Saint Matthew Haiti Ministry Spring Appeal

Benefitting our brothers and sisters in Gobert, Haiti

For more than 25 years, the Saint Matthew Haiti Ministry has ministered to our sister parish, Our Lady of Miracles, and the surrounding community in Gobert, Haiti. Due to social and political unrest in Haiti, we have been unable to travel to our sister parish for a medical mission trip since 2019. Although travel will not be possible in the foreseeable future, we have continued to minister to the community in Gobert from afar by providing consultation and financial support to the church, school, and medical clinic. This would not be possible without the generosity of the Saint Matthew community.

Now more than ever, our Haitian brothers and sisters need your support. Join us on the weekend of April 20 and 21 for the Haiti Ministry’s Spring of Hope appeal. Throughout the weekend, members of the Haiti Ministry will be available in the narthex before and after the Masses to share more about our continued efforts to serve the community in Gobert and accept donations to support our cause. We can accept one-time donations and assist you in setting up recurring gifts for the Saint Matthew Haiti Ministry. Every dollar helps.

Please prayerfully consider joining our Haiti Ministry by participating in this life-changing campaign. In addition, please continue to keep our brothers and sisters in Haiti in your prayers. Thank you.

Make a gift today!

We invite all members of the Saint Matthew community to take part in the inaugural Spring of Hope appeal, benefitting our sister parish in Gobert, Haiti. Whether you can make a one-time gift or set up a recurring gift for the Saint Matthew Haiti Ministry, your donation will go a long way to support our Haitian brothers and sisters. To make a one-time gift or set up a recurring gift to the Haiti Ministry, click the button below to access our online giving page, select the “Haiti Mission” fund, complete the form, and type “Spring of Hope Appeal” into the notes section. For questions about giving, please contact Bill Stewart, Director of Finance, at bstewart@stmatthewtn.org.

Thank you for your support.

Did you know…

Over the years, our Haiti Ministry has focused on supporting the people of Gobert in four main areas: Education, Infrastructure, Medical, and Spiritual. Take a look at how our committee is able to provide support in these ways. You might be surprised to learn just how much we are able to provide.

Did you know that Saint Matthew School students and their families raise $12,600 per year to help pay for the salaries of the principal and teachers at Our Lady of Miracles (OLOM) School in Gobert, Haiti?

Every year, Saint Matthew School conducts a Penny Drive during Catholic Schools Week to help cover these costs. This year’s drive collected a record $5,500! Our 7th grade class chose this campaign as their annual service project. Each student developed a slide with information on our sister parish and school, ranging from information for the Penny Drive to Haiti facts to raise awareness for this great cause. These slides were displayed on all of the hallway monitors as well as presented to the whole school on Demonstration Day. We are so grateful to all of the students and their families for their amazing generosity and support of OLOM School.

This year, our school’s Haiti committee plans to bring back the Haiti Summer Challenge. In this effort, students will conduct their own various projects over the summer and donate all of the profits to the Saint Matthew Haiti Ministry. This helps the students directly connect to this cause by supporting OLOM school with their hard work.

Did you know that, only a short time ago, Our Lady of Miracles (OLOM) had no access to fresh water and no electricity? Through the generous donations from Saint Matthew parishioners, we have been able to provide a well, a water purification system, solar panels and inverters for electricity, a diesel-powered generator to run larger items like the well pump, and countless bio-sand and Sawyer cartridge water filters to the surrounding community.

The critical importance of these items can not be overstated as they provide the most important factor in human health: clean water. We are currently in the process of installing a new osmosis water treatment system which will offer clean water not only to the parish and school, but also the surrounding village. In addition to the water and electrical systems, we have been able to help OLOM expand the school and medical clinic, build a bakery/kitchen and numerous other projects.

All these projects have had returns well beyond the investments provided. The people of Gobert and the committee thank you for your continued support of the Haiti Ministry through our Well Played: A Songwriters Night and general donations.

Did you know that, from 2004 to 2019, a team of medical team of doctors, nurses, dentists, and others went to Our Lady of Miracles (OLOM) annually? Due to violence, gangs, and political instability, we have been unable to travel to Gobert since January 2019. In these previous medical missions, the team saw an average of 2,500 patients per week. In addition, a dental team would see dozens of patients daily, extracting decayed teeth and giving fluoride treatments to the school children. We also provided cervical cancer screenings from 2016 to 2019 and did cryotherapy to treat precancerous conditions.

In 2010, OLOM hired Dr. Librice, the staff physician, to run its medical clinic. Dr. Librice is an invaluable asset to the OLOM community because access to medical treatment is limited, as the next closest clinic is 30 minutes away by motorcycle and the nearest hospital in Milo is 2 hours away. Dr. Librice sees patients for various medical problems, including treatment of tropical diseases such as malaria, intestinal parasites and typhoid. He also manages chronic hypertension and diabetes in a large number of patients, dispenses medications and vaccines for the children in the school, and educates the community on clean water and sanitation.

Through the funds raised from the Well Played: A Songwriters Night and generous donations from the Saint Matthew community, we can continue to provide medications for the community and pay Dr. Librice’s salary each year. We cannot wait to return to Haiti one day for on-site medical missions. For now, we will continue to support Dr. Librice and all his endeavors from afar, thanks to your generous support.

Coming soon!