INTERNATIONAL PROJECT PROPOSAL PROJECT 0113 Kobonal Haiti Mission Food for the Destitute Kobonal, Haiti Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Hebrews 13:16
We are a Catholic ministry that mobilizes the global Catholic Church to transform the poor and their communities materially and spiritually for the glory of Jesus Christ. 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. 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. We invite you to join with us as we seek to transform the lives of the poor materially and spiritually ways that please the Father and glorify him in Heaven and on earth.
Kobonal Haiti Mission Project 0113 Project Synopsis Description The Emergency Survival Feeding Program will provide monthly food rations to extremely destitute families and elderly citizens. Location Kobonal, Haiti a remote farming community in the Diocese of Hinche in Haiti s Central Plateau. Ministry Partner Kobonal Haiti Mission is affiliated with The Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT). Cost $92,741 will provide monthly food staples for 300 families estimated at 1,800 children and 600 adults. That s less than $26 per family! Proposal Highlights Kobonal Haiti Mission was established more than 25 years ago by Father Glenn Meaux. Although the mission originally founded the feeding program to specifically address malnutrition among the elderly, in recent years it has found a need to expand the program to address the needs of more destitute families in the community. Cross Catholic Outreach helps the mission provide cornmeal, beans, cooking oil and soap to the diocese s most needy families. This outreach can mean the difference between starvation and survival. Cross Catholic has partnered with Fr. Meaux and the people of Kobonal since 2004, providing food, housing, water and microfinance to the poorest of the poor. Cross Catholic Outreach is committed to supporting the Emergency Survival Feeding Program, but we need your help! 1
When Father Glenn Meaux first arrived with his team in 1989 to start a mission in Haiti on behalf of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, he found an isolated village known as the darkest corner of the Diocese of Hinche. The poor families who lived there were oppressed by voodoo rituals, disintegrating family units and poverty so intense that they were literally starving to death. Since then, the Kobonal Haiti Mission has reached out to help the area s most vulnerable people. It has also shone the light of Christ into this darkest corner with transforming results. Today, family units are stronger, the voodoo priests are gone and the villagers worship together in the name of Jesus. Many families are still utterly destitute, however, and are still living in the same deplorable conditions Fr. Meaux discovered when he first arrived those many years ago. The mission responds with programs to help lift up the poorest and most vulnerable. Among these programs is the Emergency Survival Feeding Program, which helps ensure that the poor no longer have to go hungry or beg for handouts to survive. Each month, more than 300 elderly villagers and destitute families receive emergency rations of corn, beans, cooking oil and soap at the mission. These goods Kobonal Haiti Mission Project 0113 The Need Ronatin Benoit, 85, relies on the Emergency Survival Feeding Program to feed himself and his family. I work the land, and if the rain doesn t come, I will be hungry, he says. are distributed by community volunteers who want to get involved in the mission s work by ministering to their brothers and sisters in Christ. Villagers leave the distribution event with food in their hands and the warmth of Christian love in their hearts! 2
Kobonal Haiti Mission Project 0113 The Program On food distribution days, poor people come from miles around bearing bundles of firewood as a token of their appreciation. The sun has just risen over the hills of Haiti s Central Plateau and already hundreds of impoverished people are gathering outside the compound of Kobonal Haiti Mission. It is food distribution day, and many of these poor villagers have walked for miles over muddy, rocky roads to get here. Some live so far away they had to begin their journey in the middle of the night. All are carrying bundles of firewood as tokens of appreciation. The branches will eventually be used as fuel for the Kobonal school s cooking fire. This concept of reciprocal kindness is just one example of the spiritual transformation Fr. Meaux has developed in the people of Kobonal. Once dominated by the selfishness and savagery of voodoo, the community is now a living example of the transformational change made possible through a relationship with Christ. Once the compound gates are open, the people will file in and add their firewood to the collection bin. Then, they will go to a group of wooden benches, where they patiently wait until their names are called. When the food distribution begins, the beneficiaries open their empty sacks to receive blessed food, smiling with appreciation as the bag is filled. The neediest men, women and children in Kobonal would have little hope if it were not for this important outreach. The Kobonal Mission is literally their source of daily bread. A Holistic Ministry In addition to the Emergency Survival Feeding Program, the Kobonal Haiti Mission brings the love of Christ to destitute families through a wide range of outreach services. Here is a rundown of the mission s other dynamic programs for the poor: HOUSING: Each year, Kobonal builds approximately 80 new homes for poor families strengthening the family unit and giving them a firm foundation. AGRICULTURE AND FARMING: At the mission, the poor are equipped with agricultural training and access to community farms. EDUCATION: At Kobonal Catholic School, more than 1,200 students are able to earn a quality, Catholic education with 289 of them earning scholarships to secondary school and university. MICROFINANCE: About 1,000 community members will become self-sufficient through small business loans. WATER: Over the years, numerous community water projects have supplied clean water wells to improve the area s overall health and sanitation. SPIRITUAL FORMATION: Fr. Meaux s church has become a pillar of the community, with hundreds of people attending Mass each Sunday. 3
A month s worth of cornmeal, beans and oil may not seem like much, but to the poorest of the poor in Kobonal, Haiti, it is necessary to ward off malnutrition. Life in the Central Plateau is harsh, and most of these families are itinerant farmers with little income and even less hope. If it wasn t for Kobonal Haiti Mission s monthly food rations, many of the community s poorest citizens would go days without eating a proper meal. Thankfully, the help of Cross Catholic Outreach and our supporters allows Fr. Meaux to minister to the community in his care. Stewardship is mentioned over 80 times in the New Testament, he says. Everything we have is a gift from God. It s how we utilize those gifts and use the resources we are given by God for the poor. Please prayerfully consider joining Cross Catholic and Fr. Meaux to help feed Kobonal s most vulnerable families. The program has already transformed the Kobonal community. Moreover, it is a living embodiment of how Catholics are living out their faith by sharing Christ s love for the poor. Kobonal Haiti Mission Project 0113 Help Now! Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9 Our Promise to You! 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. 4 2700 N. Military Trail Suite 240 PO Box 273908 Boca Raton, Florida 33427-3908 800-914-2420 www.crosscatholic.org Copyright Cross Catholic Outreach. Cost-effectively written, designed and printed in-house. [cmc1605][udv1703]