Outreach to Haiti. Scholarships for Poor but Promising Students. He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who cherishes understanding prospers.

Transcription

1 2700 N. Military Trail, Suite 240 PO Box Boca Raton, Florida PROJECT 0554 Outreach to Haiti Scholarships for Poor but Promising Students He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who cherishes understanding prospers. Proverbs 19:8

2 Project Synopsis Description Catholic ministries are working diligently to help young Haitians recover from the earthquake s disruption of lives, employment and educational programs. Through a successful scholarship program managed by Outreach to Haiti, we will assist 210 children and young adults take important steps to become the next generation of leaders in Haiti. Purpose The program will pay tuition costs for 45 of the 300 students enrolled in the programs at primary, secondary and technical schools, and universities in Petion-Ville and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. These are individuals in the top of their classes who need help to continue their education. Cost $33,000 ($157 per student) to support the tuition of 210 students for one year. Highlights The students must maintain stellar academic achievement to continue to receive a scholarship. The program has a 90 to 95 percent retention rate, and is considered highly successful in its mission of educating the poor. Cross Catholic Outreach is committed to funding education initiatives that build moral and spiritual character an important quality for those who will lead Haiti in the future. For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:6 1

3 Count on Altagracia to Excel Altagracia, 15, lives in an impoverished community with her 17-year-old brother and mother. Her father abandonded the family years ago, leaving Altagracia s mother to struggle making a living as a street merchant. Their difficult life became even more challenging after the 2010 earthquake forced the family to live in a tent camp for more than a year. They now rent a cramped place in Petion-Ville. It is a shelter but hardly a real home. During these difficult times, Altagracia must have longed for the days of her childhood when the family was together and their lives had promise. Uncertain of what the future might bring, Altagracia entered the Outreach to Haiti scholarship program. Today, she is proud of her academic record and enjoys high marks each semester. To continue in this program, she will need Cross Catholic Outreach s support. Altagracia hopes to be an accountant one day, and she intends to study accounting and finance after completing secondary school in three years. A girl of strong moral character, she also wants to volunteer to help children and the elderly as her way to support the rebuilding of Haiti. Altagracia is a model student and a powerful example how effective Outreach to Haiti s scholarship program has become. As she and other needy students come forward seeking help, Cross Catholic Outreach Altagracia s single mother, a struggling street merchant, cannot pay for her education. But with continued support through Cross Catholic Outreach, Altagracia will be able to realize her dream to become a finance professional. The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. Proverbs 18:15 wants to be ready to respond. Only with your help will we be able to open doors that would otherwise be closed to them. 2

4 More than half of Haiti s children are so impoverished they will never go to school, or will attend so sporadically they will grow up to be illiterate adults. Responding to Needs with Wisdom and Mercy Many families in Haiti are so destitute they can t afford to send their children to school. Because of this, approximately 60 percent of school-age children in Haiti will never go to school or will attend classes so sporadically they will be illiterate as adults. Of those blessed enough to have some schooling, only 5 percent have typically finished the entire 13 years needed to receive a high school diploma. Clearly, that s a staggering and depressing number. It is difficult to imagine how Haiti will ever successfully recover from the 2010 earthquake with so many children growing up functionally illiterate and trapped in the mire of poverty. Fortunately, this story need not end with despair. Responding to the need, Outreach to Haiti has developed a wise and effective approach to help. Focusing on providing educational opportunities where they are needed most, the program s leaders have found ways to turn around Haiti s terrible trend toward poverty. Their objective is to get poor but promising children through school and into higher education, including access to universities. The outreach is already beginning to produce great fruit. More than 90 percent of students sponsored by Outreach to Haiti pass the various national exams offered for the lower grade level, and they continue to excel as they move up to the secondary school level. An extraordinary number of them pass the next national exam on their first attempt! This is something even the best private schools in Haiti find difficult to achieve. This success is due in part to the highly personalized nature of the program. If a student is beginning to fail, the ministry works with the family, student and school administrators to devise a plan that includes extra tutoring, promoting more family involvement or other special approaches. All of these things give Outreach to Haiti great credibility and have made the program highly respected among Haiti school administrators who see the value of its approach and the impact of its programs. Giving more young Haitian children an opportunity to work with Outreach to Haiti will have a dramatic impact on both the children and the community. 3

5 A Spiritual Commitment Outreach to Haiti is a ministry of the Diocese of Norwich, Connecticut. It is committed to serving the people of Haiti in the spirit of God and with the values of the Gospel. It provides spiritual support, while offering the poor educational opportunities, health care, and fellowship. A Catholic priest from the Diocese of Norwich is assigned to the mission in Haiti to provide full-time support. He offers counseling and prays with students in the scholarship program. A Catholic sister living at the mission house is also available to the students for spiritual guidance and support. Most of the students attend Catholic schools, and in their frequent visits to the mission house, they and their families can participate in the faith-based mission of Outreach to Haiti. This integral approach to helping the poor is a critical part of every mission Cross Catholic Outreach supports worldwide. We believe that the transforming power of the Gospel is as important to a poor family s recovery as the food, medicines and other tangible resources our parish partners provide. Cross Catholic Outreach strives to help the poor break the cycle of poverty while advancing Catholic evangelization, through projects such as the Outreach to Haiti scholarship program. Our partners agree. They can all tell inspiring stories of how God s love, hope and truth has lifted troubled young men and women out of despair and into a better walk of life. A Profession with Purpose Choeurline Lyncee is 15 years old and lives with her parents and eight other siblings. They were happy to survive the 2010 earthquake, but they struggled with life in a tent city for more than a year following the disaster. Now they are back in their home in Petion-Ville. Although the home they occupy sustained earthquake damage, it is still safer and cleaner then living in the tent city where sanitary conditions are terrible and crime is a constant concern. To survive and make a small living, Choeurline s mother has become a street merchant. Her father works as a mason when he can find jobs. Choeruline entered the Outreach to Haiti Education Program in 2008, and she has always maintained a good academic record. Now in the 10th grade, she wants to continue following her dream to become a pediatrician, but the program will need financial support from Cross Catholic Outreach to keep her in school. Choeruline says she wants to have a profession with purpose to help children and the extremely poor. Your support will help Choeurline accomplish this noble goal. She still needs to finish her secondary education and can only do that with our help. 4

6 Cross Catholic Outreach s Continuing Commitment Once children experience educational opportunities and excel in their studies, they set their sights on even higher goals attending a university. Outreach to Haiti is committed to helping children realize this dream too. Despite the increased expense, we firmly believe that systemic change for the better in Haiti will happen only with an educated and well-trained population and workforce. We feel strongly that it is important to support students in their education beyond high school, said Kyn Tolson, Outreach to Haiti s program administrator. Cross Catholic Outreach hopes to be a part of this ambitious goal too. Based on the success of this appeal, we would like to continue to work with Outreach to Haiti in a significant and ongoing way. Why are we so committed to this work? For an answer, you need only consider the stakes and hear the success story of one of the students who was helped in past years. One such student is Ezechiel. Years ago, living in poverty, he only aspired to attend a school any school. His assumption was that he would grow up illiterate as generations of Haitians had before him. He never dreamed the day he became enrolled through the help of Outreach to Haiti his education would eventually take him to Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia. The youngest of seven children, Ezechiel s father died when he was a toddler, and his mother had to work long hours selling food and trinkets to support the family. Their goal was not a life of ease. Their goal was survival. Thanks to Outreach to Haiti, this life of hardships did not doom Ezechiel to a similarly difficult life. The mission was able to help the boy, and Ezecheil was recently selected as one of two industrial engineering students to attend Virginia Tech for a semester as part of an exchange program with Quisqueya University in Port-au-Prince. Cross Catholic Outreach wants to support this life-changing scholarship program, enabling it to do even more with your help. There are many children in Ezechial s position that could also be given the support and hope he enjoyed. Together, we can lift them out of poverty through this mission. We can give them a chance for a hope and a future. Please don t let bright Haitian students miss out on the wonderful opportunities education can bring! Join us in setting them on a brighter, more fruitful path through life. Proceeds from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures for this project incurred during the current calendar year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry. 5 [nb1208][utn1304][utn1401][utn1505} 2700 N. Military Trail, Suite 240 PO Box Boca Raton, Florida Cross Catholic Outreach. Cost effectively written, designed and printed in-house.