Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates and Friends Donate $33,000 for Haiti

February 12, Adrian, Michigan – Along with their thoughts and prayers, the Adrian Dominican Sisters are sending $33,000 to organizations that aid the people of Haiti to help them rebuild their nation, devastated by the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck on January12.

Sister Donna Markham, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, and members of the General Council extend their deep gratitude to the sisters, associates, co-workers, family members and friends of the Congregation who responded so generously to their request for funds to send to the people of Haiti. The donations included $3,000 that had been given to members of the General Council as Christmas gifts.

The donations will be distributed to five organizations, as follows:

• $8,500 to Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) International, a Christian organization that founded and runs nine orphanages in Latin America and the Caribbean. Founded in 1954 by Father William B. Wasson, NPH strives to provide a permanent family and home for children who are orphaned, abandoned, or suffering the effects of living in extreme poverty.

  Among the orphanages founded by NPH is Nos Petit Frères et Soeurs (NPFS), “Our Little Brothers and Sisters,” which is situated in the foothills outside of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. The facilities include the orphanage, St. Hélène, which houses 450 children; the Father Wasson Center, an administrative and educational center; and St. Damien, a pediatric hospital.

  Sister Philomena Perreault, OP, and Passionist Father Rick Frechette, director of NPFS, were part of a group that founded the Haitian orphanage in 1988. Sister Fidelis Halpin, OP, ministered at the orphanage in its early years and then began her ministry in Mexico, while Sister Philomena remained in Haiti. Both were Dominican Sisters of Edmonds, WA at the time. In 2003 the Dominican Sisters of Edmonds merged with the Adrian Dominicans.

  According to early reports, the orphanage was spared from damage, but St. Damien Hospital suffered the collapse of one of its walls. Still, in the early days after the earthquake, it was one of the few functioning hospitals in Haiti, Sister Philomena said.

  “It’s hard not to ask, ‘Why Haiti?’ They were already so poor [before the earthquake],” said Sister Philomena, who was in Haiti recently for a visit. She would like to return there once the country has begun to recover from the earthquake. “My heart’s still there,” she said.

  The Congregation’s donation to NPH was augmented by a donation of $6,500 from Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego, where Sister Kathleen Clausen, OP, teaches Catholic Faith. Sister Kathleen explained that, shortly after the earthquake, the school’s campus minister approached her and, knowing that Adrian Dominican Sisters serve in the Dominican Republic, asked how they could help. “I told him about the orphanage where Sisters Philomena and Fidelis worked,” she said. Through Sister Adrienne Schaffer, OP, Director of Development, she found a contact to get the money directly to Father Rick. Collecting so much money in three days was easy, Sister Kathleen said. “The students, families, and faculty were quick to donate and were very generous. We were all very happy to be able to reach out to the needs of the Haitian children.”

• $7,500 to Hands Together, a non-profit organization founded by Father Tom Hagan, OSFS, an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales based in Toledo, OH. He began his involvement with Haiti in 1985 when, as a chaplain at colleges in southeastern Pennsylvania, he began taking students there. In 1997, he organized a number of programs to serve the people in Cité Soleil, a slum of Port-au-Prince.  Eight free schools served more than 9,000 children. Some 10,000 people were fed by the daily hot meal program, the clinic touched the lives of 20,000 people, and other projects served 800 elderly people.

  “The earthquake destroyed in thirty seconds nearly every program and structure built by Hands Together over the past 15 years,” their website notes. “…During the many months of recovery to come, we will need the supplies and funds and assistance to recreate the schools and programs that serve the very poorest of the poor – wherever they may be.”

• $7,000 to the Conférence Haïtienne des Religieux, the Haitian Conference of Religious, to meet the needs of 33 religious congregations and organizations serving in Haiti and suffering from the earthquake. These include the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Redemptorists, Salesians, Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and the Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Many congregations suffered deaths and injuries, as well as destruction of or damage to their schools and houses.

  The Adrian Dominicans learned of a congregation of indigenous sisters that suffered the loss of 200 children in their school and four sisters and the destruction of their Motherhouse and a guest house. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny face the damage of all of their convents and the total destruction of an orphanage that was about to open after they’d spent three years in its construction. The Daughters of Mary suffered the death of 13 sisters and three employees, as well as the destruction of schools and houses.

• $5,000 to Fonkoze, Haiti’s alternative bank for the organized poor, has received low-interest loans from the Community Investments Committee of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) for 14 years. Those loans have enabled Fonkoze, in turn, to make low-interest loans to low-income people of Haiti who are striving to overcome poverty through their own enterprises. Fonkoze is the largest micro-finance institution, offering a full range of financial services to the rural-based poor of Haiti.

  As of mid-February, all 41 branch offices have been reopened, and Fonkoze is continuing to offer loans and support to the Haitian people. The donations from the Adrian Dominican Sisters will, in part, be given to Fonkoze employees who have lost family members and their homes in the earthquake. This financial support will enable them to continue helping Fonkoze’s employees and clients.

• $5,000 to Partners in Health [PIH] brings medical care to low-income people in 12 nations. PIH founded in 1987 has been serving the people of Haiti since 1956. It was in 1985 that PIH established the Clinique Bon Sauveur, a two-room clinic that over time grew into a full-fledged hospital.  The Boston-based organization has three purposes, according to their website: “to care for our patients, to alleviate the root causes of disease in their communities, and to share lessons learned around the world.”

  In Haiti, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lab technicians and other healthcare professionals are striving to prevent an epidemic of infectious diseases and chronic illnesses caused by close quarters in “squatter communities” of tens of thousands of people. These conditions, along with poor sanitation and lack of adequate food and water, leave the displaced people in Haiti vulnerable to disease.

In addition to these donated funds, the Congregation made a $10,000 donation to Catholic Legal Services (CLS) of the Archdiocese Miami.

In response to the granting of Temporary Protected Status [TPS] by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Catholic Legal Services has launched an initiative to hire additional temporary staff to work with the estimated 3,000 Haitians in South Florida to prepare TPS applications. Staff will work with pastors and other community leaders in getting the word out and will conduct workshops at churches and community centers. The trained immigration professionals hired for this initiative will work with paralegals, interpreters and professional volunteers to assess whether the TPS applicants qualify for legal residency.

CLS will be coordinating their efforts with the Florida Immigration Advocacy Center, all local law schools, the Haitian Lawyers Association, the South Florida Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and members of the Haitian American Grassroot Coalition.