PTPA Zoom archives

Josh Anderson and Megan Boudreaux, who are affiliated with the Haiti School of Social Work, known in Haiti as “Faculté de Travail Social et de Justice Sociale (FTSJS) – a program of the University Episcopale d’ Haiti, spoke about the program and the professional training.

Click here to watch: https://youtu.be/nnSLZ3EkBGM?si=V-Np7WyvIVuf9pa_

We had the great privilege of hosting Bishop Jean Désinord, bishop of the diocese of Hinche, Haiti, located in the central plateau, for our July 30th Zoom Gathering. I strongly urge all of you to take the time to watch the recording, as Bishop shared a message with many lessons for those of us involved in parish twinning.

Bishop Jean was installed as the Bishop of the Diocese of Hinche on July 2, 2016 and has established himself as a well-respected, strong leader of the Catholic Church in Haiti. Diane Huggins, PTPA board president and David Siler, PTPA Executive Director, had the honor of meeting with Bishop Jean over dinner during his recent visit to Nashville, TN and they were deeply impressed by his vision and hopes for his beloved Haiti.

In 2021, Bishop Jean launched a strategic planning process with the guidance of the Catholic Leadership Institute to develop a pastoral plan for the Diocese of Hinche. The resulting plan has served to guide Bishop, his priests, diocesan staff, U.S. twin parishes, the diocese of Richmond, Va, who is twinned with his diocese and other supporters in achieving an aggressive set of goals to improve the spiritual, pastoral and economic life of the Catholic faithful in the Diocese of Hinche.
Join Bishop Jean and his U.S. liaison, Mr. Drew Peloubet, to learn about the bishop’s plan, which can give all those in a twinning relationship some insights into the thoughts and vision of a Catholic bishop in a very challenging part of the world. Bishop will also share with us what he sees as the benefits of parish twinning AND some of the challenges it can create.

It is imperative for those of us who support twinning in Haiti and Latin America to listen not only to the hopes and dreams of our individual pastors and parishioners, but also the bishops so that our efforts are in sync with what they tell us they need.

Our guest was Amanda Cox, coordinator of the Haiti Family Care Network - https://www.haitifamilycarenetwork.org/

The Haiti Family Care Network is a collective impact movement for social change whose mission is “to be an educational catalyst and advocate for the shift from orphanage care towards family based care in Haiti.” Their vision is “that all Haitian children and youth are given the opportunity to thrive in families”

The network serves as a hub for collaboration and resource sharing among organizations working with children, youth and families in Haiti. Their website hosts a tremendous number of resources that can benefit all of us.

Dr. Milynn Swofford and Larry Hanby joined us on our next Zoom call and share how Parish Twinning Program members can incorporate Eye Doc in a Box ministry in their overseas mission activities.

Father Joseph has been a visionary leader in the struggle to eradicate poverty in Haiti. He has been the founder of four ground-breaking organizations over many years: 1988 – the Peasant Association of Fondwa, whose mission is to empower the local grassroots organizations to create wealth in communities; 1994 – Fondasyon Kole Zepól (Fonkoze Bank) to give economic power to the “organized poor” in rural Haiti and to bring financial inclusion and development services throughout rural communities; 1996 – the Congregation of Sisters of Antoine of Fondwa (Fondwa Sisters), who operate the Fondwa Orphanage, a K-12 school in Fondwa, the Fondwa Clinic, the APF Guest Center and the APF Small Business; 2004 – University of Fonwa, Haiti’s first rural university and only university in Haiti offering a degree in veterinary medicine.
Father Joseph’s most recent endeavor is the Father Joseph Network, which is an umbrella organization bringing together all the entities he founded to make an even greater impact. Father’s presentation will focus on his work to form Local Development Committees (LDCs), which he believes is the real long-term solution for building a bright future for Haiti. He believes that our twin parishes in Haiti can form these committees and bring about the change needed to transform Haiti.

We had a wonderful presentation on our Zoom Gathering earlier this week by Mr. Patrick Eugence, founder and CEO of DigitKap. He shared with us his company's work to bring solar and technology (specifically Starlink) to Haiti. Patrick was born and raised in Haiti and later went to the U.S. to study computer science at James Madison University. Patrick entered the workforce in 2011 after graduating college, but he always knew that he wanted to start his own business and also be part of Haiti’s positive change and growth. While working, Patrick simultaneously launched his technology company in Haiti, DigitalKap. After completing many computer lab installations Patrick observed the deep need for solar energy, particularly in conjunction with technology. Patrick committed himself to becoming an expert in solar energy, receiving specialized training in the field and developing an immense portfolio of solar energy clients and projects, including international church partners and organizations. Over the last 13 years, under the leadership and vision of Patrick, DigitalKap has grown to be a leading, powerful force for solar energy in Haiti.
You can watch the session on YouTube by clicking on the video below.

Many thanks to our good friend and fellow "parish twinner", Dr. Sue Carlson for her excellent presentation last week on fundraising for parish twinning. We had 105 people registered to attend the Zoom, with about 65 actually participating, so it was a topic of great interest!
We conducted a poll during the Zoom, with some interesting results:
1) Over the past few years, our fundraising results have - increased (62%) or decreased (38%)
2) Our pastor allows us to fundraise in our parish - Yes (95%) or No (5%)
3) Our committee raises significant funding outside of our parish: Yes (24%) or No (76%)
4) Our committee has been successful getting grant funding: Yes (26%) or No (74%)
Click here to VIEW
Passcode if needed is $*Z07t6m (after the "Z", that is a zero).

Please join us for this historic moment in the life of PTPA as we introduce you to the newly developed PTPA Members Online Portal. With over a year in development, this new website is the largest collection of parish twinning resources ever assembled. Here you will find many best practice materials, spiritual development resources to prepare for mission, a long list of mission collaborators ready to assist you in your twinning mission, a discussion forum to ask questions and get answers from other parish twins, maps of twinning parishes in the U.S. and Haiti, and much more. We will give a thorough demonstration of the many functions and resources found on the portal, invite your input for additions for the future and answer your questions about how the portal can support and enhance your parish twinning relationship.

We had a very informative Zoom Gathering thanks to our special guests, Mr. Denny Baumann, with Bethel Computers (Bethel Computers) and Mr. Kevin Keene of Brighten Haiti (Brigthen Website).

Thanks to many of you for joining our October Zoom Gathering, "Parish Twinning Lessons Learned",

Mr. Gary Moore hosts a session on our PTPA parish twinnings in Latin America.

Thank you to those who you who were able to join our Zoom gathering live last Thursday. And, thank you to our presenter, Mr. Gerry Delaquis who gave us a great overview of the history of Haiti.

The topic for this gathering was the Immigration Parole Program through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that provides a process "through which nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and their immediate family members, may request to come to the United States in a safe and orderly way".
Our guest speaker was Yer Vang, JD, Legal Director for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. Yer will took us through the steps for U.S. citizens to sponsor a traveler from these countries and the steps required of the citizens from those four countries.

PTPA Friends,
Thank you to the 74 people who joined us for our inaugural PTPA Zoom gathering! We were very pleased with the turnout and realize that many of you were not able to join due to various reasons. You can watch it by clicking on the YouTube video.

Have a listen to this podcast by Dr. Sue Carlson with the Parish Twinning Program in Haiti.
Dr. Sue shares her incredible story of how she got involved with the Parish Twinning program in Haiti. Her courage and care to go to Haiti over thirty times to serve and share Christ's love is inspirational.
Click here to LISTEN

Tennessee Register article published 27 Feb features two parishes in the Nashville Diocese with twinnings in Haiti through PTPA.