Published Wed, Jan 08, 20.
Written by Rebecca Honorat.

A letter from the Board of Directors:  This is our first official communication as a Board and we’d like to start by telling you how excited we are to be partnering with Renel & Rebecca Honorat to launch Alongside! A seed was planted in their hearts many years ago… it has grown roots and is now ready to break ground! If you’d like to read more about what brought them to this stage, or if this is the first you are hearing of Alongside Families in Haiti Society, you can use this link to read more. Alongside Families in Haiti Society was incorporated in July 2019 and we have applied for a charitable status with the CRA. We are working with an experienced Law Firm that specializes in Canadian Charities and we anticipate getting a positive response from the CRA in the coming months.   We have decided to do a soft launch now, instead of waiting for our charitable status to be approved, for two reasons:  We would like to ask you to partner with us in prayer. We have been as diligent as we can in the setup process and we are trusting God to guide us through the rest of the process. Please join us in praying for clear direction from God, and for courage for Renel, Rebecca, Hasannah & Jelani as they follow His calling into the unknown.  We are anticipating the startup costs for Alongside to be approximately $10,000 (including the cost of incorporation, applying for a charitable status, creating legal contracts & attorney fees). Since we are not able to offer tax receipts until we have received our charitable status we have come up with a creative fundraiser to help alleviate some of these costs…. Packs with a Purpose! You can read about this fundraiser below. Although most of our programs will begin after we receive our charitable status, we do have some supporters that would like to jump in now. If you would like to begin now as well you can begin by supporting a project, sponsoring a child or providing funds for a loan. You can review the projects on the website, or you can send Rebecca an email at rebecca.honorat@gmail.com and she can talk to you about what projects match your passion. We ask not only for your prayers, but for your patience too as we continue to develop our digital face and sculpt our programs. We'd love to hear your feedback as you look through the website: https://alongsidehaiti.reach.co. You can contact us by email at alongside.haiti@gmail.com.   Thank you for choosing to join us as we walk through this journey with Renel & Rebecca... Together we can make a difference!!   Sincerely, Scott, Albert, Teresa, Diane & Leanne Alongside Board of Directors   Packs with a Purpose! Help us launch Alongside by purchasing a pack with a purpose for $25. Use the pack yourself or send it with us to Haiti... we will fill it with supplies (purchased locally in Haiti) and give it to a student. You'll be helping cover the startup costs of Alongside, supporting the local economy in Haiti, and blessing a student in need! Maybe you know of a school or a youth group that would like to help us promote this fundraiser! For more information, or to purchase a pack, you can use this link. "Peyi Lock" The year 2019 will be remembered in Haiti as the year the country was locked... "Peyi Lock" is the kreyol phrase the locals use. The ripple effects of the lingering unrest has left no one unaffected. People are feeling desperate and hopeless as they move into 2020. While our vision at Alongside is to empower families by increasing access to education through scholarships and by relieving poverty through small business loans, we recognize that in times of crisis there is need for immediate relief... and our friends in Haiti are indeed in a time of crisis.  We began distributing small bundles of relief food in the mountain communities in October 2019 and we will continue to distribute food until the crisis subsides, and as funds are received. You can help purchase relief food here. CNN recently wrote an article titled, "Haiti facing deadly hunger in 2020" and you can read it by using this link. Meet Bernadine Bernadine is one of the students that Alongside will be supporting this year. She is in grade 3 and you can read her bio here. One of the unique aspects of our sponsorship program is that Renel, Rebecca, Hasannah & Jelani are able to build relationships with the entire family in the process. They share meals together, their children play together and they build meaningful relationships that allows for open conversations about current struggles and future dreams. Bernadine parents both live in Grande Goave and while they don't live together they are both active in her life. Bernadine lives with her mom but they have agreed that her father is responsible for her schooling and to provide funds monthly for her care. Her father, Radmare, drove a motorcycle tap-tap (public taxi) but he didn't own the motorcycle so most of his profit was going towards the motorcycle rental.  Radmare is one of the tap-tap drivers that Rebecca uses regularly, when going to the market, and through their relationship she discovered that his daughter was going to be removed from school because her fees were overdue.  Renel & Rebecca sat down with the family and together they talked about possible solutions. The outcome was for Radmare to apply for a loan to purchase his own motorcycle and for Bernadine to enter the sponsorship program.  It is through relationships like this one that Alongside is able to fulfill their mission statement:  "Alongside is a charity dedicated to empowering families by increasing access to education through scholarships and by relieving poverty through small business loans." More information about our Sponsorship Program and our Small Business Loan program can be found on our website.  We appreciate that you have read through our first monthly newsletter, and we hope that you will share it with friends and family that may be interested in Alongside Families in Haiti Society. Be sure to subscribe at the bottom of the email so you will receive future emails from us!