Welcome to Outreach to Haiti!
Outreach to Haiti has been working in the Caribbean nation for over 35 years. We offer health care services, student sponsorships and other educational support, parish twinning, support of an orphanage, as well as a neighborhood nutrition program for children. We look forward to returning to taking travelers to Haiti when the situation allows. We have a newly rebuilt guest house, where you can stay short- or long-term. We also be arranging immersion visits for traveling groups to learn about Haiti - its people, culture and land.
Watch a video about our programs!
*************************************************************
Diocese of Norwich, Four County Catholic
God does not give up on us. . .
. . . We Should Not Give Up on Each Other!
Posted on March 14, 2024
Throughout my life, I have been thankful that God has not given up on me, or anyone else. He has taught me that we should not give up on each other, particularly when our brothers’ and sisters’ needs are at their greatest.
This is important to remember, especially right now, as Haiti is at the forefront of U.S. International news because of a frightening surge in violence and increasing gang activity due to the assassination of their sitting President on July 7, 2021, and the subsequent lack of a legitimate government. This situation is unlike any other in Haiti’s recent history.
I am very sad when I hear some people say, “Oh, Haiti is at it again. What’s new.” It is as though they were saying let’s give up, but we know we will not give up on our Haitian brothers and sisters. The Diocese of Norwich Outreach to Haiti has been walking with the people of Haiti for about forty years. Our ministry was founded by Bishop Daniel Reilly, Laypeople and Clergy who visited the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince and took a great interest in helping the Haitian people. Our Diocese officially twins with the Archdiocese. Bishop Daniel Hart and our present Bishop Michael Cote have continued their support for this Ministry.
Our operations in Haiti have an all-Haitian staff of approximately 24 men and women at our Center in the Christ Roi neighborhood of Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince. Through our Parish Twinning Program, we work in 14 parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince. Our services include clinics, healthcare services, food and nutritional supplement programs, education programs and opportunities, small business development initiatives, and many other programs.
Haiti is the poorest and most densely populated country in the Western Hemisphere. More than 11.5 million people live in Haiti and 3 million live in the Port-au-Prince area. Our staff remains vigilant and committed to serving the men, women, and children who come to us for help in Christ Roi and the surrounding neighborhoods as most clinics and healthcare services have closed or are temporarily shuttered. Our Twin Parishes in the U.S. (Diocese of Norwich and other Dioceses throughout the country) remain committed to helping their Haitian Twin Parishes. This past week when most of the country shut down, our staff in Haiti closed our doors for only a few days before reopening because the need was so great. Indeed, more than 80 people visited our Clinic this past Monday.
We need your help. First, and most importantly, we need you to pray for Haiti. Secondly, we ask you please to support our work in Haiti, which helps Haitians directly through our many services and programs.
Donations can be made online at OutreachToHaiti.org or by sending a gift to:
Diocese of Norwich Outreach to Haiti
815 Boswell Avenue,
Norwich, CT 06360.
You can be assured all donations to the Diocese of Norwich Outreach to Haiti go directly to our programs and services.
In closing, I know personally that most Haitians are hardworking, creative, diligent, and have great faith in God. They want what most of us want, which is to have a roof over their heads, a table with food on it, and educational opportunities for their children. For the great majority of Haitians they have no choice but to go out to work daily and find food no matter what ill deeds may befall them.
We remind our Haitian brothers and sisters that God has not forgotten them. They teach us to have hope even in the most trying times of life. Each of us has the opportunity to let God’s light shine. We are reminded in Romans 12:5, “We belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.”
Susan Wallace
Executive Director
860-800-3604
Buy Haitian Crafts
Some of our craft items are available at Mercy-By-The-Sea Retreat Center gift shop in Madison, CT. Call them for hours. They are also available online at Haiti's-back-porch
Phase 1 Completed!
Thank you to our wonderful donors!
Phase 1 was officially completed in mid December! The initial focus was on completing the office space, allowing us to move our offices out of rented space in October and to stop paying rent. Finishing on the rest of the building followed, and the final inspection occurred in December, with clinic operations moving in right after.
While achieving this milestone was a long time coming, it is also a huge achievement. The success has been in spite of a presidential assasination with associated unrest, a pandemic, and occasional hurricanes. It was possible due to the perserverance and dedication of our Haitian partners in the building project: UGC Construction, headed by Jean-Renet Carier, La Promesse Construction, headed by Leandre Mondestin, and our oversight/liaison firm UOC/Proche, headed by Stephan Destin, with project managers Rose-Pascale Durosier and Ruddy Narcisse. They have delivered a high quality building in very difficult circumstances. Thank you!
We are greatly excited to be all together in this one building, and to have this wonderful foundation for our ministry in Haiti.
We still need to raise money for Phase 2 of the building which will make the building more energy efficient (shading, solar energy, fans, etc.), add finishing touches (exterior painting, two small exterioir buildings, parking lot etc.), and replace our very old and worn out generator.
Of course, all of this was made possible by the generosity of the many people who donated the money to enable us to build this wonderful structure. Words can not adequately express our gratitude.
Click here to see photos showing the progression of the building.
Fr. Matt and St. Mary's welcome James Michel
Outreach to Haiti board member James Michel traveled to Newmarket, New Hampshire to talk about Outreach to Haiti and seek their support. He received a warm welcome from Fr Matt Mason and the St Mary's parish, and used a personal anecdote to demonstrate the faith of the Haitian people before telling them about the work of Outreach. Our thanks to St Mary's for sharing his talk online! Hear his talk by clicking here
Gala 2025
*************************************************************
20th Annual Hope for Haiti Event
The 20th annual Hope for Haiti fundraiser will be held on Saturday, February 15, beginning at 6:00 pm at St. Patrick’s Church in Farmington CT. The event includes dinner, raffle, wine pull, and silent auction. We are excited this year to welcome Conor Brooks, former St. Patrick’s Youth Group member and former chair of the Outreach Board, to be our speaker! Tickets are $40 per person, and reservations are necessary for the event. For more information or to make a donation, please contact Sue Petruzzi at [email protected].
*************************************************************************
For the Love of a Child Raffle
THE WINNING TICKET IS #036
Want to win $10,000?
Outreach to Haiti is selling 400 raffle tickets for a chance to win! Drawing is December 16.
Click here to donate. Click the donate button under "Please Help Our Efforts by Donating Today" and note that wish to purchase a raffle ticket. Include your name and address, and we will conact you.
Alternatively, contact LoAnn at the Outreach to Haiti office at 860-800-3601, or send your check to Outreach to Haiti, 815 Boswell Ave., Norwich, CT 06360.
************************************************************************
Golf Tournament 2024
TO REGISTER for GOLF TOURNMENT
Contact LoAnn Lussier at [email protected] or 860-800-3602
************************************************************************
10th Annual Bike Ride
Summary of the Ride with Photos!
The Outreach to Haiti team rode 337 miles over 5 days, beginning in Maine and ending in Connecticut. Donations from this ride will support our nutrition program and the dental clinic building fund.
Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers for a safe and successful ride, and for praying for good weather - your prayer's were answered!
To learn more, see the routes we rode, and to see daily summaries of the ride, click here.
“Like” Outreach to Haiti on Facebook to get more updates, photos, and videos.
After reading this, you are probably thinking to yourself that you would love to join at least part of a future ride. You can find out more by contacting Tom Campbell at [email protected], or Dan O'Sullivan at [email protected]
It's not too late to donate -- click here!
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Please Pray for Haiti
“Make her known throughout the world”
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
(Notre-Dame du Perpètuel Secours) Patroness of Haiti
Mary holds a special place in the hearts of Haitians whose devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help is connected to an icon said to have originated on the island of Crete. The icon, painted on wood, reflects the style of the earliest Marian portraits and arrived in Rome in 1499. Its composition and style are classically Byzantine, with the Greek abbreviations for “Jesus Christ” and “Mother of God” above the image and Byzantine-style angels on either side of Our Lady. Tradition says Our Lady herself, in an apparition, gave the icon the title of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
The original icon was presented to the Redemptorist Religious community by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1866, who, according to tradition, told the Redemptorist Superior General, “Make her known throughout the world”.
In 1881 a terrible plague of cholera and smallpox struck Haiti and especially devastated the capitol city, Port-au-Prince. The plague worsened in 1882 with no relief in sight. The Doctors knew it would take heavy rains and thunder to clear the air so Haitians could breathe more easily, but unfortunately it was Haiti’s dry season.
During this time, a lady from France arrived in Haiti with a copy of the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. She offered it to the Pastor of the Cathedral in Port-au-Prince hoping the parishioners would invoke the Holy Virgin to aid them by alleviating the deadly catastrophe taking place. On February 5, 1882, a solemn procession displaying the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help walked to a small Chapel on the mountain where they began a Novena. On February 10, against all odds and weather forecasts, heavy rains fell on Haiti, after which the epidemic subsided with no new cases of contagion and the sick began to recover.
All the Haitians became aware that it was Our Lady of Perpetual Help who heard their prayers and saved the city. Since that time she has been called the “Miraculous Virgin.”
The National Bishops Conference placed the Haitian people officially under the patronage of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and in 1942 the President of Haiti petitioned the Holy See to declare Our Lady of Perpetual Help the National Patroness of the country. Pope Pius XII approved the request and our Blessed Mother, under the title of Our Lady of Perpetual Help has been honored by both the Church and the civil government in Haiti.
Her Feast Day is this Thursday, June 27. As you read about the many serious hardships and challenges currently facing Haiti, please know the Haitian people have great faith that sustains them during their periods of tribulation and gives them hope for a better tomorrow.
Please join our brothers and sisters in Haiti with the following prayer:
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, help us,
protect Haiti,
protect the Church,
protect the whole world,
protect our homes and bless our children. Amen.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help is very important to us and our ministry in Haiti (Diocese of Norwich Outreach to Haiti). Our new chapel in Haiti will contain the icon that formerly was displayed our guest house in Haiti ruined by the 2010 earthquake.
If you would like more information about our ministry and to support our work in Haiti, please visit https://outreachtohaiti.org or call us at 860-800-3601. Thank you and please pray for all of us, especially the Haitian people.
Outreach Celebrates 35 years in Haiti!
Outreach to Haiti reached 35 years of service in Haiti in 2020. We celebrated hat milestone on November 8, 2021, at Mercy High School in Middletown. As with our 30th anniversary celebration, we honored several people who have significantly contirbuted to our mission in Haiti. Those individuals are:
Most Reverend Michael R Cote, D.D,
Ellen Flynn, RSM
Reverend Gerald Kirby
Mr Daniel E O'Sullivan
Our inaugural Works of Mercy Award
to
The Padre Pio Foundation of America
We thank all who joined us for this celebration, and contributed in honor of this anniversary. It is your support that enables our ministry in Haiti.
You can still donate for our anniversary by clicking here
Diocese of Norwich Outreach to Haiti, Inc.
815 Boswell Ave.
Norwich, CT 06360
Phone: 860.800.3601
Email: [email protected]
