Dear Hope for Haiti Friends and Family:
In a year of unprecedented challenges, we are incredibly grateful to have your support to help us improve education, healthcare, access to clean water, and economic opportunity for families in Haiti.
This November, I traveled to Haiti where I was able to visit our team, check in on projects, and see for myself how Hope for Haiti has been navigating the challenges of the past year.
While Haiti has been very fortunate to have low rates of COVID-19 transmission, it was clear that the economic and social impacts of the pandemic have directly and indirectly taken their toll. The most pressing challenges for families continue to be access to things we all believe to be basic human rights—education, food, healthcare, and the opportunity for upward economic mobility.
Throughout my trip, I was moved to see how dedicated our team of 70 staff in Haiti are to the care, support, and general well-being of our partners and the families we help serve. It was visible when I visited our health clinic that was full with more than 125 patients waiting to access healthcare and medication. It was evident when I traveled out to the countryside to check in on school construction projects, a nutrition project, and our school garden program. I was inspired with each conversation I had with my colleagues in Haiti, who are persevering every day on the front lines in the fight against global poverty.
More than anything, the trip reinforced my belief that your support is essential, and it enables our team to help solve critical problems for children, parents, and grandparents in Haiti as they seek a pathway to a better life.
There were more than a few moments during my trip that I thought about the generosity we received from all of our donors. I want to make sure you know how grateful our entire organization is for your guidance, collaboration, and care as it relates to Hope for Haiti’s financial health and programmatic impact. Knowing that you are on our side when we are faced with navigating so much uncertainty gives me great comfort, and for that I am grateful.
As you consider making a year-end gift to support our work, I’d like to suggest three simple ways you can directly help families in Haiti:
1. Make a recurring gift to help us import and distribute life-saving medications and medical supplies. By donating $50 a month for one year, you can help us import and distribute $100,000 worth of life-saving medication for children, parents, and grandparents in Haiti.
2. Sign up to compete in the 2021 Hike for Haiti Challenge: 100% of the proceeds of the #HikeforHaiti (including your registration fee) will provide students, teachers, and Community Health Workers with vital support through Hope for Haiti’s education and public health programming.
3. Support our COVID-19 response: Help us continue to help families mitigate the economic, social, and health impacts of COVID-19 in Haiti.
Thank you again for being part of the positive impact we are making in Haiti. I want to wish you and your families a joyful holiday season.
With gratitude,
Skyler Badenoch
Hope for Haiti CEO
Hope for Haiti Featured on Charity Navigator Blog
At Hope for Haiti, we’ve had experience with natural disasters, political/civil unrest, and many other challenges. When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, those experiences gave us a unique advantage to quickly form an effective programmatic response to the crisis and best prepare our staff for what was to come. The pandemic presented one challenge, however, that we – and the nonprofit industry at-large – had not yet faced at such a grand scale: a crisis that affects the health and economy of both program beneficiaries and donor bases at the same time. With in-person fundraising events no longer an option, our team was tasked with finding novel ways to connect donors to our mission – without donors having to leave their homes. We try hard to learn from our experiences, build those learnings into our organizational strategy and daily work, and share best practices with others so we can all be better.
Read our full guest post here.
Staff Blog: Developing a 3-5 Year Vision for our Economy Program at the American Express Leadership Academy
Three of our team members (Meg Orazio, Chief Impact Officer; Linda Thélémaque, Country Director; and Christina Baptiste, Economy Program Manager) participated in the American Express Leadership Academy at the ASU Thunderbird School of Management this fall. To read their reflection on the program and how the skills they learned have helped shape the future of our Economy Program, click here.
