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Dear Friends of LaVallee Alliance,
Thank you again for your interest and support of our efforts to help the people of LaVallee de Jacmel, Haiti. As you can see from the note from Florine, your donations are making a real difference in the lives of LaVallee students. We have several new projects underway to tell you about!
We are excited to be planning our trip to Haiti, scheduled for the second week of June. We have been meeting with key members of the NGO community here in D.C. involved in the Haitian relief efforts and plan to meet with their counterparts in Port au Prince. We hope to partner with these larger organizations, draw attention to our mountainous rural community, and learn from their expertise as we plan our future programs.
St. Therese Laviale School
Need Sports Uniforms and School Supplies
In preparation for our trip, our team in Haiti has asked that we bring sports uniforms and school supplies. The community sports director has asked us to collect soccer and basketball uniforms to outfit four teams of fifteen students. We are collecting black or blue sport shorts and black, red, or white basketball uniforms in adult small, medium or large sizes. We are also collecting the following school supplies: string backpacks, basic pens, #2 pencils, and composition notebooks. If you would like to donate any of these items, the three of us will be collecting them at our homes from now until June 5th.
School Kitchen Project
Example of a school kitchen
Our team has also asked that we help build a kitchen for the St. Therese Laviale School. As you know, even before the earthquake, families in Haiti struggled to feed their children. It is a harsh reality that many school-age children go all day without food or clean water. The World Food Program assists in feeding the children of rural Haiti by providing meals at their schools. However, the program requires that each school have a safe storage space and a kitchen in which to cook the meals.
St. Therese Laviale School does not have these facilities and thus has not been able to participate in this program. After our kitchen project is completed, approximately 250 students will receive a simple meal of rice and beans at school. For some, this is the most nutritious meal of their day.
Our team in LaVallee has estimated the cost for the kitchen buildings and supplies to be $10,000. We will buy all of the materials in Haiti and hire Haitian workers to build this kitchen. If you would like to become a partner with LaVallee Alliance and the World Food Program on this project, your cash donations would be greatly appreciated.