For 11 years, the What If? Foundation has worked in partnership with members of the Ti Plas Kazo community in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to provide desperately needed meals to children (and adults when possible). Over the years, through incredibly difficult times– an economic embargo, coup d’etat, and hurricanes — the meals have kept flowing. Then, on January 12, 2010, the massive earthquake struck Port-au-Prince.

We were so relieved and grateful to receive the miraculous news on Friday, January 15th, that the cooks and community leaders we work with were safe and that the rectory building where the food program took place did not collapse.

On Sunday, January 17th, our program coordinator, Lavarice Gaudin, arrived in Port-au-Prince via the Dominican Republic with the first truckload of food and water.  Over the course of the next week, as relief trucks full of supplies paid for by What If? continued to come in, Lavarice and members of the food program team worked tirelessly to distribute canned food, bottled water, tents, shoes, baby food and other emergency supplies to thousands.

On Monday, January 25th, once aftershocks had subsided, the cooking team re-entered the kitchen and once again started serving hot meals of rice, beans, and vegetables. Using supplies from the relief trucks, they started feeding as many people as they could every Monday – Friday. In the first weeks, up to 6,500 meals were served each weekday. Gradually, as food and water became more available in the area, the number of people coming for meals stabilized at around 3,000 each weekday. Members of the food program team also continued to distribute food to some in neighboring tent camps who were unable to walk to the rectory building to get meals. The food program served over 750,000 meals to hungry children and some adults in 2010.

In 2011, the food program is still a critical source of food for many children. We are so grateful for the generosity of our donors, which continues to allow us to help so many in and around the Ti Plas Kazo neighborhood of Port-au-Prince during these difficult times in Haiti.

For more information about our relief efforts, please see our blog,  facebook page, and e-newsletter updates.

To see photos, click here.

Our successful partnership with the Ti Plas Kazo community has always been based on respect, trust, and solidarity. We are committed to doing all we can to help our Haitian friends to move through these difficult times and to take steps to create a sustainable future.

If you would like to support our efforts, please donate through Paypal (on the top right of this screen) or mail a check to our Berkeley office.  For more information about making a donation to the What If? Foundation, please visit our donate page. Thank you so much for your support.

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Reflections on April 2010 trip to Haiti  (E-update)

Posted on Friday, April 30, 2010

Dear Friends of the What If? Foundation,

Caitlin and I have just returned from our first visit to Haiti since the earthquake. It was intense and overwhelming at times, but
also inspiring and so affirming of our special partnership with members of the Ti Plas Kazo community and the work we’re doing together to provide food and educational opportunities to children in that neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. We’re still processing everything we saw and experienced and look forward to sharing more about our trip with you in the days/weeks to come through our website blog, photo gallery, and podcast page. In a nutshell, the pictures being shown on television don’t begin to capture the scale of destruction, which is widespread and devastating.

Tent communities with thousands of people living together without electricity, running water and, in most cases without toilets, are located in every open space. I didn’t see a single bulldozer clearing rubble — just small groups of Haitians working with shovels and their bare hands in the debris. There is a long road ahead to rebuild Port-au-Prince. My heart breaks with the magnitude of the suffering, especially as the rainy season arrives.

During our trip, we received confirmation that the new priest of St. Clare’s Church, who was appointed in March, wants to use the rectory building for housing at some point in the future. This means that the food and education programs that have been operating out of the rectory for the past ten years will have to move to another location. Thankfully, working closely with our Haitian partners, we’ve been able to find land in the neighborhood — land the What If? Foundation is now in the process of purchasing. It’s a big step, but with your support, we are determined to buy the land and build a new kitchen and eating area on it as soon as possible, so that the food program can continue without interruption.

When I walked through the new property last week, I could visualize not only the food program, but a neighborhood school, a community garden and the realization of other dreams we’ve all had for years.

Although our upcoming move is unexpected, this transition feels like a natural step in the evolution of our work with the Ti Plas Kazo community. It coincides with our 10th anniversary, and comes at a time when the programs we support are needed more than ever. And I have no doubt that this move will help ensure that the work that is so close to our hearts will continue to thrive and grow in a sustainable way in years to come.

Lavarice Gaudin, our program liaison, and the food and education program leaders are also incredibly excited about the possibilities. They have already initiated the process of creating a Haitian nonprofit to represent the programs, which will be a sister nonprofit to the What If? Foundation.

In the weeks to come, I look forward to sharing more about the unfolding vision for this new land. Our goal right now is to begin clearing the property so that tents can be set up for the 8th annual summer camp, as the camp has been such an important and beloved program in the past.

I wish you could have been with Caitlin and me to pass out the plates of food as the children streamed through the gate. With each meal, we thought of you and the difference your donations are making every day in the lives of some of our hemisphere’s hungriest children and their families, who have been through so much since the January 12th earthquake. The food program is such a powerful expression of love in action.

Thank you once more for your support, your trust, and your prayers as we enter the next chapter of our work together.

I feel so blessed to be on this journey with you,

Margaret Trost

To read more about our relief efforts, please visit our blog.

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