PTPA Zoom archives

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.