Support Beaumont Haiti

When I was 16 years old I went with my father on a mission trip to Sassier, Haiti.  During our time there we helped paint and furnish a newly built secondary school, the trip was a massive eye opener for me as a child fortunate enough to have been raised in a household where there were very few things to worry about.

I am so blessed, the life I live is a world different from the Haitian man  that helped organize our volunteer efforts and guide us throughout our tenure in Haiti, Jacquelin Lubin. Born in a small town named Beaumont on the Southeastern tip of the island, Jacquelin's father wasn't around and his mother passed when he was a child. He grew up given nothing. 

Still, he dedicated his entire life's work to the service and support of the Haitian people. I'll never forget what my new friend Jacquelin, our guide and translator during our time there, said to me on our last day in Sassier. 

I told him that I'd never see the world the same way again. That this trip made such a huge impact on me, and I wanted to continue to help in the future. He looked at me, and with a smile told me that he heard that same line from nearly every individual he'd ever led on a trip. I knew he believed me that my time there made me look at the world in a whole new light, but he was challenging me to not just talk the talk... 

Since then, I've graduated high school, in a week I will graduate from college, and in a month I will start my career as a Real Estate Analyst . I couldn't be more excited for the future. My life has been filled with blessings, but I have always felt that there was something else calling me to action. I have a little time-off between graduation and my start date for work, and I immediately knew how I wanted to spend it.

June 15 I will fly to Port Au Prince and my old pal Jacquelin will pick me up from the airport. Together we will travel to his hometown of Beaumont, and over the following week I will kick-off what I vow to be a lifelong partnership with Jacquelin, and the people of Beaumont.

Beaumont has been ravaged by natural disasters and a horrendous cycle of poverty. It seems as though any time progress is made, something tragic happens to send things backward. The most recent example of this being Hurricane Matthew in 2016 which killed hundreds and destroyed buildings, homes, and agriculture.

The people of Beaumont need our help, but more importantly they need something to be excited about - Hope, for lack of a better term. They currently receive very little aid and their outlook is filled with pain, suffering, and poverty. 

I know that I can't go to Haiti for a week and expect to save the day, but my goal is that this trip will be the first of many in which I will continue to forge lasting partnerships with the community leaders of Beaumont through the support of their schools, infrastructure, and development. 

I do not yet have a name for my organization, but I do have a plan. If you choose to donate money towards my cause, it will go towards the following:

- Backpacks, folders, pencils, pens, and other school supplies for the school children of Beaumont. When the academic year starts in September, these families can send their children to school with one less thing to worry about being able to afford.

- Construction / building materials. Haiti has been devastated by natural disasters. Many reside in shacks built with whatever they can find. Even a 10 x 10 piece of sheet metal used as a roof can be the difference between a night spend cold and wet, or warm and dry for a family in Beaumont.

- Establishing a scholarship program with the schools. With the help of Jacquelin I will set up a program where individuals that are particularly interested and driven in their studies are ‘sponsored’. Roughly $100 can send a child in Beaumont to school for a year, and education is the pathway to ending the cycle of poverty. With the establishment of this program, even if families don’t have the means to pay for school tuition, their children will not miss out on their critical opportunity to learn.



I promise that 100% of all funds will go towards improving the livelihood of a community that needs our help desperately.  For those who choose to donate, I pledge to keep you updated through email and social media so that you can see the tangible progress that is being made because of your generosity. Jacquelin will also be sending monthly video and picture updates so that even when I return to the US, we can continue to monitor our progress.

The people of Beaumont, people like Jacquelin, are rich in joy and spirit. I know that we will all see and feel a piece of that joy when we see the smiles on their faces when, for a change, people come together to help a community that has been neglected for far too long.