Fourth Quarter 2019 Newsletter

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support for the Schools for Haiti mission. Without your support, our mission would not be possible. Schools for Haiti is making a difference in the lives of our students through the Word of God, education, and nutrition. The fourth quarter of 2019 brought unique challenges. We believe our perseverance in this time has only made us stronger and more resolute to accomplish our mission. We would like to thank our mission teams, ministry partners and staff for all of their hard work this quarter.

Your support has allowed us to provide a Christ-centered education to nearly 2,000 students in ten schools. Thanks to your generous giving, we are serving nearly 10,000 nutritious meals every week. Schools for Haiti would like to thank all our school sponsors, donors, short-term missionaries and prayer partners for their support.

Update on Political Situation in Haiti

We are happy to say that there has been a breakthrough with the political situation in Haiti. The President of Haiti has regained control of the roadways and arrested some of the key opposition leaders who were causing problems and paralyzing the country. Our US Director, Matt Perry took a short trip to Haiti at the beginning of the year and has reported that a sense of normalcy has returned. There is a feeling of relief, peace, and calm present in the people. Commerce is back to normal and our students are back in school after the Christmas break. We thank you for your prayers and commitment to help make a difference even in the most difficult times.

Update from Milca Pierre, Managing Director in Haiti

Greetings from Haiti to all Schools for Haiti supporters. What a whirlwind these last 3 months have been! I know many of you are aware and have been praying for the end of the political crisis throughout the country. Over the last three months, there was a severe gas and diesel shortage, roads were often blocked and prices for everyday food items doubled. Despite these hardships, our staff buckled down and continued to work closely with our school principals. We hosted a principal’s luncheon where our principals developed a new format for report cards, worked on their individual Strategic Action Plans and learned how to become better leaders and stewards of their communities. We implemented a plan to make sure that our students weren’t missing out on getting a quality education and daily nourishment. We also rolled out a special program that allowed our teachers to come into the schools and prepare lesson plans to make up for missed school days. We gave out bags of food to students in various communities where our schools are located. Finally, while most of the country remained shut down, we opened our schools in December. We closed out the year with a Christmas celebration at each school and distributed a food gift, with a two-week supply of food, to all of our students, teachers, principals, and school staff members.

The biggest lesson that I’ve learned, after reflecting on the things that our team was able to accomplish during a time of crisis, is that my definition of “crisis” was all wrong. I used to think that a crisis meant I had to stop or give up on whatever it was that I was trying to do and choose another route. Now I truly understand that crisis only means to “pause, regroup and approach things differently.” God is always in control and all things work together for the good of those who love Him. Your prayers and support have helped carry us through this time of crisis. I want you to know that we are in this fight together and that when we persist in the face of difficulty, we can and will be triumphant.

Highlights from Quarter Four

✦ On October 19th Schools for Haiti held our annual fundraiser and gala in Tampa. Our theme for this year’s event was “Dare to Dream.” We are proud to announce that this was our most successful fundraising event in the history of our organization. We were able to gross over $252,000. SFH would also like to congratulate Scott and Jaime Estes on receiving the Phillip Elmeer Award for outstanding support and service in 2019. Thank you to all of the attendees, organizers, and volunteers who made this such a successful event.
✦ As Milca mentioned, our goal was to send each one of our students and staff members home with a two-week supply of food for the Christmas break. This was a meaningful challenge on so many fronts. The cost of each food gift was $15 and we had to purchase the food, prepare the packages and distribute each one to every person in 8 schools. Not only was this a logistical challenge, it was also a fundraising challenge since this gift is outside of the cost of our operating budget. Thanks to your faithful giving we were able to raise the $20,000 needed to distribute over 1300 food gifts. Our students and staff members were extremely grateful to have such a generous supply of food to bring home to their families. Did I mention that each package weighed almost 50 pounds? This was a great way to get the parents over to the schools to help their child carry home the food.

Pray for Schools for Haiti
✦ Please pray for our students, their families, our teachers, staff, and principals.
✦ Pray for the people we are reaching through local community outreach and local churches. Pray they would hear the gospel and respond in such a way that would transform their lives.
✦ Pray for our mission teams who are serving with us in 2020.
✦ Pray for sustainable peace in the political situation in Haiti. Pray for good leadership in the Haitian government.
✦ Pray for God to raise Christian leaders within our schools.
✦ Pray for the ongoing fundraising and development efforts of the Educational Vision Complex.
✦ Pray for wisdom for our Directors in all things.

Special Support Needs
✦ 15-passenger van for local transportation of our mission and vision teams.
✦ $15,000 donations for each solar electricity system. We need a total of four as one was donated this month!