St Raphael's to Host Harvest Dinner to Help Parish School in Haiti

St Raphael’s Parish will host a harvest dinner this coming Sunday, Oct. 28, at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Parish Center in Glasgow. The meal will feature homemade turkey and all the trimmings with pies for dessert. The dinner is open to the public, although reservations are recommended, and the proceeds will go to support upgrading their “sister” parish’s school in Haiti, which is currently a temporary structure with a dirt floor and straw roof. That Parish, St Michael the Archangel in Mouillage Fouquet, is on the southern coast of Haiti, and the attached school is named Ave Maria.

Last year, St. Raphael’s teamed up with the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas in Nashville, Tenn., which focuses on pairing parishes in the United States with parishes in Haiti, to help build the Church’s mission in the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Donations from the parish supported the school. This program has been facilitating and linking parishes in the U.S. with those in Haiti since 1978 and has helped with over 300 “twinning” programs. According to parish staff, the best part about using the program is that every donation goes directly to the parish in Haiti.

According to Terri Ellsworth of St Raphael’s, the priest for St. Michael the Archangel, Father Evans, reached out to the parish here in Glasgow and requested help in rebuilding the school’s roof, which is currently made of straw thatch. The effort will replace the current roof and floor of the school with a solid construction that will provide the school with shelter and a stable foundation for years to come. In a given year the school serves some 85 students, grades kindergarten through fifth and teaches them basic reading, arithmetic and basic studies. The school is also hoping to expand to cover topics all the way up to eighth grade in the near future.

In a statement to the Courier, parish volunteer Sue Sather stated, “We chose this parish due to the fact that they had a very basic school in place, with goals to add to their teaching staff and encourage more families to educate their children to assist in improving their future. We Americans take so much for granted, we have fresh drinking water, food on the table and access to any field of education we want. These kids in Haiti don’t have that luxury, let alone dream about it, because most have never seen those options so how do you dream about it when you don’t know? Education is the road to success but one has to get on the road first.”