Fall Newsletter

Hope you enjoyed reading Fall newsletter of the Lambi Fund of Haiti, packed with news and info from Haiti. Thanks to all of you who sent year-end donations and are making a difference in Haiti!

If you have not yet sent a gift, this is your last chance to send a tax deductible donation that will help support self-sustaining community organizations in Haiti.

You can click here and make a credit card donation now.

Or you can send a check dated 12/31/2009 to Lambi Fund of Haiti, PO Box 18955, Washington DC 20036.

Pase yon bon lane! Happy New Year!

Meet Marie

As a supporter of the Lambi Fund of Haiti, you know all too well about poverty in Haiti - where almost three in every four people are living on less than $2 a day.

The effects of such poverty are devastating to families like Marie's, a single mother of four, who could barely eke out a living for her family.

Marie's fortunes changed, however, when her community organization launched a goat breeding program with the Lambi Fund's support.

The Lambi Fund provided funds for Marie's community group to purchase 132 goats, materials for the goat enclosures, and veterinary medicine for treating the goats. Organization members built the pens, and now are managing the project of raising and selling the goats.

With goats to raise for sale, Marie is now able to make a living and provide food, health care, and education for her family.

At Lambi Fund, we don't give food aid, we partner with community organizations like Marie's to build their capacity with tools, seeds, livestock and knowhow. We work together to build lasting solutions to poverty and hunger, with dignity and respect. Click here to donate now.

People like you make all this possible, giving the funds necessary to provide Haitian organizations with the resources they need to build sustainable community enterprises. As a result:

• More communities are able to feed their families and send their children to school.
• New rainwater cisterns are improving the health of entire communities with access to safe drinking water.
• Organic planting methods are improving the nutrient content of food while stabilizing the soil and minimizing erosion.
• Reforestation projects are reversing an alarming trend of forest destruction that threatens further damage to the earth.
• Thousands of people are learning the skills they need to for self-sufficient communities.
• Micro-credit funds are financing successful community-run micro-enterprises.

With your past support, Lambi Fund has partnered with community groups on more than 175 projects and touched more than a million lives in Haiti in the past 15 years.

That's why I'm asking you to please make a donation to the Lambi Fund today, so that we can continue to bring hope and opportunity to families in Haiti.

On behalf of families like Marie's, and all those seeking hope in Haiti, please accept our heartfelt thanks for your support.

Peace,

Karen Ashmore

Executive Director

Five Ways Your Gift to Lambi Fund Makes a Difference

1. Promote self-sufficiency and economic strength among Haiti's poor.

2. Help create a fertile ground for democracy.

3. Help stamp out malnutrition by sustaining rural communities

4. End deforestation and promote care of the earth.

5. Teach proper farming methods that diminish erosion

Thank you for helping make a difference in Haiti!

Gift Catalog

This holiday season, you can make a donation to the Lambi Fund of Haiti in honor of someone special. See our gift catalog at http://www.lambifund.org/support_catalog.shtml

By buying the items listed here, as well as in our complete gift catalog, you're making a symbolic purchase of the types of things rural Haitian community organizations need to build sustainable economic progress.

Here are some samples from our gift catalog, but you can click here to see all 20 items.

Tree Seedlings: $22
Green is Great
The Lambi Fund of Haiti is passionate about the environment, and believes that deforestation has critical impacts on food security and the environment. Haiti, described by the United Nations as "one of the most degraded countries in the world," suffered epic levels of flooding from recent hurricanes, which were exacerbated by severe soil erosion and deforestation.

Your gift will purchase one tree seedling, train local farmers on proper tree care, and plant and nurture the tree seedling until it has become properly substantiated.

To make a gift of tree seedlings, click here, enter $22 in the amount field and tree seedlings in the comments field.


Seeds: $50
Seeds for Tomorrow
The food crisis in Haiti is an urgent plea for more food. A seed bank enables Haitian communities to plant inexpensive, high-quality seeds and grow food to feed their families sustainably for years. Farmers have had to buy seeds at triple the cost of what they can earn from their crops.

Your gift will provide community members seeds for an organic seed bank and provide sustainable agriculture training, empowering Haitians to provide food for their families and increasing food security.

To make a gift of seeds, click here, enter $50 in the amount field and seeds in the comments field.

Goats: $100


The gift of a goat is a sustainable way to help a struggling family in Haiti. Goat breeding can be a pathway out of poverty. Goats can thrive on just about anything - even grass and leaves on the dry land in rural Haiti - so there is little cost for their upkeep. Goat meat is a popular food in Haiti, so there is a strong demand at the local market. Goats often have two or three kids a year, so a community organization that wants to start a self-sufficient goat breeding enterprise can see immediate success.

To make a gift of a goat, click here, enter $100 in the amount field and goat in the comments field.


Support Women: $500
When Women Win, We All Win
Women make up 70% of the world's poor and produce 80% of the developing world's food, yet they own less than 1% of the world's land. Sadly, this rings true in Haiti. Lambi Fund understands that economic progress in Haiti cannot be achieved without the help of women. Women are overlooked by government programs, receive lower wages, and have fewer opportunities for education.

Your gift to support women will pay for leadership, organizational, and technical training to women. This enables women to become leaders in their organizations and communities, and builds a lasting foundation for gender equity.

To make a gift to support women in Haiti, click here, enter $500 in the amount field and for women's programs in the comments field.

After making your contribution, don't forget to print out Lambi Fund gift cards to let your loved ones know about the gift you've made in their honor.

Travel to Haiti

Travel to Haiti with Lambi Fund March 14-19 and see firsthand some of the amazing work being done by grassroots groups in rural Haiti.This is a life changing opportunity to meet Haitians face to face and hear about their struggles and how their community is working to support economic justice, democracy and alternative sustainable development in Haiti. Come see how our partners raise food locally and offer sustainable alternatives to food aid.

For more info go to http://www.lambifund.org/news_travel.shtml

Sa je pa wè, kè pa santi.
What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't feel. (Haitian proverb)

While traveling through the countryside, we will meet with local grassroots organizations. Through Lambi Fund's support, these groups are creating small-scale sustainable projects that are making a tremendous difference in the lives of their members and their communities. In what is sure to be a moving and inspiring experience, we will spend three days in the Northwest visiting sustainable agriculture, fishing, potable water, and grain mill projects and talking with Haitian peasants that run these local enterprises.

Join us for an unforgettable trip that can change the way you see the world!

The delegation fee is $1500 per person for double occupancy (we will assign you with a roommate or you can pay $2000 for a single room). This fee includes all hotel accommodations, meals, transportation within Haiti, and translation and guide services. (Because people will be arriving from different locations, you are responsible for your own airfare to Port au Prince.

American Airlines, Air France, Spirit and Delta have flights from Miami or NY to Port au Prince. We strongly encourage you to purchase travel insurance in the event of unforeseen circumstances). Applications and a 50% deposit are due by Feb. 1, 2010. Be sure to get your application in early as space is limited.

Please eMail Lambi Fund today to request a travel application!

"Our group had a wonderful trip and came away with an avid appreciation for Lambi Fund's work and the communities with which it is partnering. One organization in particular (an animal husbandry project) really made an impression -- we were blown away by the members' enthusiasm, energy, hospitality, optimism, and potential." (Comments from previous delegation traveler)