This month marks the 1 year anniversary of the deadly earthquake that hit Haiti. On Thursday January 20, MadCap Coffee Company will be taking the day’s tips and donating them in order to purchase water filters for families living in Haiti. For $75 one water filter can be purchased and used by families and communities to obtain clean water, preventing the further spread of the cholera disease that has plagued the country following the earthquake. A goal of at least $75 has been set for the day and the staff is committed to contributing their own funds in order to see this goal achieved.
On January 12, 2010 Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city, was struck with one of the most devastating earthquakes the country has ever seen affecting over three million residents lives. Roughly 60 aftershocks followed the earthquake devastating many families.
Many were forced to live in tents outside the city with hundreds of others who were homeless. In a country that was already struggling, it seemed as if all hope would be lost.
Sadly the crisis and need didn’t stop there for Haiti. Even more recently: this past fall there was an outbreak of cholera in Haiti. This disease has affected over 100,000 Haitians and the country will never rid itself from its devastation only enhanced by the earthquake, unless they obtain clean, safe drinking water and proper sewers. Due to these conditions, Haitians plagued with this disease encounter severe dehydration that in worst cases leads to death.
My personal connection came when I joined a group of 20 college students from Cornerstone University on a mission’s trip down to Haiti during a spring break. It was one thing to read about poverty, orphans, and widows, but to look in every direction and see poverty, to hold an abandoned child and to pray over women who have lost everything was a complete eye opener. Our itinerary for the week included food distributions, visits to orphanages, teaching in schools, and a visit to Cité Soleil which is the poorest and most dangerous city in all of the Western Hemisphere. Once I left the country there was an opportunity to sponsor a child I had met down there and for a small fee each month I would be able to make sure she was given proper education, clothes, food and medical attention. Little to say that a piece of me is still in Haiti and upon hearing of the earthquakes that hit last year I couldn’t sit back and do nothing about the situation.

Jasmine Talant, age 8

MadCap intentionally strives to support local businesses and organizations. The organization we will be working with is the Haiti Foundation Against Poverty. An honest and transparent organization started in 2007 by a student at Cornerstone University here in Grand Rapids. The foundation sets its eyes solely on empowering the poor, widowed and orphaned in Haiti. Through setting up schools for children in the slums, providing child care and shelter to many orphans, and even helping women start their own small businesses, the foundation has never lost sight and most importantly hope in the country they’ve fallen in love with.

~Stacey Wieck, aka Ninja Apprentice