2700 N. Military Trail, Suite 240 PO Box 273908 Boca Raton, Florida 33427-3908 800-914-2420 PROJECT 0784 Project Update Kobonal Haiti Mission UPDATE REPORT I I T K O B O N A L, H A Special Thank You! WWW.CROSSCATHOLIC.ORG

God s servants, working together When Father Glenn Meaux started the Kobonal Haiti Mission more than 25 years ago, he was motivated by what the Bible teaches about the heart of the Lord. It emphatically states that God will never forget the needy (Psalm 9:18), and Fr. Meaux believes all faithful Catholics should honor the Lord by making service to the poor a similar priority. Your continuing support for the Mission demonstrates that you share Fr. Meaux s passion and vision. In making your contribution, you have remembered the poor, and we believe your willingness to come to the aid of impoverished families has honored and glorified the Lord. Thank you for your continued support of Fr. Meaux s ministry. Cross Catholic Outreach is committed to the Mission s long-term viability, so we are grateful for friends like you who enable us to keep that commitment. We are equally committed to keeping you informed about the Mission you support. This is your Mission as well. Together you, Cross Catholic and Fr. Meaux are God s servants, working together (1 Corinthians 3:9). Be blessed as you read about your Mission in the following pages. 1

Housing Project 0114 Nothing brings dignity to a poor family more effectively than a safe, sturdy new house. In 2015, Kobonal built 80 new homes for poor families replacing dilapidated mud-andstick huts with four-room, concrete houses with durable cement floors and galvanized steel roofs. For just $3,000, you and other concerned Catholics covered half the expenses for one of these new homes. You ve helped answer a poor family s prayers by providing a foundation for the future. Food for the Destitute Project 0113 Last year, thanks to your support, the Kobonal Haiti Mission was able to provide lifesaving food to more than 400 destitute families. These rations fed a total of more than 2,600 individuals who otherwise would have gone hungry. Kobonal s Emergency Survival Feeding Program provides monthly food staples like cornmeal, beans, cooking oil and soap. Your support for this feeding program has meant the difference between starvation and survival. 2

Agriculture Project 1098 Over the years, the Mission has cultivated five large fields to grow food, including permaculture gardens that produce abundant harvests. In 2015, the food from these fields was used primarily to feed the children and staff of the Kobonal Mission School about 1,200 people each weekday. The Mission also distributes goats to needy families and teaches them how to turn the animals into a perpetual resource for food and income. Each family signs a contract agreeing to give one offspring back to the Mission in return for each goat they ve received. By supporting Kobonal s agriculture program, you help provide a way out of poverty. Education Project 1058 An amazing thing is happening in Haiti. For a country whose illiteracy rate hovered around 65% just 30 years ago, an entire generation is growing up loving to learn. Haiti s illiteracy rate is now around 39%. And thanks to your support, the Kobonal Mission School is playing a vital role in bringing about transformative aid. This year, your gift helped 1,200 primary school students receive a quality Catholic education at the Mission s school, which as you know, is recognized as one of the best in the region for its discipline and holistic approach. 3

Job Training & Microenterprise Project 1017 Your support last year allowed us to provide 250 villagers in Kobonal with $200 microloans. With this simple investment and help, entrepreneurial individuals were able to start small businesses and begin earning profits that could provide stability for their families. In an area with severe economic depression and few jobs, your decision to provide people with a means to support themselves was both wise and incredibly effective. It was literally a lifechanging gift! In addition to the loans, the villagers received training in money management. The goal is that after 10 months, the loan will be fully paid back and the beneficiaries will be allowed to continue the program and request another loan to grow their businesses. Clean Water Project 0770 In rural Haiti, an astonishing 51% of the population lacks access to clean water, and in too many cases that shortage is a death sentence, particularly for infants and young children who succumb to diarrhea or cholera as a result. In 2015, your generosity helped provide water and the Gospel to the poorest of the poor in the villages of Colladere and Rhodes Des. Now, thanks in part to your contribution, clean water is the new normal for 935 villagers, many of whom were literally dying of thirst. 4

Operations Project 1099 All of Kobonal Haiti Mission s many programs run smoothly because of Fr. Meaux s dedicated, hardworking staff of 13 full-time and 21 part-time employees. A five-person executive team composed of Haitians whom Fr. Meaux mentored manage various aspects of the Mission s operation. Led by Bernard Philo-Jacques, this team also accommodates and coordinates the many Mission groups that come to volunteer. Thanks to your support, these staff members receive the supplies and equipment they need to do their jobs and keep the Mission s operations humming. Spiritual Formation The Kobonal Haiti Mission is a vibrant Catholic community, and it s a joyous event when Fr. Meaux celebrates Mass, baptizes babies, performs marriage ceremonies, and presents First Communion. The Mission provides catechism not only for children and youth, but also for adults who become involved in any of the Mission s programs. Hundreds of faithful villagers show up to help out whenever the Mission needs extra hands, such as during planting or harvest time. While the Mission makes a tremendous impact on the physical and material well-being of its people, it is the spiritual formation that truly transforms them from the inside out. 5

Thank You! To positively impact Central Haiti, it takes all of us working together toward a common goal. In this case, Fr. Meaux and his staff, Cross Catholic Outreach and friends like you joined forces to achieve great things for the poor and God was glorified as a result. Your generous support helped us meet our 2015 commitment to Kobonal s vital housing and education outreaches. You also helped provide food for villagers who otherwise would have gone hungry, and you helped dig clean-water wells for those who were forced to rely on contaminated water. To ensure that long-term solutions were provided too, you funded microloans that blessed the poor and motivated entrepreneurs. Friends like you are truly co-laborers in Christ. On behalf of Fr. Meaux and the poor Kobonal Haiti Mission he serves, thank you for your partnership in this ministry! 6 [cmc1606]

Our Mission We are a Catholic ministry that serves the poorest of the poor internationally by channeling aid through dioceses, parishes and Catholic missionaries, cost-effectively helping the poor break the cycle of poverty while advancing Catholic evangelization. How We Serve Rather than create new institutions to distribute aid, we support existing ministries and churches already serving the poor. In addition to being the most cost-effective way of helping the poor, empowering these ministries allows us to support the Church s spiritual mission and its important position of leadership in poor communities. Good Stewardship We consider every gift we receive as a precious resource from God. We direct every donation to its intended project, provide honest and accurate reports to our donors, and keep overhead costs to an industry low. We handle funds with utmost integrity and hold our ministry partners in the field to the same high standards by asking them to document costs and the impact of their outreach. These detailed accountability measures have earned us ongoing accreditation by the following organizations: Delivering Food, Shelter and Hope to the Poorest of the Poor 2700 N. Military Trail Suite 240 PO Box 273908 Boca Raton, FL 33427-3908 Shelley Embry, International Development Manager Kingdom Builders: 800-914-2420 ext. 116 CrossCatholic.org Facebook.com/CrossCatholic Twitter.com/CrossCatholic blog CrossCatholicBlog.com For detailed info about the impact of Cross Catholic Outreach s global mission to the poor, go to CrossCatholic.org/Impact. Copyright Cross Catholic Outreach. Cost-effectively written and designed in-house, and mailing facilitated by volunteers.