News

Update: Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Dear friends,

We are very appreciative of your concern, prayers and support. Today the workers started to break up and haul off the tons of cement and iron that used to be our Fr. Wasson Center in Petionville. It is very important to us that this location is cleaned up and a new initiative is started there. I still admire the teams of 20 and 30 people who dug without stopping until they found Dr. Castro, Erin, and the bodies of Molly and Ryan. We are not sure what we will rebuild there yet, but for sure we will make a prominent memorial dedicated to Molly and Ryan, and to all of our Haitian staff and friends who died elsewhere in the tragedy.

St._Damein_Chapel We estimate that we are missing about 20% of our Haitian staff. Some have gone to the United States, some are dead and some are still absorbed in their tragedies. We are not sure of the total deaths yet and it will take some time. When we have a good idea, we will have a memorial ceremony for them and a page on the website to honor them. We have offered many masses for them already.

At the orphanage in Kenscoff, things have been fine. Busloads of our children from St. Helen have come to the hospital so they can have an idea of the problems, pray for the suffering and the dead and also visit the injured children.

The situation in the hospital has calmed down and we are better organized with a infrastructure in place. Patients that were sent for surgery to the USS Comfort will be returned to recouperate at our facilities. Also we will accept patients from the general public hospital. We are anticipating as many as 200 post operative patients.

Medical teams from many countries are doing all they can and all are working together in the best capacity. Four medical teams are going out daily to work in the poor areas. The team working at Christ Roi are working in the only standing building in the area.

We have a team that went to Leogane and Jacmel, two destroyed cities, to assess how we might be able to help. Alfonso Leon and his team have been working in parks where children gather on the streets to offer food and other help. They are also starting to search for orphans and other vulnerable children. We have begun free water deliveries with the St. Luke water truck and the St. Helen orphanage water truck and we are starting food distributions tomorrow.

Gena Heraty and Norma Lopez are developing the team for the rehabilitation of the many children and adults who lost arms and legs. It is bittersweet to walk through our hospital and see so many children that are missing a limb, still with a big smile.

We have many homeless employees who prefer to live in a tent rather than taking them onto our property. It is important that they keep their social and family networks vibrant and our hope is to help them build their own small homes in the future with blocks we make ourselves at our Francisville industrial center.

There are many ex-pequeños as well with nowhere to live. We hope in the meantime to get tents for them and to have stations where they can come for food. Hopefully one day we can also help them rebuild their own homes.

The problems are overwhelming. In relation to health, education, family, life, employment and social stability, the earthquake will have severe ramifications well into the future.

Please keep up your important prayers and support.

Thank you again and God bless you.

Fr. Rick Frechette

Thank you

Thank you for your message of sympathy concerning the death of Gerri Frechette. If you are donating in her memory, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Fr. Rick is very grateful for all of your support and prayers in this time. He will remember you all in a mass of thanksgiving. He cannot emphasize enough how your prayers and support help. So far we have collected over $35,000 to be used for immediate relief, as well as rebuilding the schools and repairing the hospital!

Please take a look at this brief interview Fr. Rick gave before he headed back down to Haiti.

"Local Priest Headed Back to Haiti"

Interview on NBC Nightly News

Thank you all for your continued support, kind thoughts, and prayers throughout this tumultuous time. Recently, Fr. Rick was on NBC Nightly News with Ann Curry. The pediatric hospital, St. Damien, is featured throughout the clip.

Fr. Rick Frechette on NBC Nightly News

Stay tuned for more updates!!

Magnitude-7.0 Earthquake Rocks Port-au-Prince

Photo reproduced: Eduardo Munoz / Reuters

As many have already heard, a massive earthquake rocked the capital of Haiti: Port-au-Prince. No word yet on the extent of the damage, however we do have a brief report:

"Tonight I will drive to Kennedy Airport in New York with Conan Conaboy. We cannot fly to Haiti tomorrow, so we will fly to Santo Domingo. Kieran and Vern Conaway will meet us there, and Robin from Chicago. We will drive to Haiti together to see how we can help.

I know there is extensive damage at our new hospital, that the perimeter walls of all three of our Tabarre programs have fallen. I know there is damage to the hospital walls.

I also know there is severe damage at the old hospital in Petionville.

Lets pray everyone is alright.

I have heard that everyone at the orphanage in Kenscoff is OK.

I will not arrive until Thursday morning, since the border between Domican Republic and Haiti will be closed when we arrive tomorrow. We will find the best way to keep you informed and let you know how you can help.

Let's stay bound together in friendship and prayer.

God bless us all. especially the suffering people of Haiti.

Fr Rick Frechette"

1/12/10

Let us keep them in our thoughts and prayers over the coming weeks. Together we can help!

Haiti
The God of Tough Places, the Lord of Burnt Men

By Fr. Richard Frechette

As a priest and a physician, Fr. Rick has known the body, heart, and soul of many people in the most anguishing of circumstances, when they faced the biggest challenges to their life. To make the situation more dramatic, he has carried out his double ministry over the past 25 years in settings of extreme poverty, violence, social upheaval and natural disasters. The backdrop of his profound encounters with other people has often been the crucible. This personal experience of tough realities has been at once a descent into chaos and an ascent into compassion. The reflections in this volume are not properly about Haiti, though they are about real life incidents that happened there during a particular time in her history.

These essays show how the ancient human scourges of poverty, ignorance, illness, and violence desecrate humanity and weaken the spirit. Yet from these ashes many people, with the help of God, valiantly rise. This is a stunning work that crosses all conventional barriers between the personal and the political, between degradation by others and elevation by selves.

Coming March 10, 2010

Pre-order

Dedication

Fr Bill Wasson, Remembered:

His highest goal was forming children who care about their neighbor, and who sacrifice to help, with love for fellow mankind, kindness for even the weakest soul, and Gospel, guiding his way.

Update

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti during this tragic time. Thank you all for your support and donations during this time of need!

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Audacity to Believe

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have: three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.