Biznis Pam was featured as the recipient of the event’s income.  Two videos of Monite Métélus-Louis (viewable here and here), founder and director of the business training and micro-loan program, were shown to let people know where their giving would be working.  That set the tone for some frenzied bidding and trivia excitement.

The top team walked off with ice cream cone coupons, refrigerator magnets declaring their feat, and (most importantly) twelve months  of bragging rights as SFH Trivia Champs.

The winners, a team called Chip and Dips, got an impressive 94% of the possible total point value in categories ranging from Movies to Sports to Science (SCIENCE!) and the dreaded Haiti category.

Some fun distractions on the night included a raffle to win an iPad Mini and impromptu giveaways of DVDs.

One of a kind sports memorabilia – a signed Will Middlebrooks bat, signed photos of Dustin Pedrioa, Rob Gronkowski and more – drew plenty of bidding as did the weekend on Martha’s Vineyard, an annual auction highlight.

Next year is bound to be at least as much fun as this year.  Make plans to be there.  Save the date, April 4, 2014.  Don’t miss it!

Trivia command central

Unique gift baskets

The reviews are in:

“That was a great Trivia Event”

“Everyone at our table had a great time.”

“Everyone I talked to agreed that your questions were excellent.”

• A young woman of 29 with a 2-year-old daughter will be selling clothes and cosmetic products.
• A 49-year-old woman with three children will market clothing and curtains, sheets, and tablecloths.
• One enterprising woman (40, with two children) will be offering building materials for sale.  Certainly her products will be in great demand in a nation in great need of housing.
• Another of our entrepreneurs is a young pregnant woman.  She’ll be using her loan to start a business selling cosmetics.
• There is a woman of 23 who currently attends university but needs her income to defray the costs of transportation to and from school.  Her plan is to sell clothing, including offering some to her fellow students.
• One Biznis Pam graduate will be offering food products outside Port-au-Prince, in the suburb of Croix-des-Bouquets.

All these business plans have been approved and will be funded as quickly as possible.

Entrepreneurs ready to make a difference in their families and nation.

One more important note: These people will be trying to feed themselves and their families (as well as paying off their loans) with profits from their businesses.  Because many Americans send cast-off clothes and other goods to Haiti, these businesses will be hurt; it’s hard to compete with free.  Rather than send your leftovers to Haiti, give them to a domestic cause, and donate cash to SFH to help support, not wipe out, these hopeful business owners.

For more background on the problem of material donations, read this post.

Yes, our 4th Annual Trivia Game and Silent Auction is coming up fast. It will be held on Friday, April 5, 2013 at 7:30 PM.  Last year we moved the fun to a more spacious facility, the Lowell Elks, 40 Old Ferry Rd, Lowell, MA. We’ve also increased the number of tickets we’re selling from 150 to 200.  We sold out last year and expect to do so again.  Don’t wait till the last minute.   Going into our fourth year, we are officially a Merrimack Valley tradition.

To see how exciting last year’s event was, visit this page.  Ticket prices remain at $15 each this year.  In 2012, the money went toward our business development program, Biznis Pam, which is even now making a difference in the lives of many Haitian families.  The money raised last year enabled Haitian entrepreneurs to learn how to start and maintain new businesses. Those businesses are providing employment and income for Haitian families right now.

This year, the goal is more specific: the money raised during this year’s game and auction will fund (via low interest loans) ten new businesses for people who recently graduated from the Biznis Pam program.  That’s tangible change in the lives of ten families you will contribute to with your ticket and auction purchases.

You can order tickets today on our ticket purchasing page, $15 each or a table for eight for $120.  We suggest you buy tickets early and often. It’s likely to be a sellout again this year. Tickets will be available at the door only in the unlikely event that we are not sold out. Best to get yours soon.

Then there’s the silent auction. We’ll have another terrific selection of items this year, including dining gift certificates, hotel stays, sports memorabilia and tickets, arts and crafts, Haitian products, and more. Bid, Bid, Bid! Here is a small sampling of the items available:

• A weekend stay on Martha’s Vineyard in a luxury suite at Vineyard Square Hotel and Suites, including a meal at a local island restaurant.
• One of a kind, autographed sports memorabilia from the Bruins, Red Sox and Patriots.
• Tickets to Celtics game and Lowell Spinners games.
• Gift cards to local restaurants: Egg Roll Cafe, Cappelini’s, the Java Room, Firebox BBQ, and more.
• Videos from Walden Media.
• Gift baskets from Trader Joe’s, Mahoney’s, Pampered Chef, Tastefully Simple, and more.
• Original artworks.
• Haitian gifts and crafts.
• Golf at three local courses.

And there’s more where that came from.  Check it out yourself.

A full cash bar will be open during the evening. Free food will also be available. To maximize your fun, bring snacks (or even a meal!) for your whole table.

We will update this page if and when more info is available. Meanwhile, feel free to write to trivia@servantsforhaiti.org if you have any questions about the event.

These will be hard to come by in a few weeks.  Buy now!

The ten students were chosen by the founder and administrator of Biznis Pam, Monite Métélus-Louis based on need.  Monite commented on this group, her largest class so far, as possessing a “good sense of responsibility.”

That attitude bodes well for their future success.  Once they have established their businesses and repaid their loans, the money will be freed up to put more students through the program and create more jobs.

As a side benefit of this work, we are employing people to administer the Biznis Pam program.  For example, one young woman was hired to work as a secretary for this training class.  She used the money she earned to further her own education in the medical field at Quisqueya University.

Thank you for supporting Biznis Pam and the future employers of Haiti!

Class members proudly display their course completion certificates.

Biznis Pam leader and instructor Monite (seated) with three of the graduates from the latest session. The slogan on the wall behind them is Creole that reads: “Plan, create, and how to manage a small business”.

For an update on the progress of our graduates, visit this post.

In June, I went to Haiti with a team and I was introduced to a missionary who took me to meet families that had lost their homes in the earthquake. One family had four children and was living in a tent; they didn’t have enough money to rebuild, even though they owned their own land.

When I returned from Haiti, the board of Servants for Haiti met to discuss our building project.  It was decided that we would help this family rebuild. We had already raised money for house building and had enough to complete a home for this family.

To date the walls are up.  Soon the roof will be poured.  It was decided that a cement roof made sense because the house itself is very small.  A flat roof would provide the family with the option of one day building a second floor.  In the meantime, the roof top can be used to hang laundry for the family.

We are very thankful to all our donors who made this possible.  Watch for more pictures to come of the project’s completion.

Servants for Haiti is having a fundraiser on October 4th at Angela’s in Tyngsboro.  It’s simple…you buy a ticket for $15 and you get all you can eat pizza and soft drinks from 6-8pm.  Additional drinks and menu items are also available to purchase separately.

Angela’s and Servants for Haiti will be splitting the proceeds so you will be supporting new business in Haiti and a local business.

Please contact us for tickets!

We constantly beg people to give of their time, money, or other resources for our work in Haiti.

This whole idea was driven home to me yesterday as I went from place to place, seeking donations for door prizes to be offered at our upcoming fundraiser.  Virtual hat in hand, I begged for small trinkets to offer the attendees of the “Scrolled” Staged Reading event to be held on 6/15.  Besides door prizes, I’m begging for volunteers to perform, greet attendees, assist with A/V needs, and prepare and serve snacks.  And of course, people are sick to death of me sending them coercive “invitations” to attend the reading.

As Trivia time approaches each year, the cycle continues.  Our committee scours the area for businesses to donate items to be offered as part of the silent auction.  We beg people to help with the planning and execution of the actual event.  We beg everyone for advertising exposure.  Finally, we are transformed into a team of annoying spammers as we beg people to attend.

A significant portion of our time is spent begging people to pledge money to help Haiti, or to fulfill previous pledges.

We all agree it’s a Good Cause, but frankly it gets tired very quickly.  Regardless of the cause, begging is a humiliating and demeaning business.  Groveling doesn’t come naturally to me, nor to any human being, I suppose.

Yet that is the occupation of a significant percentage of the Haitian population.  You can’t visit Haiti for more than a minute (that’s not hyperbole) without being confronted by someone who wants something from you.  Sometimes, a child will approach and demand, “Give me my dollar.” If you look as if you have any need at all, from carrying luggage to being lost to having a stalled vehicle, a crowd of young men is likely to gather, offer advice and assistance, then expect payment, even if they were of no service whatsoever.

(The most painful example of begging that I’ve encountered in Haiti was when a woman sitting in the street held out her tiny baby to me, making an earnest but incomprehensible appeal in Creole.  A translator told me that she was asking me to take her child so it would have a better life wherever I had come from.)

It’s a way of life for visitors to Haiti.  It gets exhausting and frustrating saying, “non, mesi” to person after person after person, day after day after day.

How frustrating must it be for them?

On one trip, a team member was bemoaning the constant pleading we had to put up with.  He had a point, but what else can they do?  There are precious few opportunities for earning money in Haiti.  Many must either beg or watch their families waste away.

What would you do?

We could chastise them for not doing things the American Way, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and creating opportunities for themselves. The problem is that the American Way has America behind it.  Free universal education.  Relatively easy access to healthcare.  A strong infrastructure.  An abundance of natural resources.  Available jobs and seed money.  A culture of independence and self-reliance.  A legacy of freedom.

None of that is true of Haiti.  Worse, the American Way has conditioned them to beg.  We are quick and generous to send them our stuff and money, but the US and other wealthy nations are the ones who have plundered their natural resources, undercut their economy, and interfered with their national sovereignty.

Someday maybe they won’t have to beg.  That’s why the mission of Servants for Haiti is to create opportunities.  For those who think that Haitians are sitting around expecting handouts and won’t do whatever it takes to change their circumstances, you couldn’t be more wrong.  The waiting list for our Biznis Pam program puts the lie to the idea that Haiti is a nation of panhandlers waiting for the next free pass.  They are hard-working, resilient, proud people who care for their families and country.

How is that different from you?

In their position, we’d probably beg to survive, too.  But we don’t have to.  So we beg for them.  Maybe that should be our slogan:

We beg so they don’t have to.

Want to be part of the solution?  Contact us or donate today.

As you know if you’ve attended any of our Trivia events, SFH puts the “fun” in fundraising.  There’s another opportunity coming up to have fun for a cause.

On Friday night, June 15, you’ll be able to have a few laughs and get a glimpse inside the world of Hollywood (sort of) while helping a friend in Haiti.

The event

We will be holding a “staged reading” of a film script.  The script is for an original G-rated comedy called “Scrolled“.  It is best described as a cross between “The [original] Muppet Movie“, “National Treasure“, and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World“.

“Staged reading” means that the script will be read by actors on a stage.  There will be little motion, but plenty of emotion.  The cast will do its best to make it visually interesting, but the audience will have to supply most the visuals with the help of their imaginations and the narrator’s description.  Think of it as watching an old-time radio show.

Staged readings are commonly used in the film industry to expose interested “insider” audiences to award-winning and otherwise hot, unproduced scripts.  Although the odds are that “Scrolled” will never be made into a commercial release, imagine the bragging rights if it is!

Regardless, we can guarantee a few things:

1. You’ll have a good time and some laughs.
2. Multiple movie-related door prizes will be awarded to some lucky attendees.  Prizes currently include tickets to “Harry Potter Night” at the Lowell Spinners, movie treats, DVD’s, and more TBA.
3. You’ll help a great and very tangible cause.  Speaking of which…

The cause

Jean (not his real name) is a young man living ina suburb of Port-au-Prince.  With his mother and father both dead, he is the sole support for an extended family.  Without a job, that’s an almost impossible task.

Jean’s dream is to drive a taptap for a living.  For those who have never been to Haiti, taptaps are the ubiquitous form of public transportation that Haitians depend on.  Aside from their exceptionally colorful design and their propensity to overflow with passengers, they are a lot like our taxis.

Until recently, Jean gave private English lessons for his income, but that has always been inconsistent at best.  His current plan is to enroll in our Biznis Pam program, learn the fundamentals of running a business, and get a loan to buy a taptap.  Unfortunately, the cost of a taptap is much higher than our typical loan, so we are trying to make up the difference with funds from this event.

The vital stats

Where:  Grace Community Church, 275 Billerica Road, Chelmsford, MA
When: Friday, June 15, 2012, 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Cost: $10 per ticket, available only at the door.  (Ticket price is tax-deductible!)

Snacks will be available for free and several door prizes will be awarded.  You won’t get those at the local cineplex!

If you have any questions about this event, please write to trivia@servantsforhaiti.org.

Monite, our field director and trainer, sent us an update this past week.  Here’s the good news:

Of the five people who attended the first class, four created business plans that were approved and funded with micro-loans.  (The fifth student didn’t meet all class requirements.)  All four new businesses are in operation.  Here is Monite’s report on the status of each:

Some of Johnny's treats ready for sale.

Three of the four new businesses are growing.  One of the ladies keeps thanking us for her  loan. Another, who has been selling women’s clothing recently started selling a new clothing item for men.  Our candy seller added cookies to his list of tasty products.

All four have already made their initial loan repayments on time.  All this reflects tremendous success for which we are very thankful and gratified.  It clearly affirms the effectiveness of our new program.

Monite’s summary of the work is, “…so exciting that SFH is involved in that!”

What’s next?  Monite is ready to begin her second session, with potential students on a waiting list.  The demand for the training is very high.  The only thing holding us up is financial support for the training and a new set of loans.  Our trivia fundraiser helped, but we need you, too.

Can you commit to helping a family start a new business and thereby a new hope for the future?  It’s more involved than sponsoring a child, but it pays long term dividends to the family, neighborhood, and nation.  Contact us or donate today to learn how you can be part of building a brighter tomorrow for Haiti.

Fridge space is at a premium.

It’s not easy getting support for our current mission. What we do is hard to wrap up and describe in pithy sound bites.  It doesn’t have a simple handle that people can grasp easily.  And there’s nothing to put on your refrigerator.

Back when we first started Servants for Haiti, we helped only children.  School.  Orphanage.  All we had to do was show a picture of one of those cute kids.  People would fight over them.  They paid their monthly support and got an adorable picture of the child to put on their refrigerator.  Everyone wins.

That was great.  A child got educated, fed, cared for.  Nothing wrong with that.  Nothing at all.

Until later.

Since those days, some of those same children have graduated.   They have a high school diploma and nothing else.  No more education.  No job.  No free meal at lunch time.  And nothing to do with that diploma.

That’s where we come in now. Servants for Haiti wants to fill that black hole with bright hope.

A medical school scholarship for George who will some day be a doctor providing medical care for his people.

Stephanie’s tuition so she can be a nurse in a nation that lost 400 nursing students during the earthquake.

A sponsor to pay Junior’s way through auto mechanic school.

A new business for a woman with two young children and a husband who recently lost his job.

These are the kinds of things that aren’t exactly suitable for adorning your refrigerator.  But they are the kinds of things that change lives and, when reproduced enough times, a nation.

So if you’re looking for refrigerator ornamentation, there are plenty of organizations doing good work that will accommodate you.  If you’re more interested in bringing a brighter future to Haiti, we invite you to work with us.  There are plenty of ways to get involved, from a simple donation to traveling with us to Haiti.  Contact us today.

But if you still want a cute picture for your refrigerator, try this one:

Magdala and Samuel

This is Magdala and her brother Samuel, whose mother is now running her own business thanks to the generosity of our supporters.