Haiti is a country that is very near and dear to the hearts of parishioners of St. Joseph Parish, Keyport, and with great concern they have been keeping close watch as events unfold in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake.

The parish’s interest in Haiti stems from the 16-year twinning partnership that it has had with Pignon, a very poor town with eight chapels of about 70,000 people on the Grand Plateau, which is located about 150 miles north of Port au Prince.

The twinning program was established in 1994, months after parishioner Antonia Malone had traveled to Haiti during the coup period as a human rights observer for the United Nations.

“I was so horrified at the conditions that I thought maybe we could do something,” said Malone. With the approval and support of Father Ronald Cioffi, pastor, and fellow parishioners, she was able to organize the twinning through the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas, which twins more than 300 parishes with parishes in Haiti.

Since 1994, St. Joseph has dedicated its efforts “to nurturing understanding, love and solidarity between our parish and the parish of Pignon through exchange visits and providing the kind of assistance that will empower the people of Pignon to provide for themselves and, one day, become self-sufficient,” said Malone.

The twinning has resulted in St. Joseph operating a guest house and clinic called Matthew 25 House in Port au Prince. To help Haitians learn to help themselves, St. Joseph Parish initiated a micro-credit program to help create jobs. The parish also grants loans each year to 3,000 people to help them start small businesses. Other means of support have been helping to build a health clinic and sponsoring students to receive an education, whether at the elementary, secondary or college levels.

Malone explained that once the students complete their (college) education, they return to Pignon to work in the parish for five years.

“We’ve graduated a doctor who will run our clinic, a registered nurse, a veterinarian who set up a clinic and we’ve educated the manager of our micro-credit program,” she said.

“It’s been an empowerment mission,” said Malone. “Haiti for Haitians is our motto and it’s been our goal that the best way to help the people is through self-empowerment. We want to work ourselves out of a job eventually.”

Although Pignon has not sustained any damage as a result of the earthquake, Malone said the town is preparing for an influx of refugees from Port au Prince. Matthew 25 House, however, had been partially destroyed and the soccer field is serving as a treatment center.

Malone said St. Joseph Parish will now concentrate on sending immediate medical supplies to Matthew 25 House as well as to assist the refugees that are “beginning to flood into Pignon.”

Help is needed to: get food and essentials for their families; provide seeds, tools and equipment to plant more crops to feed the communities; provide microcredit loans to help people start or restart small businesses that can provide them with a steady income and, to build or repair water cisterns to guarantee a clean water supply.

“We have doctors, nurses and plenty of people power, but we will need money to first buy supplies for emergency need and then to meet the long-term needs of the community,” said Malone. “As a second responder, we will be there long after all the relief workers have returned home.”

“We have been involved in these activities for many years, so we know how to do them,” said Malone. “Any donations made to St. Joseph Haiti Program will facilitate our work and be used 100 percent to meet these needs. We pledge that any money received will be directed to the greatest needs.”

Persons wishing to make a donation can send it to: Haiti Program, St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, 376 Maple Place, Keyport, N.J. 07735.

For more information on the Haiti Program, contact Malone at [email protected].

In the days following the earthquake, Malone could not help but marvel at what she found to be most especially moving -- seeing the television coverage that showed the Haitians who, every night, “were sitting on the streets, singing hymns and praying.”

“That’s how they approach disasters,” said Malone. “The majority of Haitians are very peaceful people and very devout. There’s a lesson to be learned from that.”