The end is coming! 

No, I’m not talking about the pandemic… I’m talking about the end of the year. 

But before I talk about that I want to take a moment to talk about another “end”. When Renel & I were dreaming about Alongside we had many discussions about what the end would look like. We believe it’s important to understand the long term impact of an organization, especially when there are different cultures involved.

We talked about the end of a student’s education…. Would the student have the tools they need to become independent? Would they be working in an industry that had job opportunities? Would they enjoy their work? How would the parents be impacted emotionally by having someone else help provide for their child?

We talked about the end of a small business loan… Would the loan recipient be empowered? How would their peers view them? Would they be able to continue to grow their business? Are they now making enough income to support their family’s needs?

We even talked about the end of Alongside (which is hopefully long after our tenure!!)… Would there be a dependence created that would leave a devastating void? Would there be a negative affect to the community? Would our employees be able to get another job that would give them a similar income to what they had received with us?

It's impossible to know all of the answers when we're still at the beginning of our journey but we want you to know that we have thought about it, and we will continue to have discussions with Alongside’s Board of Directors to ensure that we are being effective & efficient. Our priorities include: having a small physical footprint in Haiti, investing in people over structures, and having an end date for all of our projects to avoid dependency. We are also encouraging our Haitian staff to build small businesses themselves.

From time to time I will send out emails like this to let you know what we’re thinking about on a deeper level. We truly see you, our supporters, as partners and we welcome feedback on any aspect of our organization. You can email me at rebecca.honorat@gmail.com.

Now back to the real purpose of this email…

This was Alongside’s first year, and it’s hard to believe that it’s coming to an end already!

Alongside Families in Haiti Society was incorporated on July 5, 2019 and we received our charitable status on March 2, 2020 (although it was retroactive to January 1, 2020). It was been a whirlwind so far! Over 30 students have been enrolled in school through the Sponsorship Program. The Small Business Program has already surpassed our expectations by having paid back money recycled into new loans. There have been six new small businesses started and a couple more are in process. We have also been able to provide relief food to those in need throughout the year. We look forward to sharing our first Annual Report with you in January!

There has been a lot going on behind the scenes this year as well. The Board of Directors worked together with our Attorney to document policies and procedures that allowed us to get our charitable status approved by CRA on our first request… and thankfully before COVID-19 took over! While Renel & I haven’t been able to go back to Haiti yet, we speak with our two Program Administrators, Luckner & Garry, almost daily. There are days that I am amazed at how technology erases distance almost completely. 

We truly appreciate the encouragement and support all of you have shown Alongside this year, and as the year comes to a end I have a final request for you. While this start up year has gone very well, especially given the difficult times we are in, it still remains a start up year… and we had startup costs! Some of our startup expenses were: attorney fees, filing fees, banking fees, and website setup costs.

We would be very grateful if you are able to make an end of year donation to Alongside. Our goal is to raise $15,000 for the General Fund before the end of the year. This would allow us to cover our startup costs and hit the ground running in 2021!

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