Pere Sadoni sends an update about children of St Vincent's School

2-17-2010 Update

We received a message from Fr. Sadoni Leon, Director the St. Vincent’s Center for Handicapped Children. He said the conditions of the forty children at the former seminary at Montrouis were good -- they had water, tents, food that he could buy, and a fresh sea breeze. He has a vehicle and can get to Port-au-Prince as necessary. He also said the children were "homesick" for their "home" in Port-au-Prince.

Some of you may be wondering about the other children. About half of them were picked up by their parents.  Some of the children have returned to Les Cayes where Dirk Martin, a former volunteer at St. Vincent’s lives. 

Bishop Duracin plans to re-build the Center. This will be a slow process since all the structures will have to be evaluated by engineers.

I would like to thank all our donors over this year and most recently after the earthquake. Many of our old friends have e-mailed their concerns and prayers.

I would like to thank especially the many children with their fund raising efforts. My heart is so lifted to see so many children reaching out to other children during this crisis...

I would like to give a special thanks to Wiltsie Anderson from Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Indianapolis, Indiana. H e organized a fundraiser for the care of the children at St. Vincent’s Center. We are so proud of young men like him responding to the needs of others a world away.  

Suzanne Sayer’s Fifth Grade Girl School Troop 457 at Braeburn collected $260 from Coins for Haiti Project

Montessori School of Greater Hartford 6^th level for baking and selling home-made dog treats as a fund raiser

Sienna Nelson, a youth member of the Western Tennessee Haiti Partnership, organized a drive-by-fundraiser and managed to raise $2400 for St. Vincent’s Center

Contordia Learning Center at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind collected personal items for the children 

Other businesses, organizations, schools and churches include:

Physicians for Peace, Norfolk, VA

Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted People

MAC Town Inc., Miami, FL

Dallas-Haiti Project, Dallas, TX

The Rotary Club of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada

Albert Einstein College Medical Center, Bronx, NY

Catholic Office of the Deaf, Chicago IL

Aetna Giving Campaign

Pritchard’s Bottle Shop

Creative Family Solutions

Alcohol Drug Recovery Centers’ staff raised $1007 from a potluck lunch program

Perkins School for the Blind and staff

Perkins Brailler Company

Limitless Vision Consulting

Advanced Senior Support Home Health

EHGEMS parents and staff

Helping Hands for the Blind, Chatsworth, Ca 

Barrett Family

Paternoster Family

Ford Family

Lucy Read Family and Friends

Grace Hill Family and Friends

St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Hanover NH

St. Mark’s Chapel, Storrs, CT

St. John’s Episcopal Church, North Guilford, CT

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Niantic, CT

St. James’s Episcopal Church, West Hartford, CT

Trinity Episcopal Church, Wethersfield, CT

Northern Presbyterian Church, North Canton,

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Simsbury, CT

St. James Parish, Keene, NH

St. Peter’s-Trinity Episcopal Church, Thomaston, CT

St. James’ Episcopal Church, Glastonbury, CT

St. Savior’s Episcopal Church, Old Greenwich, CT

Trinity Lutheran Church, Vernon, CT

St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Hamilton, NY

Church of Christ Congregational,

Newington CT

Christ Church, Middle Haddam, CT

Church Home of Hartford, Bloomfield, CT

Two new groups whom have joined our work are:

St. Michael’s Parish Day School, Tucson, AZ

Royal St. George’s College, Canada

God Bless you all,

Hope Lennartz RN MSN

Founder of the Friends of St. Vincent’s Center                                                     

sent in by Hope Lennartz