Tis the season….

As the year comes to a close and we gather with our loved ones to celebrate the Holidays, we all seem to face the dilemma of finding the perfect gift for the people we care about most. A gift of hope and cheer is truly unforgettable.

Which is why we have developed the Give An Angel holiday gift program.

How it works: Simply donate $50 or more to HHA (which will sponsor an orphan at the Kay Anj orphanage this Christmas) in the name of one of the special people on your holiday gift list.  With your donation you can include a note or story that will be published in a special edition HHA newsletter. You can also request a certificate inscribed with your note that you can pass on as a part of the gift.

Think of it as the perfect gift that is changing an orphan’s life! Hurry, this program stops on December 20th!

For more information on the Give An Angel holiday gift program or making tax-deductible end of the year donations please contact April Farms at april@helpinghaitianangels.org.

Thanksgiving Delights

On Thanksgiving Day we’re thankful for
Our blessings all year through,
For family we dearly love,
For good friends, old and new.For sun to light and warm our days,
For stars that glow at night,
For trees of green and skies of blue,
And puffy clouds of white.We’re grateful for our eyes that see
The beauty all around,
For arms to hug, and legs to walk,
And ears to hear each sound.The list of all we’re grateful for
Would fill a great big book;
Our thankful hearts find new delights
Everywhere we look!

By Joanna Fuchs

Happy Thanksgiving from me and everyone at HHA. We are so thankful for our healthy orphans, our staff, our volunteers and all of you!

-April

I wanted to take this time to thank all the people who sponsor HHA and who care so deeply for our kids. We are truly blessed with people who have chosen to see outside of themselves and GIVE. They have given their time, money and hearts to the orphans of Haiti. Their dedication was evident in our latest need – purchasing 36 new mattresses to replace the old ones. Why do the kids need them? Well, the old ones are infested with bed bugs – can you imagine having your child sleep on a mattress that has bugs? I can’t even wrap my mind around that! The HHA team has quickly spread the word about the need and people had stepped up! We currently have 23 of the 36 needed…we are trusting God to continue to touch hearts and provide the rest for our kids.

We feel very blessed to have such a wonderful team of supporters who are making it possible for HHA to change lives!

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Liz

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.” “Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!” After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…” I made a difference for that one.” (written by Loren Eisley)

If you’ve ever wondered how you could make a difference in the world, the starfish story answers that question. Together, we can help improve the lives of our orphans and make our world a better place to live, one child at a time!

-Larry

This picture  is of all of our Kay Anj boys leaving for school!

First, thanks to the generosity of HHA donors, all 28 children started school in October!

They started school late because there was some much needed plus minor construction work being done on the school  building. The new school building also got a fresh coat of paint! Public school is not free in Haiti.  It costs approximately  $100 per year for a child to go to school.  Two handmade uniforms are included in that cost.

The kids all walk from Kay Anj orphanage down a hill on a dirt road to their school (this probably takes 10 minutes).  They’re in school for 5 hours a day and get fed one meal during that time. Unlike most American kids the children of Haiti understand that it’s a privelege to go to school and get an education.They LOVE going to school each day.

More updates on the kids progress at school to come, stay tuned!

-Debbie

Major projects we hope to accomplish on this trip are to install a solar panel and 12-24 volt DC pump to get water, from the ground cistern used to collect rain water and water supplied from our June 2008 Water Project in Bel Aire, into the roof-top cistern.  From there gravity will pull the water down to the kitchen and bathrooms. Roman Style!

Right now our kids use buckets to pull water from the ground cistern.  They use these buckets of water to bathe, wash clothes, and clean dishes.  We hope over the next year to install some type of water filtration system to ensure they can use this water for cooking and drinking.   They also use the water to assist with flushing toilets, which if you’ve ever lost power and lived in the country you know is something that must be kept up with!

In today’s time, it’s very hard to imagine our lives without (clean) water flowing from the tap. Simple things like brushing your teeth, washing your hands and face, washing off fruit or vegetables, getting a drink of water, or doing dishes are exponentially harder to accomplish when your source of water is potentially harmful to your health.

I’ve got a lot of friends whose idea of camping is a night at Embassy Suites.  For those friends the idea of boiling water before you drink it, or washing your dishes, or using it for cooking seems strange.  But boil you must in order to protect yourself from the organisms in water that can make you sick when your water supply is questionable.  Here in the states, Giardia is something that hikers and campers have to be concsious of when drinking from streams or lakes. The same is true in Haiti, along with a host of other potentially harmful organisms and chemicals which find their way into the water from pollution and lack of sanitation.

I’m researching ways to ensure the water we’re supplying is clean and not harmful to our kids.  Ideas on the table include a solar panel pasteurization system, sand filter, and chemically treating the water with clorine.  I’m also interested in ways to test our water supply to make sure it’s clean.  If you’ve got ideas you’d like to share, I’d like to hear them.  Email me at john@helpinghaitianangels.com.

-John

I’m really looking forward to the January trip. We plan to build two huge playgrounds! Each playground will have 22 swings, 4 slides and 4 castles. The Team Leader will be Pastor Dan Kelly from Narrows, VA and his 6 person team. They are paying all their own expenses to go to Haiti and build these. They have done this all over the World. One will be built in a park in Cap Haitien and one will be at an Orphanage in Gris en Garde about 20 miles away. We have to dig 44 holes that will be two feet deep by two feet wide- that’s a big hole ! We look forward to having lots of Haitian help, this will be a huge project. We will take all our own tools and some of the material (swings) and have to buy most of the hardware in Haiti or the D.R. Luckily we have a small generator that we keep down there. It should be awesome, I’ll post the pictures when we get back!

-Bill

Social Networking sites like Facebook are starting to take up more of our time then we’re willing to admit. Forget texting, emails and cell phones why not send someone a quick message or a poke on Facebook to let them know you are thinking about them. It seemed to make sense that since all our HHA members have a Facebook page why shouldn’t HHA? Over a year ago we set-up our page and have been keeping it live with fresh content since, from videos to pictures to fun facts..we are networking with over 300 HHA supporters!

We are excited to announce that we now accept donations through our Facebook page! Believe you me this wasn’t the easiest task, but like all things our Volunteers make stuff happen. If you haven’t visited our Facebook page, check us out, even better post our site to your profile and get your friends on the HHA boat to helping our Haitian Angels.

Check out our page here!

-April

It’s been an incredible first year and we have reached so many meaningful milestones!

Our angels are healthy, they are eating, they are cared for, they have medical attention, a new orphanage, new staff and enrolled in school! A far cry for how we found them a year ago sick with tape worms & scabbies and starving.

Running a grassroots organization can be tough which is why we believe in celebrating each and every positive thing that comes our way.

A BIG thank you to our donors, volunteers,  friends and family! Without you we wouldn’t be here to celebrate!

“Piti piti na rive” – little by little we will arrive

-April

So, I am currently working on the HHA Monthly Newsletter and anyone who has ever used MailPress probably understands my pain complimented by the fact that I have never made a newsletter before  Welcome to the land of grass.. as in grassroots.

I am a little very nervous about our Newsletter since it in many ways is our face and voice to the visitors and donators of Helping Haitian Angels website and our cause. My goals were to provide you with updates on what is happening with our orphans at Kay Anj, what is happening at HHA and information to help you stay connected to the kids and us. Some folks like long and lengthy newsletters while others want their news short & sweet. I have definitely tried my best to accomadate everyone. While considering that while pics and videos would be more fun nobody has the patience anymore to let those kinda mega sized emails load. So, without further adue I bring the HHA Newsletter…….

…You have to sign up for it silly!

A big shout out to my very good friend Allen Blickle who has helped me with a lot of the design components of our website and the newsletter. He has a huge heart and despite his hectic life of living in NYC and being a rockstar he cares about little kids in need and our little angels especially. Thank you Allen for being such a wonderful friend and such a good person! You rock!

-April