Since shortly after the earthquake in Haiti parishioners Jim and Suzan Martucci have coordinated the Haitian food collection for our parish community ( Click here for photos).
All donations from parishioners placed in the large box in the church foyer are brought to the Haitian Health Foundation drop off location in Norwich. ( Please note : Our parish food collection has ended for this quarter, so please send any donations directly to the HHF ).
At least 4 times a year, the Haitian Health Foundation secures a 50 foot Land-Sea Container truck in order to be filled with food, medical, and other relief supplies. The truck drives to New Jersey, then gets on a boat to Port au Prince.
The surrounding area of the town of Jeremie is the region in Haiti that the HHF primarily serves. Trucks are rented in Jeremie, then driven 140 miles (14 hours) over the road to Port au Prince, to load the Container, then drive the goods back up to Jeremie, to be unloaded in safe warehouses. This is the normal routine, and understandably, the need has dramatically increased since the earthquake.
As we’ve learned from Msgr. Ted Malanowski when he visits St. Joseph’s during the annual HHF fund-raising appeal, since 1997, the HHF has been providing housing for the homeless and for poor families residing in appallingly poor hovels in rural southern Haiti. Currently, the Foundation is feeding over 1,500 children and prenatal/nursing women, with 100% of donor funds directly servicing this program. Overall, HHF has an overhead of less than 8 cents per donated dollar, with over 92 percent of funds collected going directly to services for the poor.
For more information about the Haitian Health Foundation’s work, please go to their website at http://www.haitianhealthfoundation.org/
EWTN "Sunday Night Live" Audio Program on Terri Sciavo with Msgr. Ted Malanowski ( 2005).
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Since January of 2009 our parish community has been consistently donating bread to the Cornerstone soup kitchen. The original appeal went out when it was learned that the Freihofer Bakery outlet was closing, which had been a main supplier of assorted bread goods for the Cornerstone, which serves over 45,000 meals and 4,000 beds of lodging a year.
In this article, we'll follow fellow-parishioner Tom Wilk, as he delivers our weekly bread collection. Since January of 2009 to May 24th, 2010, our parishioners have donated 2255 loaves of bread, and 321 grocery items to the Cornerstone soup-kitchen, - 1683 loaves in 2009 and 572 so far in 2010 !!
Follow the photos here in this link to see the process ( scroll down). Many thanks for the committed support of those participating parishioners, and we welcome additional families and individuals who can manage to even donate one loaf of bread a week. It's a great way to involve the kids, - let them select the loaf or loaves when doing your weekly shopping, knowing that it's going to those families and individuals in need and / or out of work, especially during this difficult economic time.
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Meet our Patsor, Fr. Christopher, and the parish community as you explore our website, welcome !
To start, use this link to our Gallery section for photos.
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