Many residents in Manneville are in dire need of clean food and water.

During the week of January 14-17, Hope For Haitians Chairmen Ben and Louise Scott, and eight Boca Grande Committee members, traveled with Food For The Poor to Haiti. During the three-day trip, the group attended the inauguration of the Boca Grande Friendship Village II in Michaud, and they also toured the location of the future site of Boca Grande Friendship Village III, where they received a very warm welcome.

In a prayer of thanksgiving for the visitors from Florida, one Manneville, Haiti resident said, “We thank you God, because they are people who recognize that we are people.  You put it into their hearts so they can relate to the situation that we are living in, this difficult situation.”   

Manneville is a small town located near Thomazeau in the community of Croix-des-Bouquets. The residents who live there are in desperate need of housing and access to clean drinking water. With a population of approximately 52,000, the community’s need can seem overwhelming, but the committee members are not intimidated. 

“We can only do so much, but our goal is to help as many as we can, build houses as fast as we can, and to raise as much money as we can. There are a lot of groups like us, but not enough, so we just want to do our part with what we have,” said Scott.

Scott will address the Boca Grande Community at a reception on Thursday, Feb. 21, at the Gasparilla Inn Beach Club. He will elaborate on plans for Boca Grande Friendship Village III in Manneville, Haiti.

Father Jerome Carosella from Boca Grande’s Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Parish will speak.View More images >>

Boca Grande Friendship Village III will have the following:

• 35 two-room houses with sanitation. Each house will be built with a gutter system on the roof that will be connected to a water cistern, which will provide families with immediate access to rain water.
• 2,000 trees will be planted around the community to reforest the land and also increase fruit bearing trees.                                                                                  
• 100 goats will be distributed to residents in the community. The residents will be properly trained on how to care for the animals.
• 50 residents will receive agricultural tools to help them become more productive farmers.
 

The Boca Grande Hope for Haitians Committee has been working through Food For The Poor to build homes since 2009. The first Boca Grande Friendship Village is located in Pierre Payen, Haiti.

To see what some of the committee members saw while visiting the tent cities and during the inauguration of Friendship Village II go to: youtube.com/watch?v=MwLwo29Tuhc

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