Marsh Creek’ers Shay and Peter Fontana describe their extraordinary charitable work in Haiti in this letter of thanks to Flagler Hospital for their assistance.
By Shay Fontana
The Hope for Haiti Foundation, Inc. began its work in 1994. It was founded by Shay and Peter Fontana who wanted to make a difference for impoverished and orphaned Haitian children. They stared by helping a rural church/school by building a kitchen and preparing food for approximately 100 children who were starving and often fainting at school. The school quickly grew to over 400 children so they added 6 classrooms.
One day, on a visit to Port au Prince, the capital, they realized there were literally hundreds of orphaned children begging on the streets. They felt led to purchase land and build an orphanage. Eleven buildings (9 small houses, an office, and a large kitchen) were completed in 2000 at which point they contacted an adoption agency to help place the children with families in the U.S. Over 150 children have been placed since then. Twenty-three were brought into the U.S. on a military cargo plane in 2010 right after the earthquake in Haiti . (International adoption has changed considerably since then, now costing about $45,000 per child and taking 3 years).
Then, the adoption agency pulled out of Haiti. We didn’t, and were left with 24 children whom we decided to raise ourselves. We have approximately 7-10 children in each of 5 houses with a “mama.” They attend school at our school/church which we built right next door.
Another 90 children from the local village attend the school for free (there are no public schools in Haiti). Since the school only goes through 6th grade, we bus the older children to private schools for grades 7-12.
Two years ago, an orphanage nearby closed down and asked us to take their 18 children. Today, these 46 children in total are our children and we are committed to parenting them through college. Of course, they are always welcome “back home!” (We always wanted a lot of kids but I think we have reached our max!) Our funding comes mostly through sponsorships and contributions. We also employ 26 people…teachers, cooks, mamas and handymen.
One of our biggest needs is for qualified medical assistance and medications. We have encouraged medical teams to come and help provide physicals for all the children…120 school children, our 12 older children and our staff. They also work at the medical clinic/hospital where we take our orphaned children.
There are so many in Haiti in need of medical care! So, we want to thank all of you at Flagler Hospital who have volunteered with past medical teams and will help us again in December.
A special thanks to Wendy Lantz and Dr. Tim Ward! They are responsible for bringing our little Dieuvensley (Deven) to the US for 2 open heart surgeries at Wolfson’s. Those expensive operations were provided free of charge through Patrons of the Hearts in Jacksonville! Dev was recently adopted right here in St. Augustine! He is pictured in the first row with the red t-shirt that says “Big Guy,” and he just celebrated his 10th birthday!”
You guys do SUCH wonderful work! Bless You!!!
I knew about your school/orphanage, but did not realize the full scope! You are kind, compassionate and generous folks, and we could all learn a lesson from you. And what a great story about Deven!
Shay & Peter, what an amazing story! You should be be so proud of all that you have accomplished to help these innocent children. You’re an inspiration.
Louise