147,400 Meals at the Seacoast Food Pack for Haiti

On Saturday, May 19^th 701 people showed up at the Frank Jones Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and they packed and shipped 684 boxes, or 19 pallets, of food bound for Marmalade, Haiti. It is over 147,000 meals that will feed rural school kids and orphans a meal every day for the next year. It is enough food to feed over 400 kids every day for 365 days in a place where having a meal every day is the exception and not the rule.The 684 boxes arrived in Miami from New Hampshire on Tuesday, May 22^nd and have been put into a container for shipment to Cap Haitien, Haiti, departing on June 7^th.  When the food gets to Haiti after 3 or 4 days at sea, Marcot Vernois, an employee of Help for Haiti, will receive it. Once Marcot clears it from customs,  it will be stored at a large orphanage in the Cap Haitien area and 50 to 60 boxes will be trans shipped monthly to the school and orphanages in Marmalade and the Cap Haitien area. The value of the food alone is over $30,000 and with shipping it is over $40,000. What an amazing gift this is to some of the most under nourished children in the Western Hemisphere. How did it happen?Well, Bethany Church in Greenland stepped up and asked the congregation to volunteer to help and to also donate to the cost for the food and shipping. Other churches from as far as Concord MA, Concord NH and Sandbornton, NH did the same. The praise teams at Bethany provided music for the pack teams all day long – they were amazing! Thank you. Thank you. But the true heroes on Saturday were the 200 plus kids who came and worked really hard to get some food to some kids in Haiti who they know need it. You could see the intensity in their smiling faces, as they knew on this sunny day in May they were making a difference in the life of another kid they didn’t even know; a selfless act of charity by over 200 seacoast kids to help 400 kids whom just plain need the food. Food is just one step to breaking the cycle of poverty in places like Marmalade, Haiti. We work with local teachers to help them improve their skills and to make a living wage. Education,  and a good one, is step two to breaking this horrendous cycle. But the cycle is not broken until each child we feed has a viable work skill and a job. Step three is a job. Employment in Haiti is 20%, with 80% of the people having very limited skills and no job. Help for Haiti believes we can feed, educate and find employment for the kids who are getting this food. Yes, it is ambitious for a small new charity, only two years old, to believe we can change the lives of 500 kids, 250 of them in Marmalade, Haiti.With your help and support, and God’s blessing, we pray it can be done. Thanking every one of you who volunteered from the bottom of our hearts. Jim And Betsy WilleyP.S.  To date, we have $26,000 of the $42,000 needed to pay for the food and shipping. Please donate at www.helpforhaiti.com if you can.  Save