History

My first mission trip to Haiti was in December of 1989.  At the time I was a 41 year old dairy farmer who finally had enough help so I could be away for the two weeks needed for the mission team to do their part in building a school.  My life would never be the same!  The project of building the school and my subsequent return the next year to build the desks for the school was easy.  What was difficult was seeing the abject conditions under which the Haitian people tried to survive and asking myself what I might do to make a difference.

There are over 8 million people in Haiti and most of them live in poverty.  I asked myself what I might do to help 8 million people?  I could do nothing for all 8 million people and I could do nothing for 1 million people but I could do something for just one person and that is where I would start.

Pierre Fritzner had been our interpreter the first two years that I had been to Haiti.  He barely made enough money to pay his rent for one small room in a house and often went without eating.  His concern was not for himself, he had an aging mother, a sick sister, nephews and nieces that could not afford to go to school, and friends that knew he sometimes was employed and asked for his help.

Fritz was a man of God and I knew that if I helped him I would also be helping his aging mother, his sick sister, his nephews and nieces, his friends and many more people that he would come in contact with.  And so a partnership evolved with Fritz that we now call "Helping Hands for Haiti".  We provide money to send children to school, we bring shoes, clothing, medicines, and bibles, we teach bible schools and build desks and repair churches and provide money for emergencies for food and housing and medical care.  We give families a chance to help themselves by buying them chickens or goats or pigs or a sewing machine or a motorcycle.  And we give them hope because we return each year.  And it all started by helping just one person!

Dave
Helping Hands for Haiti