Haiti
Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere prior to the earthquake, and has been utterly devastated by this disaster. It is estimated that only about 5% of need reconstruction has taken place although it has been over six months. Rubble and collapsed infrastructure invades every scene, and there is a proliferation of tent cities housing over 500,000 who have been left homeless in the wake of the disaster.
Despite unbelievably challenging environmental circumstances and the fact that millions of dollars of donor money has gone yet unspent on the ground in Haiti, Ve’ahavta’s dollars have made a difference, and continue to have an impact throughout the country.
Ve’ahavta Response
Our crisis relief fund has supported seven Haiti-based NGOs, including the House of Hope Orphanage, Fonkoze, YoutHAITI, Sur Futoro, Partners in Health, Earthspark and Food for the Poor Haiti. In addition, we have supported 8 Canadian, Israeli, and American NGOs who have been facilitating the shipment of food, education, and medical aid, as well as implementing relief efforts on the ground. These include Health Partners International of Canada, The Israel Trauma Coalition, Magen David Adom, International Rescue Committee, The National Association of Jewish Chaplains, Afya Foundation, Food for the Poor Canada, and Canadian Feed the Children. We have also sponsored four medical volunteers to travel to Haiti to provide relief in the aftermath of the earthquake. The allocation of our relief funds is explained in greater details in the attached Project Charter, which includes a narrative report on how Ve’ahavta spent its crisis funds in Haiti.
Outcome
Ve’ahavta has been able to leverage the nearly quarter of a million dollars raised from our crisis response fund to support the work of all of these organizations because of our close partnership with The Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief, Food for the Poor Canada and Health Partners International of Canada. Our developing partnership with Canadian Feed the Children has allowed our respective organizations to pool resources to not only assist the HOH in the immediate aftermath of January’s earthquake, but have enabled us to focus on long term efforts to ensure ongoing support of sustainable initiatives at the House of Hope.
Ve’ahavta is committed to continuing to support the House of Hope Orphanage in Gressier, Haiti until 2013. Our first joint project with Canadian Feed the Children is to assist with the rebuilding of a girls’ dormitory which was destroyed following the earthquake. We will continue to support the House of Hope through joint local vocational, educational, and agriculture projects.






