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Piqua family helps Haiti with annual home for the holidays reception

By Breaking News Staff

Haiti1 Marie and two of her five children welcomed Piqua resident Boca Grande Hope For Haitians Co-Chairman Ben Scott (right) and Scott's family friends Frank and Julie Gilardi (center), and Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma (left) to her new home in Savann Kabrit, Haiti. Hope For Haitians built dozens of homes within the community and plans to build an additional 50 homes through Food For The Poor for families like Marie's. (Photo/Food For The Poor) Ben Scott (blue shirt), Co-Chairman of Boca Grande Hope For Haitians, returned to Haiti with Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma (right) to see the 50 homes built by Hope For Haitians in Savann Kabrit to speak with some of the families. Boca Grande, through Food For The Poor, helped 50 families move out of rickety structures into secure concrete-block homes. (Photo/Food For The Poor)

By Breaking News Staff

PIQUA — Life for dozens of families in one Haitian village is looking brighter, thanks to the generosity of Piqua residents Ben and Louise Scott, Hope for Haitians and Food For The Poor.

The group funded 50 homes in Savann Kabrit, Haiti, of which 30 have been built and the rest will be completed later.

The Scott family will host their third annual fundraiser for 50 additional homes. Social hour for the Home for the Holidays reception starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, at the Piqua Country Club, 9812 N. Country Club Road.

Eager to see the progress from last year’s fundraisers, Ben Scott returned this month to Savann Kabrit with Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma.

Haiti3

“We are truly making a difference in so many lives,” Scott said. “We visited the village in Haiti and witnessed the transformation of families, each going from deplorable living conditions into a home that became a castle to each family. These Haitian families now have security, clean water and sanitation.”

Scott’s friends and supporters Frank and Julie Gilardi, fellow Piqua residents, also visited the Caribbean nation.

Haiti4 Hope For Haitians remains committed to helping people escape inhumane living conditions for secure and permanent housing. Co-Chairman Ben Scott of Piqua looks inside the crumbling structure where a mother and her three children live in Savann Kabrit, Haiti. Hope For Haitians is working with Food For The Poor to build an additional 50 homes in the remote area of Savann Kabrit, which is east of Port-au-Prince, near the border of the Dominican Republic. (Photo/Food For The Poor)

In the village of Savann Kabrit — east of the capital Port-au-Prince near the Dominican Republic border — wood and mud huts with no toilets or ability to lock their doors are being replaced with colorful concrete block homes.

Last year, when Scott met Marie, her husband and five children, their living condition was dire. Her husband was ill and had to lie on the damp mud floor because they had no bed, and their flimsy home collapsed shortly after Scott met them. The family had to live with others in the community until their home was built.

Haiti2 Marie is all smiles as she welcomes Hope For Haitians Co-Chairman Ben Scott of Piqua and Scott's family friend Julie Gilardi, also of Piqua, to her new home in Savann Kabrit, Haiti. (Photo/Food For The Poor)

“I am feeling joy, I feel like blessings are coming down on me,” Marie said of her new home. “My children feel like they are living, they feel alive, and my husband is much better now.”

The Scotts and Hope for Haitians have built more than 400 homes since 2009 across Haiti with Food For The Poor, an international relief and development organization.

Haiti5 Several families in Alpha Village who received a home built by Boca Grande Hope For Haitians in Gressier, Haiti, last year welcomed back Co-Chairman Ben Scott, of Piqua, and first-time visitors Frank and Julie Gilardi, also of Piqua, during Scott's November mission trip. Boca Grande, through Food For The Poor, helped 130 families move out of the old Alpha Village, a community of rickety structures between the sea and an active landfill on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, to the new location of secure concrete-block homes. (Photo/Food For The Poor)

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