Recently, I have been pondering the work of Elevate Haiti Ministries (EHM), Inc., asking myself whether or not EHM has been making a difference. While EHM has moved twelve boys out of poverty and placed them under our care, there is still one question that gnaws at us: Are we doing enough?
In August 2015, a group of missionaries and Board members from EHM travelled to Haiti to engage in outreach ministries, such as revamping the children’s camp, offering a self-esteem workshop for girls (ages 13- 17) titled “Love Your Selfie”, completing a new home which would house the twelve boys whose ages range from five to fifteen, feeding two hundred patients at a nearby hospital for the mentally ill, distributing school supplies to over two hundred children, and making women’s survival kits available to over sixty women and young ladies.
Our Gissendanner Medical Center only opens to the public when we travel to Haiti because there is a paucity of resources; during our recent visit to Haiti, we served over three hundred and fifty patients. Despite the fact that our organization has created a home for twelve boys, who, otherwise, might have wound up in the streets of Port au Prince begging for scraps of food or worse, it is still not enough; though we have provided many additional services to the members of the community, it still, to much extent, feels as though we have only touched the surface because the fact that many Haitian communities are marred is a perennial issue.
Hence, our desire to help the Haitian people on a regular basis has led us to petition you for your support. It is well known that over 80 percent of the people in Haiti live in poverty. Haiti has for many decades been the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Haitians face a short life expectancy, chronic threats to health, inadequate food production and severe environmental pollution. EHM was created because the founding members witnessed firsthand the plight of underserved children in Haiti—children sleeping in the streets, in cemeteries, in alleyways; children eating out of trash cans, children begging for stale bread to quiet their churning bellies, children stealing, children serving as preys to predators and children who no longer dream about better tomorrows.
While we are excited about the new boys’ home which is located at #22, Ruelle à côté de G.S. Industries Lathan, LaPlaine, P-au-P, Haiti (W,I.), ensuring that we provide for the boys spiritually, educationally, physically, psychologically, and to see to their overall well-being from childhood to adulthood is not an easy task.
Usually, my wife, Chrisandra and I travel to Haiti in December to spend the holidays with the boys and the people of Lathan, Haiti. Unfortunately, because the situation in Haiti is so perilous and unpredictable, we felt the need to postpone our trip this year. However, our responsibility to continue to make a difference in Haiti by providing clean water, shelter, food, clothes and monies to those who are need in Haiti cannot be postponed. Therefore, EHM had its 5th Annual Blessed to Bless fundraiser on November 15, 2015 so we can continue to elevate lives and restore hope in Haiti.
While we are appreciative of the people who helped make it possible for us to raise some funds for the foundation, we are in dire need of your support. We are reminded of Jesus’ words in Mathew 10:42, which says, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”
Thus, if you would like to support a foundation where lives are being transformed in ways that are conspicuous, please visit our website at elevatehaiti.org or contact Roosevelt Mareus at 585-978-5622. All contributions are tax deductible. We thank you in advance and appreciate your prayers and support.
Sincerely,
Roosevelt Mareus
President
Elevate Haiti Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box 24803
Rochester, NY 14624
585-978-5622
www.elevatehaiti.org
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