Denise and Randy will visit New York in June, attending services and hosting an open house to connect with friends and share updates about their work in Haiti. They highlight ongoing challenges in Haiti due to gang violence and appreciate support for their aid programs. Summer activities for children in Haiti are also in planning.
New York Trip
Hello friends! We want to give you a summer update. Denise & Randy are heading to New York in June. We will be in the Rochester area the second week in June for a memorial service. While we are there, we would love to see as many of you as possible!
We will share about our work in Haiti on Sunday, June 7 at LifeTree Fellowship church at 10AM. LifeTree meets at the historic sanctuary of Bethel Christian Fellowship at 321 East Ave. The door is on Anson Place, closest to East Ave.
For those of you in the Finger Lakes region, we will be at Faith Community Church in Geneva on Sunday, June 14 at 10AM. Faith Community meets at 10AM and is located at 90 Lewis Street, Geneva, NY.
We would love to see you at either (or both!) of those services to share an update, say hello, and catch up. We will also have our traditional open house time on Friday, June 12 at Tom Wahl’s in Bushnell’s Basin. That location is just off 490 and has been a convenient spot for people to meet. We will be there from 5 to 7PM. Stop by for dinner, ice cream, or just come hang out with us!
Can you believe it’s Christmas time already? We pray that you have a Merry Christmas and a blessed holiday season as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. It’s an exciting time for the children and families in our assistance programs in Haiti.
We are so thankful to each of you who helped fund our Christmas shopping this year through the Project Essentials promotions. There are many more families that Hands & Feet Project (H&FP) is supporting this year than in previous years, and we can’t do that without the support of you and the rest of our amazing donors! One of the gifts we gave families in the communities that we support is a goat! Goats are gifts that can be used in a variety of ways. It has been an adventure for our staff in Jacmel and Grand Goave to find, purchase and deliver goats to families in need.
Families will also be receiving children’s Bibles in Haitian Creole so they can learn together and grow in their faith. This is a great time of year for families to sit together and read Bible stories. Children in our daycares hear Bible stories regularly and often share them with their families. Providing Bibles is just another way to share the love of Jesus and encourage others along their faith journey. We pray that these gifts will help these families have a Merry Christmas!
Leadership Change at H&FP
We have a new executive director for our organization! You can meet Letty Vendrell through a video interview on the latest version of the Project Red podcast. (The first link goes to the interview on YouTube; you can find different podcast formats and other Project Red podcasts on the 2nd link.) Our former executive director, Andrea McGinniss, announced early this year that she was stepping down in the fall of this year. After a long search and much prayer, Letty joined the team and is already having an impact on our organization. Andrea worked closely with us for many years, and she will certainly be missed.
In addition to receiving our newsletter (sign up here if you are not already on the list), you can also follow the activities of our ministry organization. The H&FP newsletter archive and a link to sign up to get those via e-mail can be found here.
Family Update
Please keep Denise and her family in your prayers as we all cope with the loss of her mom, Ruth Ann Vlasak, early this month. Denise went to Louisiana several times over the last few months to be with her mom as her health was failing. We are thankful for her faith in Jesus, and that she has taken up residence in heaven.
Our community in Florida held an event on the Longest Night of the year as many of us grieve the loss of someone we love. That grief often hits us just a little harder around the holidays. The Longest Night is a service of comfort and spiritual support for those who are walking through grief, loneliness, loss, hopelessness, or who are just feeling a little down during the Christmas Season, or desire a quiet & contemplative experience.
Year-End Activities
The end of the year is always a busy time in Haiti. Not only do we have the holidays to plan for, but also work contracts for the following year, year-end bonuses (some are mandatory in Haiti!), updating job descriptions and work contracts, payroll changes for the new year, and getting budgets approved. That is quite a list! It keeps us busy the last few months of the year. Even though we started early, our to-do lists are still pretty long!
Our team is planning a trip to Haiti in the early part of 2026. Please keep us all in your prayers as we make plans and travel arrangements.
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. — Proverbs 16:9
We pray that you have a blessed Christmas and and a God-filled New Year.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
It’s time for back-to-school planning in Haiti! We appreciate all the support we’ve received for our school supply drive. It’s always amazing to see such a generous outpouring of support each school season. There are always new school uniforms needed, along with many books and supplies for our growing community that we support. The outstanding needs on our Project Essentials fundraiser page continue to drop as more people donate towards this cause. There’s a story about Marvens and his experience with school in a recent post from Hands & Feet Project that fills in some details of the impact that you can have on school children in Haiti.
Here are details regarding how to get more information about Hands and Feet Project, and about Randy and Denise’s visit to Rochester, New York.
Hands and Feet Project Information
Do you ever wish you knew more information about Hands and Feet Project (H&FP), the amazing organization that we work with as missionaries to Haiti? We have shared the H&FP web site and posts from their Facebook page fairly frequently. There’s also their Instagram feed and YouTube videos page, and now…there’s a podcast! It’s called, “Project Red”. Project Red is more than a podcast—it’s a message, a vision, and a call to action. The first episode is already available, where Mark Stuart, Will McGinniss and Patrick Austin sit down and talk about the past, present and future of Hands and Feet Project. They also talk about the meaning of the Project Red name. These guys are all fun, entertaining and informative. Check it out and subscribe to get notifications about upcoming episodes. You can find the podcast episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube, Amazon Music, and Spotify.
Working with the Haitian and American staff to help children and families in Haiti continues to be challenging, yet rewarding. Haiti life is not easy, but it’s the only life most Haitians know. Sometimes it is challenging to find certain supplies or food. And because the usual trade route through Port au Prince is closed, many things are more expensive month to month. And at times certain items are not available in some areas. It’s quite impressive that the local markets and stores are able to offer such a large variety of products and food, but prices are constantly increasing. The Haitian community has such resilience in the face of opposition!
Inflation in the USA is currently around 2.8%. Can you imagine an inflation rate of 28.4%? That’s what Haiti has been facing for the last several years. Despite the rising costs, Hands and Feet Project is still committed to purchasing items in Haiti as much as possible. We make this commitment because it helps the local businesses survive and thrive, and provides market vendors with money so they can feed their families.
Can you believe it is still “summer” in Haiti? Okay, so it always feels like summer in Haiti! The schools across the United States have all started by now, but the official start of school year in Haiti is October 1st this year! I’m sure that would make many kids in the States jealous…until they find out that kids in Haiti will be in school through mid-July.
Thanks to everyone to contributed to the back to school fundraiser for books, backpacks, school supplies, and school shoes at the Lekol Marketplace. (“Lekol” means School in Haitian Kreyol.) It was a great success! Here’s a short video update from Will McGinniss and Mark Stuart about Lekol Marketplace. The kids are all prepared for school and lessons to begin. We appreciate all the help provided to prepare for another successful school year.
Hands and Feet Project (HAFP) is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year! What a impact this organization has made in the Jacmel and Grand Goave communities of Haiti, and beyond. Here’s a short video that talks about the challenges and successes of the organization over the years.
As we look back on our history, it’s hard to believe that we joined HAFP over 7 years ago! We’re excited about continuing to serve the children and families in Haiti as God leads. Thanks to everyone who has participated in the ministry through prayer, financial support, and encouragement over the years. This is a ministry of many hands, and we are thankful for each one who has propped us up and supported the calling God has shared with us.
You have probably seen Haiti in the news more than usual recently. The news is causing quite a stir as more people see the conditions around the Port au Prince capital region. We have heard many reports about people being evacuated from the country by various methods. This is giving us more opportunities to share about the work that we continue to do in Haiti with the Hands and Feet Project.
The current news you see and hear about Haiti is still primarily concentrating on the activities around the capital region, in and around Port au Prince. Outside that region it is still relatively peaceful, although it’s sometimes difficult to find fuel and supplies. In March 2024, inflation increased to an annual rate of 23%. Some sources report it as high as 34%. As a comparison, the US annual inflation rate is currently only 3.5%. Despite the ongoing challenges, we continue to find all the resources needed for the children in our care, and for the families we help in the community. Please continue to pray that peace will be restored across the country.
Road Trip to New York
It’s time for a trip to Rochester, New York again to see friends, family and our faithful supporters. On our way north over the weekend, we saw 92 degrees in Georgia. But it was cold and rainy for our layover in North Carolina, and it’s about the same in New York. We’re just hoping we don’t see snow!
Working in Haiti is always an adventure. There are unexpected things around every corner. For example, I expected to be writing this note from Haiti! We have shared that we were looking for opportunities to get back into Haiti for the last several months. Flights were booked to head in, only to be postponed and then rescheduled due to conditions within Haiti. Sadly, now the trip was canceled.
The day we were scheduled to fly in was a day the protests in Haiti ramped up. The small airport we were supposed to fly into was closed due to protests. We are so thankful we did not end up in the capital waiting to see when the small commuter planes would resume flights to Les Cayes!
The protests culminated in many roadblocks across the country, and people gathering to march in the streets. Some of the roadblocks were quite impressive!
So what were they protesting? Primarily, they want the current acting Prime Minister to step down. He’s been the sole, unelected government figure since the presidential assassination in June 2021. There have not been any elections since then. And frankly, fair elections would be difficult given the growing gang problem across the country.
God is so good. We are thankful for a good visit to Haiti for Randy and a few coworkers. Randy returned from Haiti last week. Here is a brief trip report of how things went, and about the current conditions in Haiti.
Trip Highlights
Haiti Made Staff
It was great to visit with many of the kids on our campuses. We also spent time with some of our current staff and met new staff members. Hands and Feet Project is increasing efforts to reunify children with family, and we have new staff in both Jacmel and Grand Goave to help facilitate that process. We are excited about the progress being made, but it takes time to form a lasting relationship. We also talked with our talented Haiti Made staff as they were working to complete some recent orders. It’s great to see that business continuing to thrive and to see the amazing hand-crafted good that the team creates.
