Growing Hope for Haiti had its very first fundraiser this past weekend– the Eye Run for Haiti 5k/10K! We had a great turnout– 360 runners and walkers! We raised over $12,000 to be used for our first project– the construction of an elementary school.
We are grateful to our sponsors, to all who volunteered to help make this event possible, and to all who participated!
To see pictures from the race, click here.
Growing Hope for Haiti is now officially a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization! We are very excited to have this step completed. All gifts and donations to our organization are now tax-deductible. Contributions can be sent to:
Growing Hope for Haiti
927 Wooden Drive
Florissant, MO 63033
*Growing Hope for Haiti is officially an organization, and we are in the process of getting 501(c)(3) status!
*Gerson spent 6 weeks in Haiti this summer, teaching a class on “How We Got the Bible” to church leaders in the community. They were eager to learn and asked him to come back and teach another class soon.
*The land purchase was finally finalized in July, after 7 long months of searching for the original title and deed!
*We were able to visit many families in Magranbwa this summer, and they are excited about our plans to build a school in the area.
*We will be having our first fundraiser on October 31– a 5K/10K called Eye Run for Haiti. The race will be sponsored by Regional Eyecare, and they will be covering all expenses so that 100% of all entry fees and funds raised can go directly to Growing Hope for Haiti. We hope to raise enough to cover the construction costs for our first project– an elementary school. You can download the entry form at www.regionaleyecare.com.
On our last trip, we were able to purchase about 3 acres of land in a small community called Magranbwa. This will be the site for our first project, an elementary school.
We had a couple of meetings with the people in the community while we were there. On our next trip, we hope to spend some time talking with individuals and families, to get to know the people and the needs of the community better.
I was just reading through an email update I sent out last year. Here is an excerpt, which summarizes our focus in this ministry…
*Education is a valuable resource that is sorely lacking in Haiti, especially in the area we plan to work in. We want to provide educational opportunities at every level—from elementary school to a college to continuing education for adults. Our main emphasis will be on building Christian character in our students, and our goal is to raise not only church leaders, but leaders of various kinds that will positively impact the future of the country as a whole. We want to offer degrees in areas like theology, business, agriculture, health care, and social work….to give people the resources they need to turn around and make a difference in their own community.
*Hunger is the most obvious physical problem plaguing the country of Haiti. It is absolutely heart-breaking to see the effects, both physical and emotional, of poverty-induced hunger. I am sure any of you who have been to a third-world country have had the same reaction as me– “We have to do something about this!” We believe this issue can be better addressed by working to enable people to provide for themselves than by merely handing out food. The majority of the country’s food is imported, which leaves them vulnerable to rising food costs and creates a dependence on the rest of the world. We want to help the people of Haiti to become more independent and self-sufficient, able to provide for their own families and communities. We plan to do this by developing an agricultural program that focuses on educating farmers, rehabilitating farm land, building refineries, and providing mechanical farm equipment. We also hope to buy a commercial fishing boat at some point, to take advantage of this largely untapped resource for food, as most parts of Haiti are on or near the coast. (So if any of you happen to be selling a commercial fishing boat, please let us know!)
We know that we can only do so much ourselves– which is why we want to empower the Haitians themselves to change their own communities and country. There are many who want to make a difference in their country, who would love to help bring about change– and we want to give them the opportunities to do that. This is the vision for our work in Haiti.
