Greetings from Health for Haiti! As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday we would like to share a few messages of gratitude from the Health for Haiti team and from our friends in Grande Saline. Although the past few months have been extremely difficult, today we are celebrating our recent successful garden harvest and the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year.
Facing ever-growing food insecurity, with your help. this year we invested in our community garden project and doubled the size of our farm. Despite the flood and the loss of many crops in the region, our rice crop survived and we had a successful harvest.
After the rice was harvested and dried, we had 8 large bags to securely store in our kitchen building. Each bag weighs about 115 pounds, so we have over 900 pounds of rice stored to provide a hot meal to our students and teachers!
We also used your donations to clean and prepare the church and classrooms after the flood. Although school started about a month late, thanks to your generosity students and teachers received new schools supplies to replace what they lost in the flood. Here are messages from a few of the children you helped.
“Hello friends, my name is Lafitson. I was in primary and now I am in 7th grade. Despite my mother’s efforts to prepare me for school, the flood destroyed everything in my house. When I learned that the school was helping the children, I cried because I could not come in the past days. I went to the principal, I said please save a bag for me because I don’t have anything and that’s why I don’t come to school. Today I am happy because I got a great gift for the school year. I thank everyone who contributed so that we could get these things.”
“Hello. my name is Altidor. I walk fifty minutes to come to school. I love the school very much. Today I feel proud as a student of the school, I used to put my books in a plastic bag but now I received a beautiful bag with all the materials in it. I thank the principal Pastor Berlando, Health for Haiti, and the donors. I am very happy!”
“Hello, everyonw. My name is: Verguens. I don’t have parents to pay my school tuition, my father is dead and my mother is not able to do it for me. But fortunately. my teacher Mr. Markenson and Pastor Berlando made it possible for me come to school. I’m happy because I found a beautiful bag with all the materials in it, I hope when I’m older I can help other children who cannot afford a school tuition as well.”
(Verguens teacher, Mr. Markenson, is a former Health for Haiti scholarship student who has returned to teach at the school.)
“Hi. my name is: Woodguerry. I am six years old, I graduated from kindergarten in the recent graduation promotion. I’m in first grade now and my mother is helping me go to school. I’m happy today I got a bag, notebook, pencil. It’s the first time I receive such a beautiful gift, I thank each and every donor.”
Finally, we would also like to thank everyone who supported our third “Taste of Haiti” dinner fundraiser. Thank you to the students who volunteered to sell tickets, serve food, and help with the raffles. A special thank you to Professor Robert Lofthouse and the SUNY Broome Engineering Club. Thank you to B Families Restaurant for the wonderful food. Thanks to our guest speakers for their inspirational messages. Thanks to those who donated items to our raffle. And thank you to everyone who joined us to celebrate Haitian culture. It was especially wonderful to see some former Health for Haiti students who were able to attend!
Happy Thanksgiving to all and thank you for your generous support of Health for Haiti. We would not be able to continue this work without you!
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