, play & interaction. Strong minds and bodies are being built to set these 76 children on a journey to a brighter future!

Bon Samaritain Graduate & Now Teacher Achello Gauvin!

Take 3 minutes and watch this video of Achello talk about graduating from Bon Samaritain School then going to university and coming back to teach in Bondeau!

11 Bon Samaritain School 2023 Graduates!

Ryisdaël Pierre-Louis

21 years old

Jean Pierre Thelisma

23 years old

Sterline Jeannot

21 years old

Anel Pierre-Louis

23 years old

Syndi LeBlanc

23 years old

Amoroso Darius

19 years old

Ycelene Vader

24 years old

Wedner Thelisma

20 years old

Guerby Joseph

22 years old

Not Pictured: Roussel Dantus and Tamara Pierre-Louis

Congratulations to each of these committed students for completing 13 grades (there are 13 grades in Haiti) and for passing the National Exam! Each dreams to continue their education at either technical school or university... watch upcoming newsletters for ways to help them!

Food Emergency... Creatively Using ALL Resources

Annual Food Packing 2023 hosted by Good Shepherd

Thanks to months of planning, fundraising, and a grant from Episcopal Charities, 75,000 nutritious meals were packaged for school lunches for the 350 students in Bondeau! Over 422 volunteers packed and organized to make this possible. Thank you Good Shepherd in Tequesta for your leadership and thank you to all the many donors including corporate donors.

Creative NEW Ways to Ship Food After diligently trying for 3 months to ship the packed food to Bondeau, a new alliance has been formed with a similar organization serving the Petit Goave community! They have loaned 30 boxes of their food to bridge the gap until our Food Packing food arrives! Food For The Poor is shipping our food from FL to Port Au Prince but cannot truck it the 3 hours to Bondeau due to gang blockades. SO, our new alliance will take it on a barge around the gangs to Petit Goave where Pere Phanord can safely pick it up! Praise God for the help of partners!

Bondeau has been out of food since the end of January, so in the emergency need, SFHP has also wired money to purchase food as they can from what is safely available in Miragoane. Prices have skyrocketed due to lack of supply. It is not an easy problem to solve. Please pray for continued collaboration, more donors, and new creative ways to meet the basic needs of the children in Bondeau.

Update on Haiti... Three Main Issues

Security

The gang violence and control continues to rule all movement in and out of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. This situation causes food scarcity as well as scarcity of all supplies of every kind. The situation has escalated to a level worse than ever before. All aspects of life are affected— their safety, economy, food supply, ability to be on the roads, and peace of mind.

Economics

The people of Haiti are suffering and desperately needs our prayers. Inflation and access to food or goods is unattainable for most Haitians. Any food or supplies that are getting through the gangs are very high priced and extremely limited.

Governance

There are no remaining elected officials in Haiti. Learn more on video

Earthquake Repair Update

Rebuilding the Friendship House

On August 14, 2021 a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti with the epicenter only about 30 miles from Bondeau. While no buildings in Bondeau collapsed, the Guest House received critical damage rendering it unsafe. This vital building housed Pere Phanord (Priest-in-charge) and 15 other community members as well as anyone who visited Bondeau (mission teams/pilgrimages, officials). The first priority however was repairing the school and rebuilding to ensure students’ safety.

Now for 2023, the priority is to complete the rebuilding of the newly re-named Friendship House. The cost is $160,000 and the engineer contracted has completed 2 other projects for us on budget & timely.

$73,212 has already been raised leaving a balance of $86,788 needed. Please donate to help provide this housing and hospitality!

CLICK to DONATE to REBUILD!

FINALLY... Potable Water is flowing into Bondeau!

After 9 years of every kind of attempt possible including drilling 6 times for potable water... it is finally flowing into the center of campus!

Thanks to United Thank Offering for the generous grant that made possible piping potable water from the spring about 1½ miles up the mountain. Thank you UTO!

GREAT NEWS... First Matching Grant!

A Direct Result of SFHP Attaining 501(c)3 Status

In May, a $10,000 matching grant was awarded to SFHP by Cisco matching an employee's donation to SFHP. The Cisco Foundation supports nonprofits and NGOs around the world with cash grants and employee gift matching to multiply their impact. The qualification process was stringent and SFHP would not have qualified without it's own 501(c)3 status. Thank you Cisco and our very generous donor!

Two Recent SFHP Presentations

In April, Beth Shires and Teresa Grashof shared a well-attended SFHP Presentation for the Jupiter Rotary Club. Then in May, Beth and Kathleen Gannon took the Presentation to St. Paul's in Key West that was also very well received with great engagement at both. Are you part of an organization or church that would like a self-contained presentation?

CLICK to Request Info for Your Group!

South Florida Haiti Project

561-271-2645

info@southfloridahaitiproject.org

www.southfloridahaitiproject.org

DONATE... every gift makes a difference!

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