About Help for Haiti

Help for Haiti was founded by Jim Willey in 2010 in response to the historic
earthquake that devastated most of the country. A Christian 501c3, Help for Haiti
was created specifically to feed and educate children in the northeast area of Haiti,
while simultaneously working with local churches to build businesses and create job
opportunities for future generations of educated, employable young adults. Help for
Haiti utilizes strategic partnerships with organizations that are committed to either
feed, educate or employ communities of impoverished people in Haiti. Since its
inception, Help for Haiti has packed and shipped over 1 million meals to hungry
children in north Haiti

Educate
Our second mission in north Haiti is to educate children, so that they can prepare for
a successful adulthood. Currently, we support initiatives in two schools in north
Haiti: Institution Nouvelle Etoile de Bethlehem in Cap Haïtien and Institution Mixte
Martin Luther in Marmalade.
Haiti’s enrollment rate for primary school is an encouraging 88 percent. Enrollment in
secondary school, however, drops to 20 percent. Additionally, a study by World
Bankreveals that only one third of all Haitian children age 14 are in the appropriate

grade for their age.

When malnourished, children are incapable of learning due to hunger and fatigue.
And when children have irregular class attendance, they are unable to pass Haiti’s
National Exam and progress to the next grade. We’ve seen this happen, year after
year, and we’ve made it our mission to help resolve the dilemma.
We are alleviating the first of these problems with our Feed initiative. The root of the
latter problem, however, lies deeply within the troubled economics of Haiti: less than
40 percent of parents can afford to pay full school tuition, roughly $25, for their
children to go to school for a full year.
In response to this, we have instituted annual Academic Achievement Awards to
encourage and reward families who are serious about their children’s education.
Every year, we present achievement certificates and New Testament Bibles to every
student who scores higher than a 7.0 of 9.0 on the annual Haiti National Exam, and
students with a 7.0 or higher receive a financial scholarship to help pay for the next
year’s books, uniform and tuition.
These awards are changing the children’s perception of the importance of education
to their future, while also communicating the economic value of education to their
parents. Read about our 2016 Awards Ceremony in Institution Mixte Martin Luther to
get an idea of the progress we are making.

In addition to improving yearly student retention,

we are also working to improve the quality of the students’ education. In 2015 we
launched a partnership with One Hen, a self-sustaining enrichment program
designed to empower children to become social entrepreneurs by instilling within
them four values: financial responsibility, personal initiative, global awareness and
giving back. With great help from our donors, we worked with our Haitian
counterparts to translate the entire One Hen program into Haitian Creole. In June
2016, we completed a successful pilot project, of the now “Yon Poul” program,
in Institution Nouvelle Etoile de Bethlehem. In November 2016, we extended the
program to the Institution Mixte Martin Luther, in Marmalade.
The One Hen program is instilling children with skills in sustainable business and
social entrepreneurship, driving forward our mission to educate youth so that they
are prepared for employment after graduation. Read about our latest One Hen
updates in our blog.
Donate here to support the needs of the One Hen program, or to provide an Award
recipient with a scholarship to pay for their next year of tuition.

Employ
Our third and final mission in Haiti is to prepare young adults for employment.
Ultimately, our goal is to assist them in obtaining local jobs to secure their future and
stimulate the economy.
Haiti’s current unemployment rate is alarming. Only 60 percent of employable adults
are able to maintain regular employment and, still, most struggle to make ends meet.
On average, teachers in Cap Haïtien live on less than $1200 USD a year. Teachers
in rural areas, such as Marmalade, live on a fraction of this.
We recognize that the next generation of Haiti’s young business leaders rely on the
efforts of their teachers and instructors to achieve success. We also recognize the
teachers’ desire for a regular income, so that they can focus their energies on their
students, rather than on whether or not they can afford to feed their families.
Therefore, we’ve made a commitment to the Institution Nouvelle Etoile de
Bethlehem and Institution Mixte Martin Luther to subsidize the salaries of the full
teaching staff, as well as those in major supporting roles.

Our partnership with One Hen also supports our efforts to employ the people of north
Haiti. Our Educate initiative explains that the One Hen, “Yon Poul” program is
designed to educate children in sustainable business and social entrepreneurship.
However, in order to convey these ideas to the children, we must first equip the
educators.
Help for Haiti has successfully managed the training of over 20 instructors in the One
Hen program. Now, these teachers are not only prepared to run the program with
their students, they are also qualified to guide training sessions for their fellow
teachers in the future! The One Hen program has the potential to self-propagate
throughout all of Haiti. Our hope is that it will serve as a source of continuing
education for teachers, while also equipping students with skills in math, literacy,
strategic sales and marketing, business management and more.
The final part of our employment initiative is to work with those in the community who
are employable, right now. With the help of your shoe and clothing donations, we
jumpstarted a small business called Se Pa Pe’Pe’ with four women in Cap Haïtien.
For two years we coached the women in business development and
management. Now, the women are making plans to develop their own products to

sell.
Your generous donations also provided the funds to hire local contractors to rebuild
the Institution Mixte Martin Luther school in Marmalade. Soon after, the same
contractors added a large retaining wall to ensure the school’s structural integrity
amidst heavy rainfall and wind. In the near future, we hope to employ the contractors
to add additional classrooms and a playground to the school.
The development of employment opportunities in north Haiti is the long-term
ultimatum for lasting, positive change in the country. Read about our most
recent One Hen Teacher Training, and our work with Se Pa Pe’Pe’.

The clinic will have

examination and
procedure rooms on
the first floor, Shapira
said.
To help pay for the
operations, the second
floor will be a guest
house for visiting
volunteers and tourists
who would otherwise
stay at a hotel, he said.
Tourism is part of
Haiti's recovery plan,
the mayor said. The
island nation has
beautiful beaches and
a rich history.