June 2021
Share & Connect Quarterly Newsletter
Bon Samaritan School Exists Through You
South Florida Haiti Project's priority commitment is education. Bon Samaritan School exists through the donations of all you. Your donations pay the salaries for teachers/staff of Pre-K through 8th Grade. Parents pay a very modest tuition as they are able. This ongoing support of Bon Samaritan is challenging and yet has perhaps the biggest impact long-term for the community of Bondeau. We believe education can be the key to a bright future for the young people of this rural community. Learn more here...
As Covid-19 is now escalating in Haiti, the Haitian Dept. of Education is requiring all schools to close the school year early to help deter the spread of the virus. Therefore, Bon Samaritan will close by mid-June a few weeks earlier than normal. Thankfully, the students will still be able to take their end-of-year national exams. The 2020-2021 school year has been unique (just as it has been world-wide); however, Bon Samaritan staff and students have persevered with determination and faith. Congratulations for a job well-done!

We give thanks for the hundreds of donors who make education for the children of Bondeau possible through Bon Samaritan School. You make it happen with your faithful donations.
Haiti Needs Your Prayers... More Than Usual
The country of Haiti desperately needs our prayers. Growing unrest and surging violence are endangering the people of Haiti. This affects all aspects of life-- their safety, economy, food supply, ability to be on the roads, and peace of mind. The ongoing political unrest is peaking with a June 17 national referendum. A kidnapping explosion is terrorizing Haiti. Learn more here...
NEW Healthcare Plan!
Your support is needed...

The SFHP Healthcare Coordinating Team has collaborated with our Haitian healthcare professionals to formulate a plan for Bondeau to have regular, ongoing healthcare. Working as a team, Bondeau will have:

  • SFHP School Nurse 5 days a week
  • Monthly visits by a ARNP (Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner)
  • Quarterly visits by a doctor who will also be available for consultation and telehealth when necessary.

This team will begin with a 2-day Mobile Clinic at Bondeau supported by nursing students from our partner FSIL (the nursing school in Leogane)
Funds are needed to begin this plan as soon as possible.

Will you please help bring this healthcare to Bondeau?
Bathroom Project Complete! Potable Water Piping Project to Now Begin!
The bathroom project is complete bringing sanitation to the school! In the Fall when school begins students and staff will have 12 functioning bathrooms and 2 showers available to those living on campus. The UTO grant awarded in 2020 to South Florida Haiti Project is specifically for this bathroom project as well as piping clean, potable water into the community.
The potable water project will begin very soon piping water from the closest potable water source, a spring located approximately 1-1/2 miles up the mountain from Bondeau. Each day every family has had to walk up the mountain and carry back water. The piping project will bring the water into the heart of the community so that water is more easily available and with much less risk of contamination. A critical need long-awaited will be met with this major project. Thank you UTO for making this possible!

“Access to safe water and adequate sanitation services has proved to be one of the most efficient ways of improving human health. [It also] has other important benefits ranging from the easily identifiable and quantifiable (costs avoided and time saved) to the more intangible and difficult-to-measure (convenience, well-being, dignity, privacy, and safety).” -- UN World Water Development Report
A GREAT Success
Story!
300 connections were made with 300 Bondeau students!
Because we could not PACK food to send this year, we PAIRED to provide school lunches. 300 sponsors paired with 300 Bondeau students!
EVERY student will now have lunch next school year (Sept 2021-July 2022)!
YOU made it happen... thank you to all who sponsored and donated!

Many sponsors wrote an encouraging note that was translated into Creole and will be delivered to each classroom.
Community Food Shipment Sent from Good Shepherd in Tequesta!

As their Lenten Outreach project this year, Church of the Good Shepherd in Tequesta's ambitious goal was to raise enough to fill a whole container of beans and rice to be shipped to Bondeau for the community.

Through their caring and generosity they did it! $15,770 was raised providing a whole container of rice and beans plus some extra for dried vegetables and spices!
The container was shipped and arrived in Bondeau during May just in time for the community's annual food distribution on Haitian Mother's Day May 30th. Community members packed it into 25 lb bags. Over 400 families went home from church with a bag of beans and rice! What a gift to the community especially during this time of such need with markets closed due to Covid-19!
Strategic Planning Work Underway!

An extraordinary year with extraordinary challenges requires extraordinary planning for the future. SFHP Board engaged with nationally-acclaimed speaker, author and strategy consultant Christina Drouin to evaluate and create the next steps for our growing mission. Two workshops have produced our SFHP Vision for the next 5 years:
Strengthen partnership with the children, women & men of Bondeau, Haiti
—invisible on maps & charts—
to ensure that all are seen, heard, known, valued and
can benefit from life-sustaining and life-enhancing opportunities.

This builds on our existing Mission:
Our with shared partnership with the people of Bondeau, Haiti is to journey together embracing the transformative power of God's love.

Six Strategic Drivers identified are:
  • Enhancing sustainable educational programs that meet community needs
  • Achieving sustainable health and wellness structures and initiatives
  • Implementing a sustainable economic model
  • Building structures and processes that advance organizational maturity and demonstrate non-profit best practices while affirming and leverraging Episcopal identity.
  • Expanding partnerships and volunteer corps

Goals and strategies have been adopted and plans for implementation are in development— all tools to bring our Vision to reality in the next five years.
You.... Are Part of the SFHP Village
Yes, it does take a village and about $177,950.26 to do what SFHP is called to do in our partnership with Bondeau. Take a look at the pie chart! When we reach this goal it means that all of our initiatives are funded for 2021…

Picture the children, women and men of Bondeau when we can fully fund the goals of our new Strategic Plan! Education, Food, Water and Healthcare…it is all here in the budget!

Now we move to the income side of the equation. How exactly can we raise $177,950.26? We are off to a good start with $ 85,338.23 already funded so far in 2021 and another $ 64,395 that is committed by our existing partners/grants towards our goal! We are extremely grateful for every donation. $28, 217.03 to go!

SFHP funds come from:
  • People like you who are reading this article! These General Donations come in throughout the year and with our year-end giving.
  • Generous Partners who have made a commitment to SFHP as part of their annual budgets. Would your congregation or organization like to join them?
  • Events such as our annual Journey with Bondeau which was a virtual event last August and will be this year in October. Then something new is coming in August and September... three regional events to share and connect with old and new friends. 
  • Special Projects like Food Pairing, School Supplies collection, Christmas gifts
  • Generous Grants from The Eastburn Foundation and the Episcopal United Thank Offering for infrastructure.  

We are indeed a village, that spans from South Florida to Bondeau…
will you join us?
South Florida Haiti Project
401-213-5636
info@southfloridahaitiproject.org
www.southfloridahaitiproject.org

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