Dear Haiti Friends,

There are several different models around the Episcopal Church for co-partnering and connecting partnerships for mutual support and information sharing. Especially during these times when we cannot travel, having friends and colleagues in the US to connect with can help keep interest high and attract new friends for Haiti.Some are groups of churches and/or schools sharing a partnership, such as the Mountains-to-Mountains group in Virginia, and many similar but smaller efforts with two or three co-partners. The National Association of Episcopal Schools is encouraging trial “co-partnerships” for people or institutions who might like to be interns, as it were, before heading out on their own or becoming committed co-partners with the group they’ve met. Information is attached at the bottom of this newsletter, in case you are in that position.

Below my signature is a newsletter from another model, a group of churches, schools, and individuals who are partnered with the island of LaGonave, which has around a dozen schools plus clinics and other services. Their model is a large group taking on a whole area. LaGonave is particularly challenging, isolated from the mainland by a body of water really larger than a bay — it’s a gulf. You can imagine the challenges of transporting materials in and people in either direction. They’ve been doing commendable work for many years.

Yet another approach is a new group forming in the Dioceses of Washington and Virginia. Various Haiti partnerships and people with a Haiti connection are collaborating with information sharing and general support for each other’s efforts, one goal being to raise the profile of Haiti in their respective dioceses. If you are located in the Diocese of Washington or Virginia and would like to know more about this effort, join the zooms, and/or be on the email list, please contact the convenor, Karen Wires, karenwires874@gmail.com, who incidentally is able to find more information and news articles about Haiti than anyone else I know.

There’s strength in numbers. Find a friend! Or friends. Let me know if I can help.

I’ll be sending out an update shortly about the situation in the Mirebalais area.

Yours,

Serena Evans Beeks
Canon Serena Evans Beeks, D.Min.
US Coordinator, Haiti Episcopal School Partnerships
National Association of Episcopal Schools