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On Wednesday, February 12, at 8 p.m. the container that was sent through the generosity of Ann Zon and her team from the Buffalo, NY, area arrived in Jacmel. Ann, is a former Felician Sister who always wanted to be a missionary but could not. She left the Felicians but continued to have a missionary heart, going to Nicaragua many rimes a year. When she heard that the Felician Sisters have a mission in Haiti, she contacted us and offered to help by sending a container. Half of the container was filled with donations that Ann gathered for the poor and the other half was filled with medical supplies collected by SM Giovanni from Livonia, MI.

The next morning, the container, filled with 990 boxes, had to be emptied within a few hours since the truck and the container needed to be returned to Port au Prince. With the help of a few strong friends, we did it in two hours. Boxes and medical supplies were everywhere. We needed to store these boxes and take them back to our house where we have the clinic office and medical supply room. The rest of the boxes went back into our container. Boxes that were full of clothes, shoes and toys were distributed to the poor in the mountains. As you can imagine, we have been very busy this past week.🚚

The Confirmation class from St. Gabriel’s, Saddle River, NJ, had a bake sale to raise money to buy new black shoes for our kids. On Saturday, we brought our first group to the market to get new black shoes for school and church.

In the afternoon, they wanted to go with us for Mass at the Missionaries of Charity. Of course, they wanted to wear their new shoes. 😉 After Mass we visited the little children and babies for which the Sisters care.

One day the children came and told us that they saw Pope Francis on TV, and they said they liked him very much. They asked if Pope Francis would come to Haiti. We simply said, “Why don’t you invite him?” The next day the children started to come with letters for the Holy Father. In the letters, they invited him to Jacmel, telling him how beautiful Haiti is. They also wrote about their lives and their need for help. They thanked him for sending us here, and asked him to help us to help them.

We sent the letters with some pictures to the Vatican.

From January 19 – February 3, we were busy about the Felician Haiti mission in NJ and PA. We were invited to Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Wallington, NJ, for their Saturday and Sunday Masses, to share our journey of evangelization of presence in Haiti. Since it was Catholic Schools Week, we also visited Most Sacred Heart of Jesus grammar school.

The primary reason we had come to the States was to participate in the Haiti Mission Orientation III meeting with members of the council and the support group of the Haiti mission. The meeting, held at the central convent in Coraopolis, PA, was needed for making some important decisions; it very fruitful.

We also had the opportunity to meet with some of our Felician Associates and others who are interested in supporting the Felician Mission in Haiti.

We met with members of Felician College faculty to discuss the volunteer program in Haiti and to begin plans for another mission experience in Jacmel. We had appointments with three other parishes: St. Patrick’s, Jersey City, NJ, whose medical mission team will be coming in March; St. Gabriel’s, Saddle River, NJ, whose parish involvement has them twinning with the mission at St. Yves; and Our Lady Queen of Peace, Maywood, NJ, whom we thanked for their donation of school supplies which had been sent to us last month.

As you can see, it was a full two weeks…always on mission. 😊

Soon boarding…we will write about our two-week stay in NJ and PA on the next stop on the journey home to Jacmel!

Everytime we come to the airport, we see more and more positive changes. This time we are enjoying delicious Haitian coffee. As we were beginning this blog, a gentleman approached us and wanted to talk to us. Charlie Priestly is the President of COLIBRI-HAITI S.A.; his company takes care of all the aircrafts here at the airport. We had a wonderful conversation and learned a lot about this facility. Of course, we invited him to Jacmel.

This is how our people travel…

Melinda and Jean-Philip are now settled in their new home (room) of their own. Before we left for the States, we visited them. They are so happy with their own home. This time we were able to give them two new pillows. This is the first time in their lives they have pillows. For Melinda and Jean-Philip, there is no place like home!

Riley Fuchs of St. Gabriel Parish, Saddle River, NJ, was so moved by the plight of the Haitian children that she decided to help them in a very tangible way. On the occasion of her seventh birthday, Riley did not receive gifts for herself, but she wanted the gift that keeps on giving. She asked her guests to bring items for the children of Haiti. This picture is a testimony to the other children’s generosity and the joy that Riley experienced by giving rather than receiving. In Riley’s own words: “I felt really happy to give these toys and shoes to the children of Haiti!” Thank you, Riley, for this beautiful example of love and generosity! Mesi anpil. Bondye beni ou.