Holy Trinity Delegation 2017

HOLY TRINITY DELEGATION
Holy Trinity parish's group visited HT's headquarters in Haiti this February. They took part in a variety of events and ministry opportunities including: working with our healthcare workers to give food to the elderly, attending a special soccer match between HT's All-Stars and Gabriel Foundation team at the beautiful artificial turf field that is a bright spot in the slum of Cite Soleil. They also gave out 150 meal kits to a group of mothers from the slum of Cite Soleil. Afterwards, HT's Jimmy Belabre led a session between Holy Trinity members and the moms from the neighborhood to discuss the struggles of raising children in the slum, many of them have 5 or more children and cannot support them without the help of HT. This was a very productive trip in ministering to the good people of Haiti. The Holy Trinity folks broke into mini-groups at the high school and other places to meet with the students to gain a better understanding of their perspective in order to truly be able to support and encourage them. We are grateful for Holy Trinity's heart for the poor and for their visit!

Holy Trinity Delegation Members:
David and Kathy Lopez
Andrew Lopez
Cheryl Tallia
Matt Tallia
Deacon Jim and Mary Hopp
Emanuela Callaghan
Richard Hume
Sara Lewis

Holy Family Delegation 2016

Since 2004 Holy Family of South Pasadena has been traveling to Haiti. This year for the 12th straight year the annual trip took place from April 25 to April 29.  One of the great things about this delegation is that they draw participants from outside of the parish.

This year's team was led by Mary Nally, Chairperson of Mission Haiti. The members were joined by Hayden Fulstone, co-founder of Liquid I.V. a rehydration product and Brian Lewis, a professional photographer who shot footage of the trip. Hayden is donating Liquid I.V. to all of HT’s schools and clinics.

The members of the Holy Family delegation include:

David Lopez and his wife Kathy - David is the parish administrator for Holy Trinity Parish in El Dorado Hills, CA, along with Fr. Pol, an Associate Pastor at Holy Family, Marites Lo, an active parishoner of Holy Family and a nurse by profession, Barbara Roberge, a nurse from Holy Angels parish in Arcadia, and Gerry Straub joined the trip and graciously volunteered to capture it on film and in still photographs.

This enthusiastic group packed a lot into 4 days with 2 days in Port au Prince and 2 days at the rural projects. Mary Nally continues to be amazed at the progress and growth of projects like Clarke Farm and the new soccer field.

There’s nothing like the look on the faces of people who have been generously giving through the years and to see it being put into use by the children – their faces are brightened with the look of satisfaction and joy!

Hands Together/Mission Haiti – Holy Family Delegation February 3 – February 6, 2014

Each year, Holy Family Parish and their Mission Haiti program organize several delegations for parishioners and other persons interesting in becoming involved and helping Haiti. A group of 7 travelers, led by Mission Haiti’s Karl Holtsnider visited Hands Together and its projects from February 3 – February 6th. “We are really blessed to have our partnership with Holy Family,” says Doug Campbell. “It began in 2006 when Monsignor Clem Connolly and Karl Holtsnider looked us up after reading about Fr. Tom Hagan in the Christian Science Monitor. Since then, Holy Family has sponsored over a dozen delegations and donated over 2.6 million to help fund our many projects. It’s just a remarkable parish and they attract people from all over who want to help the poor, “ says Campbell.

“One of the great things about delegations like this, is they help people discover how they can use their own God-given talents to help Hands Together. Many people offer to do mission talks at parishes, others have organized fund raisers, or collected supplies; there are really lots of ways a delegation participant can use this experience as way to become more involved in our Mission Church,” says Doug Campbell.

Itinerary:

Elderly feeding program

 The delegation arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on February 3rd and spent some time getting to know Fr. Hagan at the Hands Together Delmas headquarters. They visited some of our Becky DeWine schools and spent time meeting our students and got a tour of our new kitchens. Afterwards they helped out at our elderly feeding program and saw the streets of Cite Soleil. They saw the mud pies the women made in streets and met with the Sisters of Mercy and helped in the orphanage caring for the the children. Then they went to Radio Boukman that teaches radio and broadcasting skills in the slums.

St. Francis de Sales HS students

Mass being celebrated by Fr. Hutton in Goniaves

The next day they went to St. Francis de Sales high school and talked with the students about life in Cite Soleil and they're continuing education. Afterwards they took the long drive to Gonaives where they saw the progress of the Clarke Farm and a tour of our new green house. Once at the Gonaives headquarters Fr. Hutton celebrated mass on the roof with a stunning view of the mountains in Gonaives.

Making briquettes from recycled trash

The next day they toured our well drilling operation and saw the large irrigation system built for the farmers. They learned about our briquette program that recycles trash and presses it into charcoal briquettes used for the stoves at our schools.

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Port-au-Prince

Upon returning to Port-au-Prince and saw the destruction still remaining from the 2010 earthquake and the broken Cathedral downtown. Then they met quickly for prayer with Fr. Tom before heading to the airport for the trip home.

The delegation participants:

Fr. Leon Hutton and Fr. Gerard Dormevil in Bassen

Fr. Leon Hutton

Former associate pastor at Holy Family. Professor of church history at St. John Major Seminary at Camarillo, Calfiornia. Fr. Leon may become a priest minister for Holy Family. Fr. Leon will explore bringing seminarians to Haiti.

L to R: Joseph Cinemato, Dale Sheckler, Hayward Rigano, Evan Sieler,  Fr. Tom Haan and Karl Holtsnider at our St. Ann Chapel.

Deacon Dale Sheckler

Deacon at St. Lawrence Martyr church in Redondo Beach. Dale became interested in a mission trip to Haiti after meeting Karl Holtsnider at the Religious Education congress in Anaheim. We are grateful to Dale for offering to help as a weekend speaker for Mission Co-op.

Joseph Cinemato

Professional film maker. Director. Producer. Cinema-photographer. Dedicated Catholic. Line producer for Good Morning America, ABC. Anxious to explore film possibilities. Joseph will plans to help with Mission talks and producing a few small videos on HT projects.

Bob Krebs

CEO of Sealmaster and holds the Sealmaster franchise for all or at least part of North Carolina. Bob conducts training for small business development and has offered help us look into starting some small business projects for people in Cite Soleil and recent HT Becky DeWine School graduates.

Haward Rgano visits children at an orphanage in P-au-P.

Hayward Rigano

Hayward has extensive experience drilling wells and building schools in India and Russia. He no longer is pursuing those efforts and is looking to do similar work in Haiti.

Evan Sieler.

Evan Sieler, Nephew to Bob Krebs

Dale Schekler

Karl Holtsnider, Mission Haiti Coordnator

Please visit our photo album of the trip.