St. Joseph’s School in Petit Goave, Haiti


New Trier travel team with students and teachers from St. Joseph school in Haiti.

          Ecole Saint Josef is located in Petit Goave on the island nation of Haiti. The school was in dire need before the earthquake last January, but now nothing is left except the will to rebuild and to provide an education for the children. I am very proud to say that the children of Saint Joseph School in Wilmette and the people of Saint Joseph Parish in Wilmette are partnering with the New Trier Haiti Project. It is our hope, that in time, the efforts of our children and parishioners will assist the New Trier Haiti Project in rebuilding the school – which is also dedicated to Saint Joseph – so that it can once again be a beacon of hope for the children and families of Petit-Goave.
          Several of New Trier’s staff members are from Haiti, and since last spring, a group of New Trier faculty and staff have been developing the Haiti Project in anticipation of launching a fund-raising effort and service learning project to help rebuild Ecole Saint Josef. The project began with two of New Trier’s staff members, Maurice Bonhomme and Jean Cayemitte, who work as security guards on New Trier’s Northfield Campus. Maurice and Jean have worked tirelessly for several years at their personal cost to keep the doors open at Petit-Goave’s Ecole Saint Josef. Through personal finances and donations made by family and friends, they paid the $300 monthly salaries of school’s committed teachers and the $250 tuition for children of the 160 families unable to afford this yearly expense. No child was turned away for financial reasons.
          This past summer, at the invitation of Maurice and Jean, a small group of New Trier High School staff had the honor and privilege to visit Petit-Goave and Ecole Saint Josef. While they witnessed great need in this community, they also told us they experienced its great heart. In spite of insufficient salaries, Ecole Saint Josef schoolteachers remained unwaveringly dedicated to their students. The children’s learning commitment was equally strong, despite empty stomachs and the crumbling school facilities.
          The mission of the Haiti Project is now being expanded to help with the relief effort in Petit-Goave, which is located just 5 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake. We now know the damage done to the town has been extensive and Ecole Saint Josef is only one of many buildings that have collapsed. It is clear that this already impoverished area has been further ravaged by this tragic disaster.
          We are proud to espouse the statement of purpose that guides the efforts of the New Trier Haiti Project. That statement pledges to raise funds to repair and refurbish St. Joseph’s school in Petit Goave, Haiti; to install electricity, plumbing, an indoor bathroom, and a kitchen (which would provide a hot meal per day for the students); and to raise funds to build a school for 300 children on the outskirts of Petit Goave, Haiti, who currently do not have a school.
          Toward that end we gave the New Trier Haiti Project a check for almost $12,000 which we garnered from our special Ecole Saint Josef collection and from the "Helping Hands for Haiti" initiative we sponsored in the school. Our intention is to remain supportive of the efforts of the New Trier Haiti Project until Ecole Saint Josef is rebuilt. It gives me particular pleasure to partner with the distinguished members of the faculty and staff of New Trier High School in this most worthy endeavor. My distinguished predecessor, Father William Netstraeter, was elected as a member of the first New Trier High School Board in 1889 and served in that position until 1907. I’m sure he would be proud of our involvement with the high school he helped found so long ago. Through the intercession of Saint Joseph, may God bless the New Trier Haiti Project.

                                                                                Father John Pollard