For an overview of the history of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Haiti Orphanage Foundation, please click here to see our timeline.
[Script from the front page video]
The country of Haiti is home to hundreds of thousands of orphans; a place where only 50 percent of children are able to attend school, and where approximately 60 percent will abandon school by 6th grade.
Enter Father Andre… A Haitian priest with a vision to help the children of Haiti, one orphan at a time. We are appealing to you to join him in his vision through your online donation today!
Fr. Andre has always been a most caring, compassionate, and dynamic person who is always thinking of his people and what he could do to improve their lives. He was inspired by the Blessed Virgin Mary to build an orphanage under the name Our Lady of Perpetual Help. While living in Muncie, Indiana, he approached a small group of parishioners from St. Mary Parish after Mass one day and shared his dream and vision with them. They enthusiastically agreed to help and started fundraising for his dream.
Through the intercession of Our Lady, funds for this orphanage have come from many donors from all over who have a heart for the cause of Father Andre.
As Father Andre finished with his Masters in Psychology at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, he prepared to go back to Haiti. A day prior to his departure the earthquake of 2010 hit. When he arrived home, he had to get to work immediately, caring for orphaned children, victims of the disaster.
He opened the orphanage in Cap Haitien, a city in Northern Haiti. He started with 13 children. One of them he found abandoned in the church courtyard. In the beginning, he had a bathroom, bedroom and lunch room for the children but the rest of the building was empty. The cooking was done outside over a charcoal fire. Within a few years he had caregivers to take care of and teach the children, a fully furnished house, and a kitchen. In 2017, there are 36 children living on a 17 acre campus, which includes a school and a residential area. In October of 2017, the residence for the 4 Sisters of Mary who are teaching the children, will be dedicated.
There are ambitious plans for the future of the orphanage, all of which depend on the generosity of donors who respond to the need. These plans for the orphanage compound, include an Activity and Study Hall Building for the students, a chapel for the students and staff, a medical clinic with the dual purpose of serving the children and becoming a teaching facility, and a guest house.
Father’s dream was always to have a self-sustaining orphanage where he could provide the orphans with a safe and loving environment, while equipping them with education and skills…an opportunity for each to reach their potential and become contributing adult members of Haiti.
This dream is becoming a reality through your generous donations. We will close with a scripture from Matthew 25:37-40, “Then the righteous* will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?38When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?39When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’40i And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
We host dinners, rummage sales, and other fundraising events throughout the year to support the daily needs of the orphans and the continued construction and expansion of their new home.
The OLPH Orphanage Foundation hosts three main fundraisers each year in Muncie, IN: our Indian dinner in the spring at the Knights of Columbus facility, the rummage sale in August on the grounds of St. Mary Parish, and the cheeseball sale in the fall of each year.