Links
All of the organizations below are receiving donations to respond to the earthquake in Haiti. You can trust them all to do wonderful work with great integrity.
Beyond Borders: This organization works with a sister organization in Haiti called "Limye Lavi" to promote education in Haiti. They do this in all kinds of creative and soulful ways which are all deeply respectful of Haitian culture, religion, and history. They are the antithesis of all the missionaries of past eras which failed to distinguish between cultural imperialism and "spreading the gospel." The organization was originally started by Tony Campolo. They host trips to Haiti, have a program through which individuals can live in a Haitian village for a year, address the problems of child servitude in Haiti, and many other things. Great people and a great organization.
Fonkoze Bank: This is a bank system and network in Haiti that was established to give the poorest of the poor access to banks and related services. It was established by a Catholic priest and friend of ours named Fr. Joseph Phillipe. This is the bank we and countless other organizations use to wire money to Haitian organizations and individuals. They have developed wonderful micro-credit programs and literacy programs, and we are proud to be affiliated with this amazing organization.
Haiti Partners. This is a new organization founded by our very good friends John Engle and Kent Annan who have both lived in Haiti for many years. They now live about half-time in Florida, and half-time in Haiti. When they chose the name for their organization, they did not realize that we already were using that name! They secured the URL first, which is why our own group now refers to itself as Haiti Allies! We’ve forgiven them for taking our name! They do fantastic work in Haiti, and have a great website which will do a wonderful job of keeping folks updated on how things are going in Haiti. John and his family were in Haiti when the earthquake struck. We strongly recommend their work, and you can make donations online through their website.
The What If? Foundation: What If? was founded by our close friend Margaret Trost in 2000. Margaret traveled to Haiti with Haiti Allies member Bryan Sirchio on a trip in January of that year, and she developed a friendship with Fr. Jerry Jean-Juste who spoke with the group Bryan was leading. Fr. Jean-Juste spoke of his desire to start a meal program in his church neighborhood to feed hungry children, and Margaret’s heart and spirit connected immediately to this dream. Under her amazing leadership, this foundation has grown to the point at which it now feeds about 1000 children and 250 adults 5 times a week, and also sends over 100 students to school. Margaret has written a book about her journey with What If? called On That Day Everybody Ate. Paul Farmer, the well known physician who is the focus of the book by Tracy Kidder called Mountains Beyond Mountains, wrote the forward to the book. We hope you’ll read Margaret’s book and learn more about What If’s work.