Cary, N.C. – Hope for Haiti Foundation, a nonprofit Haitian community development organization based in Raleigh, N.C., announced the launch of a major capital campaign and a child sponsorship program this weekend at Hope Community Church’s Global Hope event. Money raised during the capital campaign, which has a goal of $1 million by August 2010 and is the organization’s largest fundraiser to date, will be dedicated to construction and operating costs for a hospital and dorm in the town of Bainet, Haiti.
The Global Hope Weekend was sponsored by Hope Community Church, a non-denominational church based in Raleigh-Cary, N.C., with a satellite campus in Holly Springs, N.C. The Global Hope Weekend was designed to raise awareness of the church’s international humanitarian partnerships, including Hope for Haiti Foundation.
“We are so thankful to Hope Community Church for this opportunity and for their continued support of Hope for Haiti Foundation,” said Jean Elade Eloi, founder of HFHF. “We have been dreaming of an event like this for 10 years, and we couldn’t have asked for a better forum to launch our fundraising initiative. We know we can reach our goal with partners like Hope Community Church.”
The Global Hope Weekend was a huge success for HFHF. The estimated attendance at both campuses over the weekend is nearly 5000 people. Interviews with Eloi, Medical Director of HFHF Mary Ellen Decker, and volunteer Kim Sniffen moved the congregation to action. More than 10 thousand dollars were raised for the foundation’s goals.
Hope for Haiti Foundation was founded in 1999 by Eloi, a native Haitian who, from the time he moved to the United States as a young child, felt compelled to help improve the quality of life in Haiti. The foundation focuses on education, medical care and community development, with the goal of equipping and empowering Haitians to change their own nation one life at a time.
In its first decade, HFHF conducted medical clinics, built a school and planted a church in a remote village of Haiti, Zorangé. As the foundation began to expand, it saw an incredible need for more wide-spread medical care through construction of a hospital, and in late 2008, HFHF was able to purchase the two buildings that will be retrofitted into the hospital and dorm.
The money raised during the capital campaign will go toward construction, medical equipment and initial operating costs for the hosptial. Once complete, the hospital will provide access to medical care for more than 500,000 people in the Bainet area, as well as people from other parts of Haiti who are often willing to travel long distances to get medical help. The hospital will also help create jobs in the community, from nurses and doctors to maintenance and grounds crews.
“Access to medical care can completely transform a community,” said Decker. “Basic prenatal care will sharply reduce the numbers of mothers that die during child birth, quick treatment of cuts will prevent deaths from avoidable infections, children who would normally die from a cleft palate or diarrhea will now have a chance to grow up, get an education and change their community. The economic benefits of the hospital in the community are numerous.”
In addition to announcing its capital campaign, HFHF announced their revamped child sponsorship program, which will help provide education to children who currently do not have the opportunity to attend school. Less than 15 percent of Haitian children are able to attend secondary school; HFHF aims to address this by building schools in the community and by training teachers and working with the Haitian government to improve educational methods and access.
“When people are given access to medical care and education, not only do living conditions improve, but the cycle of poverty is broken,” said Eloi. “The opportunity to learn and to live a healthly, long life empowers people to transform their own nation, to be the change Haiti needs. Haiti is not a hopeless nation. The Haitian strength of spirit provides a rock-solid foundation; we’re just building on that.”
HFHF hopes to begin construction on the hospital as early as March 2010.
For more information about Hope for Haiti Foundation, the “Build A Hospital, Sponsor a Child” project and the million-dollar fundraising initiative, please visit www.hopeforhaitifoundation.com
