Dear Hope for Haiti Family,
Since February 7th, nationwide protests in Haïti against government corruption and the rising cost of living have brought nearly all normal activity in the country to a hault. Schools have been closed, hospitals and healthcare clinics have been shut down or operating at minimum capacity, and basic human needs such as food and water have been increasingly scarce.
The cause of this most recent wave of unrest is complex and nuanced, and could fill multiple volumes of history books. The short of it is that when economic poverty, inequality, and disparity of wealth reach such high levels of concentration, humanity revolts—not just in Haïti but throughout the world.
Over the last two weeks, we have received countless emails and phone calls expressing concern for our staff and our partners, and for that we are grateful. All members of our Haïti team are safe, and we have been in constant communication.
We have also received numerous requests asking us what can be done to help, and what’s the solution.
There are no simple answers to these questions. However, our organization has always held a fundamental belief that investing in the Haitian people is the best way to alleviate economic poverty and inequality. So that’s what we will do.
Over the next three years, our Board of Directors, our staff, and our partners are committed to raise $15 million to directly invest in education, healthcare, infrastructure, clean water, and economic opportunity for the betterment of Haïti. We are also committed to importing and distributing more than $30 million in valuable medication (antibiotics, blood pressure medicine, asthma medication, diabetes medication, and deworming pills) that will be used at Hope for Haiti’s infirmary and distributed to our 21 government and non-government healthcare partners in southern Haïti.
To accomplish these two goals, we need your support more than ever. To raise the resources we need over the next three years will require the collective support from individual donors, foundations, and our corporate and Gift-in-Kind partners.
Through good governance, financial controls, and external audits, we can guarantee that every dollar of the funds we raise will be accounted for and spent to support poverty alleviation and economic equality in Haïti.
In solidarity with the Haitian people, we ask you to join us in our mission.
With gratitude,
Skyler Badenoch
CEO, Hope for Haiti