Many things have changed for our small business over the past year, like our continuous growth and the evolution from Holmes Stamp & Sign to Holmes Custom, but one thing that will never change is the #Holmies’ annual mission trip to Haiti. This year, a group of ten men, including CEO Bryan Croft, Production Supervisor Jesse DeVaughn, and IT Manager Daniel Kellogg, raised $26,000 and collected other nonmonetary donations to bring to the people of Haiti. Their yearly adventure is supported by a nonprofit organization named Haiti180 that organizes mission trips, just like theirs, throughout the year every year. Learn more about Haiti180 and last year’s trip here.
Day 1:
Croft said this year’s trip started similarly to his previous five, with a full day of travel, beginning in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. and ending at Kay Mari, the orphanage the mission trips support. Here they were welcomed by the children’s caretakers and what seemed like millions of stars. After 17 hours of travel, the group headed to bed to rest up for the next day.
Day 2:
In the morning, bananas and coffee prepared them for a full day of work. Each year there is a main task the group focuses on, and this year they worked on the construction of the teacher’s housing. Roughly two miles from Kay Mari is a school. This school’s educators are responsible for teaching the 35 children of Kay Mari and the children of the surrounding village. Haiti180 believes that by educating these children, they are investing in Haiti’s future leaders. So when the team returned this year, it was their mission to construct a place these educators could call home.
Day two was spent moving truck loads of river stones to the location of the teachers’ housing and collecting roughly 700 gallons of water for cement mixing. The rocks and cement combined would later create the foundation of the housing, making them a huge step closer to the finished project. After swimming and bathing in a nearby river, they enjoyed chicken, rice, green beans, and french fries for dinner – a meal prepared by the grateful caretakers of Kay Mari.
Day 3:
On day three, half of the team stayed back to continue construction on the teachers’ house. They collected various elements of the house, like cactus to create a fence, and wood for the cement forms. They also worked to fix one of the roads that was severely damaged in Hurricane Irma. The village’s main road was washed out, causing anyone traveling along the road to get stuck in the mud. So next, they gathered broken boulders and used them to fill in the holes on the road.
The other half of the team went into Port au Prince with two primary missions. Their first goal was to work with a provider in Haiti to get a consistent internet connection to the village. This is a challenge, as you can imagine, and will take some hard work and time. But the internet was a game changer for our small business because for 40 years we serviced only select areas of Florida. When our small business dove into the e-commerce side of things, it expanded our opportunities for servicing customers on a national and even international level. Once we were able to service more customers, we were able to create more jobs for our community.
“Bringing internet connection to our village could be a game changer,” said Croft. “We could connect the medical clinic to help provide medical services, connect the school to provide better education for the kids, and finally connect to the village to improve the economy.”
They also worked with a logistics provider to get containers of supplies shipped from the east coast of the United States to Pour au Prince. From Port au Prince, the supplies would be delivered to the orphanage, creating a supply chain for the needs of the village.
After each group completed what they wanted to get done for the day, the team headed back to Kay Mari to relax for the evening and spend time with the children.
Day 4:
After two days of labor-intensive work, the team planned for a day of light work around the orphanage and visiting the homes of the surrounding villagers. Their first stop was to visit John Simone, a man who was left paralyzed from the neck down after a motorcycle accident a few years ago. When they first met John last year, he was in very bad shape and had a very low chance of survival. While his injuries remain very serious, he is now cared for daily by the caretakers of Kay Mari and the people of the village, and his survival rate has increased dramatically.
They continued their home visits, bringing them food, clothing, and other essentials. Along the way they met a family with a rare disease that makes it impossible to walk. There are a few cases of this disease in Haiti, but because of the limited resources they have available, no one has found a cure. The team hoped that by gathering information from the family, they could return later to the United States to consult a doctor to see what could be done for this family and others like them.
After delivering 28 bags of cement to the teacher housing, they made their way back to Kay Mari and were welcomed with BBQ chicken, rice, peas, corn, beans and other vegetables. They all agreed it was the best meal they had while in Haiti. The children gathered for chapel, and the team enjoyed listening to them sing familiar yet foreign songs.
Day 5:
Day five was spent transporting more broken boulders and continuing to repair the washed out road. After two more truckloads, the road began to look significantly better and could now be driven on.
Near Kay Mari is what they call the Elderly Home. Originally, this housing was developed as a hospice center for the elders of the village that could no longer be cared for. Often times in Haiti, families must choose to care for either their children or the elders of the family because they cannot afford to care for both. But the health of many of the members of the Elderly Home has improved since they’ve moved there, partially because they are visited frequently by the children of Kay Mari. They’ve said the children look to them as their grandparents, and this has increased morale for both the children and the elders.
Day 6:
The final day of the team’s trip was spent traveling back to their various parts of the country. For our #Holmies, they left the orphanage around 5:15 a.m., and finally landed back in Jacksonville, FL. at 11:15 p.m.
For many of the group, it was not their first trip to Haiti and certainly won’t be their last. Each trip helps the children of Kay Mari, their caretakers, their educators as well as the surrounding village to be a step closer to self-sustaining. Haiti180’s largest project over the past few years has been building a medical facility for the people, and the team was thrilled to report it’s nearly complete. Medical equipment is officially on its way to the facility. From the orphanage, to the Elderly’s Home, teacher housing to the medical facility – none of this would be possible without Haiti180 and its team of support. To learn more about Haiti180, the children of Kay Mari, becoming a missionary or donating to the cause, you can visit Haiti180.com.