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Hearts to Haiti
Mission statement: As members of St. Simon Church, we commit ourselves to loving the
Haitian children served by the School of the Infant Jesus in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Impelled
by that love, we support the Salesian Sisters in their work to evangelize through education.
Hearts to Haiti Program is always looking for more hearts to help out!
Those wishing to be involved in this Ministry
email or call Kathryn Nixon 843-3538. -
Let's Learn More.....
What is St. Simon Hearts to Haiti? St. Simon Hearts to Haiti ministry manages the relationship and fund-raising activities for the St. Simon Catholic Parish twinning commitment with the School of the Infant Jesus in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Twinning with a school from an undeveloped country is a great privilege; a sacred task, an opportunity to experience the joy of giving and receiving. It is an answering to the call to demonstrate and manifest God’s love in action.Helping Haitians Help Haitians Education is a gift that multiplies in sharing. We help the Haitian Salesian Sisters to educate and feed approximately 900 children and to house 50 girls without family support. St. Simon Parish has been supporting improvements since 1997 such as repairing earthquake damaged school buildings, adding solar panels and a water filtration system, constructing an indoor cafeteria, better bathrooms, and a computer room. We’ve also supported improved teacher training and student scholarships. In 2002, the school grew to include 7 th – 9 th grade and a technical school. It is the only school to offer this educational level within a large urban area. The school is highly regarded for the quality of education it offers. In the official exams, 99% to 100% of their pupils routinely pass. Over the years, the Salesian Sisters have helped many families in this disadvantaged Haitian neighborhood escape their extreme poverty.Relationship-building St. Simon parishioners routinely travel to Haiti to visit the School of the Infant Jesus (link to photos). Sr. Marie-Mercie, a Salesian Sister teaching at the School of the Infant Jesus, visited St. Simon Parish in 2014 (link to photos). The school children in Ludington and Haiti have shared songs and questions via SKYPE. It was inspiring to see a teacher, who had lost the use of her legs during the 2010 earthquake, leading her 4 th grade students in a joyful song. Frequent power outages at the School of the Infant Jesus used to make it challenging to schedule SKYPE and e-mail conversations. Although their power outages continue, we can easily photos and ideas by cell phone now. During 2017, we are celebrating our 20 th anniversary of Twinning Partnership.Current GoalsIn response to parent requests, the Salesian Sisters plan to add 10 th – 13 th grade to the School of the Infant Jesus. Due to a lack of space, they will build the eight classrooms, a library, audio visual room, administration room and director office above the existing elementary school classrooms. They plan to renovate and enlarge an existing student assembly room to benefit the younger students also. The project cost is $738,977 with $58,000 already collected by St. Simon Parish and $ 425,507 from other sources. As of Jan 2017, $255,470 remains. Follow this link for project drawings and budget.Finances Donations can be sent to St. Simon Parish office at 702 E. Bryant Rd, Ludington, MI 49431 with Haiti Outreach in the memo line. Expenses have been generally less than 1% of monies collected due to donations-in-kind and shared parish resources. From 2011 through 2016, an average $12,000 per year supported the school feeding program and $24,000 per year provided for other needs at the School of the Infant Jesus.Facts about Haiti - Haiti’s illiteracy rate is an astonishing 40 percent, the highest in the western hemisphere (CIA 2016).
- 21% of Haitian children aged 5 -14 are child laborers (CIA 2016). At the School of the Infant Jesus, servant children can attend free 1st through 4th grade afternoon school.
- 88% of the Haitian schools are private with 15% being Catholic. Catholic schools taught by congregational religious (like Salesians) have the highest academic rating and strongest leadership (CRS 2012).
- Typical private tuition is $90 per child for one year plus $40 for books, uniform and school supplies. School of the Infant Jesus neighborhood incomes average $520 per year ($0.25/hour) often making it prohibitive to send more than one child to school. These families rely on the school lunch to provide their child’s daily food.
- Only about two-thirds of Haitian children were enrolled in primary school before the earthquake; less than one third of those reach sixth grade. Many students must leave school to help boost the family income (CRS 2012).
- Access to secondary school (10th – 13th grade) is limited. For example, secondary schools near the School of the Infant Jesus are very expensive or of poor quality.
- A 2007 nation-wide study found only 25% of teachers received education beyond eighth grade. Of those teachers, many attended non-accredited institutions resulting in transmission of educational inadequacy (CRS 2012).