About Hope for Haiti

Hope for Haiti is focused on providing support and partnership to the Haitian people every single day.

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Our Vision

Joyful children; healthy families; thriving communities; and the resources to make it so.

Our Mission

To improve the quality of life for the Haitian people, particularly women and children.

Our History

In 1989, one visit to Haiti was all it took for the country’s children to capture the heart of JoAnne M. Kuehner, the founder of our organization. A young girl asked JoAnne if she would pay her tuition, allowing the child to stay in school, to which JoAnne immediately agreed.

Our Founder, JoAnne M. Kuehner

That same year, JoAnne established Hope for Haiti, committing her trust and financial support to local leaders striving to improve educational access in their communities. She also rallied friends and acquaintances from Naples, Florida, to join her efforts. In 1999, in partnership with Dr. Keith Hussey, Hope for Haiti formally registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States and began providing nutritional support for pregnant women and children under five, as well as financial and logistical assistance for families with urgent healthcare needs.

Between 1999 and 2009, Hope for Haiti delivered more than $40 million in aid to the people of Haiti. By 2009, Hope for Haiti was annually supporting 37 partner schools, distributing $15 million in donated medications and medical supplies to more than 60 partners, operating the Infirmary St. Etienne in Les Cayes with a full-time medical staff, providing nutritional support to 5,000 children, and responding to hurricanes with emergency relief funds and supplies. In 2009, Hope for Haiti expanded its programs to address access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH), reforestation, and the construction of school, water and electricity infrastructure.

In response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Hope for Haiti set up a trauma center to support the Port-au-Prince General Hospital, distributed more than $45 million in emergency relief supplies and medical materials to internally displaced people (IDP) and hospitals, and established a clinic in the Don Bosco IDP Camp serving over 10,000 people. That same year, HFH also launched its Back to School program, providing partner schools with resources to start each school year, and initiated its Public Health program, hiring and training 24 Community Health Workers embedded in partner communities.

In 2011, Hope for Haiti formally registered as Fondasyon Kuehner (FK) with the Haitian government. From 2011 through 2019, FK/HFH continued to expand its Haitian staff to 50 employees, distributed nearly $92 million in gift-in-kind medications and medical supplies, and provided more than 80,000 medical and dental consultations. FK/HFH also expanded its work to include Economic Development activities.

Hope for Haiti/Fondasyon Kuehner’s impact has increase dramatically since 2020. The organization now procures and distributes more than $25 million of gift-in-kind medications and medical supplies to partners across Haiti each year. Our Healthcare Program now includes mobile clinics in rural communes throughout the Greater South, in addition to the Infirmary St. Etienne, collectively providing around 100,000 primary care and dental consultations each year. Our Nutrition Program continues to provide vital support to 5,000 children under five each year and we are the leading designated provider of vaccinations for infants in the region.

FK/HFH continues to assist communities rebuilding infrastructure following the magnitude 7.2 earthquake which struck southern Haiti on August 14, 2021. Our Education Program provides teacher salary subsidies, teacher and administrator training, back to school funding, public health education, school gardens, and infrastructure projects which support the education of more than 7,000 students annually. Additionally, FK/HFH provides post-secondary scholarships to 50 graduates from partner schools each year, covering tuition and textbook costs for up to five years and connecting them with mentors in their chosen fields.

In 2026, Hope for Haiti employs about 90 people in Haiti, nearly all of whom are Haitian nationals, supported by a team of eleven staff in the United States. Our Public Health team now includes Community Health Workers embedded in each of our 24 partner communities, who provide education on chronic disease management, WASH and cholera prevention.

Our Core Values

Resilience

Through our actions and our results, we help people lead more resilient lives. We have the experience and the passion to recover quickly from difficult conditions.

Empowerment

We believe that our role is to increase people’s opportunity to improve their own lives.

Accountability

We are responsible stewards of our resources. We are committed to our mission and the goals we set forth to improve the lives of the Haitian people.

Collaboration

We connect and partner with others to make our mission stronger. Our partnerships are founded on trust, similar core values, and transparency.

Hope

We share a fundamental belief that in the face of life’s challenges, there is always a pathway to a better life.

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