Urgent need: Keep the soup on at Pen ak Pwason

I write this to you from a place of desperation. The need for food in Borgne, Haiti—especially for the most vulnerable—is grave, and I have not yet raised enough to cover October. The continued gang violence, insecurity, heavy inflation and high cost of living in Haiti restricts planting, harvesting, commerce, transport of goods, and planning for the future in general.

When we started the Pen ak Pwason through St. Joseph's House of Hospitality, it was intended as a supplement for what people in need could find to eat through the kindness of their neighbors. Now our director Somane Augustama says she has doubled the portions of rice because these meals are the only meals our guests get now, and they have to make each one last 2-3 days. Doubling the amount of rice on a fixed budget means less meat and vegetables, less nutrition overall. Still, something in one’s stomach is better than nothing.

October is our anniversary month, and this marks 16 years of continuous operation. Over that time, Pen ak Pwason has served at least 122,000 meals. Pen ak Pwason is the place the community knows to send people in need of nourishment…people whose aging bodies or minds no longer allow them to work, people without family support, people with disabilities, people recently out of jail, people escaping gang violence in the capital, people who can’t work temporarily due to illness, people who have suffered strokes or been injured in accidents. Additionally, after they serve the guests each day, they hand any leftovers out the door. As most everyone in Haiti rushes to leave, Somane says she will stay. She cannot leave behind her “granmoun” (older folks) at Pen ak Pwason. They have become her family and, even if they might be a generation her senior, they often call her mother.

What we need right now to protect these most vulnerable in Borgne is $1800 to cover food for October and an additional $670 for rent. Food costs a little less than $2/meal, so $15 can feed one of our guests for one month. Can you help provide food for one person? Or for one meal?

They say in Haiti:

“Bèf san ke, Bondye pouse mouch pou li.”

For the cow without at tail, God shoos away the flies.

God does not have any eyes but ours. God does not have any feet but ours. God does not have any hands but ours. God needs us to help express Their great love. If you can help in any amount, it would be greatly appreciated.