Give a little, help a lot
This month number 4 was drawn. Congratulations to Mike Gray from Kirkcaldy. £50 is on it’s way to you. Happy new year everyone, we hope 2021 is an improvement on 2020!
Here is how to take part, there are still numbers avaialable. https://www.facebook.com/haitihelp.org.uk/photos/a.294358280582156/4872301369454468/
2020 has been a difficult year for so many people, in so many ways but we hope you are in good spirits and looking forward to 2021.
In 2020 Haiti Help’s income has been drastically reduced, we normally held at least one fundraising event each month and of course these events have not been happening. In order to try to offset this loss we have two new ways to increase funds, a £50 monthly draw, and a recycling scheme. Details of both schemes are on the website, we hope you will have a look and help if you can.
Thanks to you, our regular donors and supporters we have been able to continue our core support to the people of La Gonave island, Haiti.
Haiti Help sends a quarterly payment of £2000 to the hospital “indigent fund” There is no free medical care in Haiti. The fund allows people with no money to access urgent or necessary healthcare.
Haiti help sent quarterly payments of £2000 and an extra £1000 in December to the Children’s Village. Mme. Soliette the director uses the money wisely. She cares for 60 orphans and the village school provides education for around 200 local children. There is no free state education in Haiti, so this is a huge benefit for local families who might otherwise have to choose between food or education for their children.
ASHOG is a well established self help group operating on the island. It is organised by a local pastor who works tirelessly to improve things for the poorest people in his community. We help fund a teacher in one of their “free schools”, we support 2 families enabling them to feed their children, we contribute regularly to the “Elderly and Disabled Food Program” When we can, we contribute to the “School Lunch Club”. The children who attend the “Free Schools” are from the poorest families, they are often malnourished, it can make a tremendous difference to their wellbeing if they can be provided with a healthy meal at school.
Normally we have a grand raffle at the Haiti Help Christmas Fair. There is no Fair this year due to Covid, but we have put the raffle online. The prize is a magnificent Christmas Drink Hamper, tickets are £5 and you can buy them here:
goldengiving.com/raffle/ChristmasDrink
Good luck but remember, if you don’t win, your money will feed a family for a day!
Haiti Help’s 3 trustees, Carole, Elaine and Lou took part in the virtual “Kilt Walk” in Sept and raised £5790 to pay for specialist medical treatment for a man who’s problem couldn’t be dealt with on La Gonave. The 2021 Kilt Walk is the weekend of 23rd April, it’s a “virtual event” so you can walk at a time and place that suits you or come to join our trustees at Loch Leven Heritage Trail. It’s a great fundraiser even if you can only raise a few pounds because Sir Tom Farmer tops up the total by 50%.
If you would like to help with our work to relieve the devastating poverty in Haiti, you can make one off, or a regular monthly donation on our fundraising platform below. Haiti Help is run entirely by volunteers so every penny donated is put to good use.
All that remains is to say “thank you” for your support over the past year! Haiti Help could do nothing without your help. The people of La Gonave send their grateful thanks to each and every one of you!
This newsletter has been sent out to people who support Haiti Help. We will never ever give out your details to anyone else. However, if you would like taken off our mailing list please email or call us. We won’t ask any awkward questions. admin@haitihelp.org.uk. Phone or text 07732263467
Haiti Help registered charity SC042062
Raffle was drawn today, 22nd Dec. Winner was Angie Shand. Congratulations Angie! Thanks to everyone who bought a ticket. £460 raised. Normally we have our Christms Fair in Lochgelly Town Hall in November, sadly impossible this year due to Covid! We are still holding holding the raffle online, you can buy tickets here.
As a charity we have a policy of not helping individuals, rather we donate to groups in La Gonave where the local people are able to use the money for the greatest benefit within their community. However, recently we were approached to help a man called Clotere.
He has a problem of swelling within his left testicle and as you can see from the picture that is quite an understatement. His problem requires surgery and is not straightforward. He needs to go to a hospital on the mainland for treatment. This is likely to be quite costly. Having seen the extent of his problem we felt we could not refuse to help. We hope you will want to help too! Problems on this scale are not uncommon in Haiti where many people have little or no access to medical advice. If you donate to our Kiltwalk appeal here
https://edinburghkiltwalk2020.everydayhero.com/uk/HelpClotere
we receive a 50% uplift from Tom Farmer on your donation. We hope this makes you just a wee bit more appreciative of a Scottish NHS which means problems for you will never get this big! If we raise more money than the cost of surgery for Clotere the excess will go to the hospital fund to help other people in similar circumstances.
Check out our new lottery page on facebook. If you would like to donate £5 monthly to us we will enter you in a prize draw. One of the 50 donors will win £50 every month! https://www.facebook.com/Haiti-Help-5050-105297124528428/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Welcome to the first blog post on our newly revamped website. We are currently 6 weeks into the Corona Virus Lockdown. The lockdown has been a disaster for Haiti Help because 60% of our income came from fundraising events. We are currently looking at new ways of raising money. Please contact us if you have any good ideas, we need all the help we can get. Meanwhile if you would like to become one of our regular donors please click on the “donate” button to find out how. Haiti Help is run entirely by volunteers so 100% of the money you donate will be used to help alleviate the desperate poverty on the island of La Gonave, Haiti. If you have any strong preference we can direct your money to children, elderly, disabled or healthcare. Currently this is how our donations are divided up:
