Earlier this year, at a Sunday Forum, we heard from the Rev. Sam Owen, priest-in-charge of L’Eglise du Bon Samaritain, about the New York Haiti Project. This partnership is building a new Episcopal school and church in the village of Matel, Haiti, and also seeks to develop the Matel community’s capacity to earn income and help the school become self-supporting through the construction of a mill to grind their millet and corn. (Currently, Matel-area farmers need to travel about 90 minutes one-way and pay the owner of the mill there to have their grain ground. A local mill could keep that money in the community and draw others from nearby villages to contribute to Matel’s economy.)
Ascension’s vestry has voted to donate $1,000 from the church’s designated funding budget for the building that will house the mill. We invite members and friends of the parish to join us in this endeavor; the total amount needed to finish the building is an additional $2,000.
Please contact Ascension’s rector, the Rev. Elizabeth Maxwell, if you are interested and able to help. The project is also looking for donations of old cell phones that can be delivered to Haiti this summer.
