HAITI COMMITTEE

Ways to help financially

The Latest from Our Sister Parish in Haiti:

Little by little Cavaillon is rebuilding after finding itself at the epicenter of the 2021 earthquake.  Currently, Monsignor Coissy is  concentrating on the presbytery. The former two-story building, which imploded in the earthquake, contained the church offices and housed Monsignor and the priests who tend the outlying chapels.  The next phase of rebuilding a modified, but more seismic-resistant, structure will cost $37,000.  Monsignor had hoped to complete the project in time for the June 27th feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, patron saint of Haiti and namesake of the main parish in Cavaillon.  He asks us to help if we can.

Monsignor Coissy informs us that growing insecurity around Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, has displaced many people, who now seek refuge in the southern department around Cavaillon, where conditions are relatively calm. Consequently, in addition to continuing to subsidize six schools within Monsignor’s pastoral zone, your contributions to the St. Charles Haiti Committee currently help certain vulnerable families that have been impacted by political insecurity and rising costs across the region.

Thanks to your generosity the St. Charles Haiti Committee has been able to send additional funds, beyond the general tuition and nutrition expenses which has always been the Committee's main focus, to defray some of Mgr. Coissy's parish expenses.  Mgr. Coissy sent a detailed spreadsheet outlining the necessities that he was able to offer 28 new families, who fled to Cavaillon amid the violence in the capital city with little else but the clothes on their backs.

Students of the schools overseen by Msgr. Coissy

On the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, the parishioners of Our Lady of Perpetual Help had a village fair following Mass

His Eminence Cardinal Chibly Langlois, Bishop of Les Cayes, Haiti, with Pope Leo following his election

Our relationship with the St. Charles’ sister parishes located in greater Cavaillon, Haiti is going strong after some 30 years! 

Just as Jesus educated, fed, and healed those He encountered in and around Galilee, so do we at St. Charles—through the generosity of parishioners, family and friends—work to help educate, feed, and foster good health for the families in greater Cavaillon in these ways:

  • Education: Provide the opportunity for more of the children to go to the Catholic schools by funding part of the costs to operate the elementary schools run by our sister parishes.

  • Nutrition: Provide local farmers a better opportunity to sell their crops while at the same time feeding the children lunch at the sister parish elementary schools by investing in and acquiring rice, beans, et al. from the local agriculture cooperative, KAMAK, as is practical.

  • Health: Foster health awareness and safer water for the sister parish school students and the citizens of Cavaillon by funding the cost to drill water wells, install water piping and a cistern at the parish secondary school, teach children about good hygiene, and so forth.

  • Disaster Relief: Respond to critical needs for food, shelter, sanitation, repair and reconstruction following natural disasters and other crises

Cavaillon is a rural (agricultural) community, located on the Cavaillon River in far western Haiti. St. Charles shares with two parishes, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Joseph, both spiritually and materially, and they pray for us in return.

INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING OUR HAITI MINISTRY?

Please contact us at haiticommittee@stcharleschurch.org to learn more about joining the Haiti Committee or helping provide financial support.

You may contribute financially online through St. Charles’s eGiving platform, PushPay.

Or, send a check or drop off a donation at the St. Charles parish office.  In any case we would appreciate your completion and return of the form linked below in order to help us in matching donors and gifts. You can either mail or drop off the donation form at the St. Charles parish office or email it to us at: haiticommittee@stcharleschurch.org. 

To receive periodic updates on the work of the Haiti Committee and to learn how your donations are helping our brothers and sisters in Haiti, please email haiticommittee@stcharleschurch.org

Thank you to all who donate generously to support the children in Cavaillon, Haiti

How your donations are put to use:

Thanks to your support, during the 23-24 school year, St. Charles sent some 101,500 in critical funding to Haiti.

  • Education: $40,000 for children's educational needs

  • Nutrition: $20,000 for school lunches at six schools

  • Parish Needs and Disaster Relief: $40,500 for general parish needs and rebuilding efforts, including funding for urgent repairs, reconstruction and temporary classrooms after the 2021 earthquake, including  $1500 to hire a school nurse/psychologist to help the children cope, $300 for the agricultural cooperative, $2150 for office equipment demolished in quake and $13,000 to rebuild St. Martin de Tours.

  • Total Administrative Expenses: $216 in international wire transfer fees and approximately $325 in fees for credit card donations

Committee Members: 

  • Marcio DelaCruz

  • John Dettling

  • Kathy Gunther

  • JoAnn Koob

  • Drew Kraisinger

  • Lynnette LeMat

  • Sue MacIntyre

  • Sarah Mareno

  • Jean McCue

  • Jeff Porter

  • Kristen Russo

  • Caroline Young