Double your impact: All donations made to “Building the Dream” are currently being matched dollar for dollar! Through the generosity of supporters in Illinois, the foundation has been offered a challenge grant of $125,000 for this building project.  If we can fully match this grant by July 1st 2013, the combined $250,000 will give us the money needed to complete both phase 1 and phase 2 of our project.  With your help, we can reach this goal.

We have broken ground in Port-au-Prince!  Our building project, which aims to safely house the food and education programs we fund and create a new school on the land we purchased after the earthquake, is underway.  It’s taken two years of careful planning to arrive at this point. And now, in partnership with Na Rive (our Haitian partners) and an extraordinary team of architects and engineers, we are on our way.  Although we still have much to do to reach our funding goal, we have received enough money and pledges to start building, and for this we are both grateful and excited!

Click on the blue links located in the right sidebar of this page to learn more.

Click here to download a pdf of a document that outlines the vision and plans for the project.

Below is a video that What If? founder Margaret Trost helped to create in the summer of 2012 that highlights the inspiration, need and plans for the Building the Dream project. It includes footage from her trip to the Ti Plas Kazo neighborhood at the end of April 2012.

The vision for the school project:

• To provide a full K-13th school for up to 450 impoverished children, which will support its students in realizing academic standards and certifications while teaching practical vocational skills that will allow them to earn income after graduation—a pressing need expressed by the community.

• To house the current food program and education programs (school scholarships, after-school, and summer camp).

• To serve as a positive, safe hub for people of all ages in the community to come together to learn, solve problems, and celebrate.

“It breaks my heart to see children in our community who don’t have the chance to go to school. Building this new school will help us make a critical difference in the lives of more children. It will transform this community.”                      –Lavarice Gaudin, What If’s Program Director in Haiti