Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Amazing Before and After

I often think "What if the Rescue Center wasn't there? What if there was nowhere for these kids to go? Where would they be right now? Would they even be alive?" When I think of the kids that I've posted here...I'm pretty sure the answer would be No. They probably wouldn't be alive if the Rescue Center wasn't there to take them in and love them and care for them. These kids were in desperate need of nutritious food and health care and without it they would have died. Every day, kids like these die in Haiti because of poverty. It's heartbreaking and I hope it motivates you to do something to help them in the same way it motivated me when I realized this was happening in a country SO close to the US.

These amazing transformations are what is happening at the Real Hope For Haiti Rescue Center in Cazale, Haiti. These before and after pictures speak for themselves. These kids were starving to death. Now they are smiling and active and even a little bit chubby! This is why we help this amazing place. They need funds to feed and care for these kids so that they have hope for their future and a chance at life.

Please take a moment to marvel at these before and afters and think about how you can let your creativity make a difference in the lives of children that will be at the Rescue Center in the future. Create something to donate in honor of these children or shop for something amazing to make a difference.

Darlens Before:





Darlens After:





Marie-Lange Before:


Marie-Lange After:



Soline Before:




Soline After:


(portrait of Soline by artist Alexis Studenberg)
Kervenson Before:



Kervenson After:

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Co-op Begins


Last November, before the earthquake, I met this family in the mountains of Haiti. I've written about them before because their impact on me was very strong.

This desperate father was trying to figure out how he was going to take care of his family when he had no job and no possibilities for work in the future. I talked with someone at the Rescue Center where we were working because I wanted to figure out how this man could find a job. The response I got was "there are no jobs." All I could think was WHAT is he going to do??? How are you supposed to feed your kids when there are no jobs and no food pantries or shelters to go to for help? It was one of those moments when reality hit me hard.


Marie-Lange, one of the children, was admitted to the Rescue Center because she was obviously severely malnourished. Seeing her little ribs sticking out made me realize that we needed to do something to help people in this area earn a living. It's so overwhelming to think of this problem as a whole. Our hope is that we can start to make a difference one little step at a time by providing outlets for people to sell the things they create and by teaching classes to people with an interest in the arts and a need for income to be able to support themselves and their families. We want to lesson the amount of families that have to suffer in this way.

We have started to receive items from Haiti and we will be listing new things in the weeks to come. We listed our first items last week and are very excited to say that most of them have already sold! Below you will see a few of the items that have/will be for sale. We will be also be sharing more about these items and the artisans who create them. We are so excited about the possibilities and the hope this will bring to families in the Cazale area.





Thursday, July 1, 2010