Preparation of the barrels for Emmanuel orphanage in Jérémie

The preparation of the barrels begins with the reception of items (shoes, clothing, school supplies, hygiene products, toys, books, etc.) generously donated from the greater Montreal area.  Volunteers often frequent thrift stores in search of needed items as well as hidden treasures. Tools and select building materials are also sent to allow volunteers who will go on site to make needed renovations at the 4 locations where we operate.

All of these items are placed in 45 gallon plastic drums or other large containers.  They travel to Port-au-Prince by boat through the port of Halifax.  Usually, 6 weeks are required before the barrels are collected by an official in Haiti, after the customs clearance.

We send several barrels twice a year to the Emmanuel orphanage in Jérémie .  Since the transporter charges us by volume and not by weight, you can imagine every square inch is used!

The merchandise destined for Jeremiah is then loaded onto a bus that will travel a distance of 300 km in 7 1/2 hours, over mountains with sections of unpaved roads.

As for the merchandise dedicated to the Cazeau and / or Petite-Rivière-de-l'Artibonite and / or Papaye sectors, it is delivered by truck, directly to Cazeau, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, under the supervision of the Little Sisters of Ste-Thérèse who then oversee the distribution.

This fall, the pandemic delayed the arrival of the barrels in Jérémie by over 2 months.  The president of the association, Christiane Malenfant, who was in Jérémie, had to extend her stay by a week to coordinate the logistics of this late reception.

As you can well imagine , the arrival of the barrels is always a very exciting event for the children of the different orphanages.

We are grateful for any help you can give us. Every contribution helps.