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January 27, 2010 |
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Update for Sponsors of Children in Haiti
St. Hélène Orphanage
We are pleased to report that all 350 children living at the NPFS home, St. Hélène in Kenscoff are safe after the earthquake. As of the beginning of this week, all of the NPFS St. Hélène staff have returned to work and we are thankful that they survived the tragedy. As our school is currently not in session we are still not sure if all of our teachers are safe after the earthquake. St. Hélène sustained minor damage during the earthquake and the children continue to live safely in their home. Although they have been assured that it is safe, many children continue to be scared of the possibility of another earthquake and still do not want to be inside the buildings.
External Program
The NPFS family also includes the 175 young adults in the external program. These pequeños live with their families or in student housing in Port-au-Prince. The program was operated out of the Fr. Wasson Center which collapsed as a result of the earthquake. Thankfully, none of the external program students were in the building at the time, however, we are still not sure if all of the external program students are safe. As the relief and recovery efforts continue, pequeños continue to arrive at the NPFS facilities. Seventy-five of the youth in the external program who were living with extended families are now living at St. Hélène because their homes were destroyed.
It is with sadness that we report that two of our young adults were killed in the earthquake. We ask that you keep them in your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate the concern that you have for your Godchildren and we will continue to keep you updated as we are able to confirm the safety of all of our NPFS children. Please understand that the staff and volunteer efforts in Haiti are focused on immediate relief and recovery and we will provide updates on individual Godchildren as soon as we can.
Correspondence
The NPFS Haiti sponsorship offices are not functioning at this time as they were located in the Fr. Wasson Center. We are thankful that our staff members were not in the building at the time and are safe. We ask for your patience with correspondence during the relief and recovery efforts as it will be significantly delayed until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Update for Sponsors of Children in the
Dominican Republic
We would like to advise our Dominican Republic Godparents that your correspondence to and from your Godchild may be slightly delayed in January and February. Due to its proximity to Haiti, the NPH home in the Dominican Republic is playing a crucial role in the relief and recovery efforts. Roseline, the Sponsorship Coordinator in the Dominican Republic has gone to Haiti to help in these efforts. Roseline grew up at the NPH home in Haiti and with her ability to speak Creole, English and Spanish has been a great asset to the relief efforts at the NPH's St. Damien Hospital. We are currently working to bring in a new Sponsorship Coordinator in the Dominican Republic; however, the main focus of the NPH DR team is to support the Haiti relief efforts at this time. We apologize for this inconvenience and please be assured that our correspondence will return to normal as soon as possible.
If you would like to see how the NPH home in the DR is helping in the relief efforts please click here.
If you have any questions regarding your sponsorship please contact your regional manager at or e-mail us at sponsorship@friendsus.org. Thank you for your continued support and understanding.
Kind regards,
Friends of the Orphans Sponsorship Team |
Contact Us
866.690.1703
sponsorship@friendsus.org
Regional Child Sponsorship Managers:
Northwest Region
Laura Useche
425.646.3935
Southwest Region
Belinda Roda
480.967.9449
Upper Midwest Region
Erin Dussault
651.482.1703
Midwest Region
Melissa Hoyt
312.386.7499
Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Region
Alina Fleury
703.848.2072
Southeast Region
Sherman Humphrey
305.663.6211 | |