New Depot/Kitchens Built for Hot Lunch Program

School starts in a matter of weeks in Haiti.  Sponsors are giving regularly meaning that kids are getting their uniforms made, and books and other supplies are being purchased.  The one-year anniversary of the 2021 earthquake is this month (August 14), meaning that many schools that were damaged or destroyed are meeting in very temporary, make-shift classrooms.  Besides destroying the classrooms, the earthquake also damaged or destroyed the schools’ storage depot rooms, where the food was being stored. 

Schools that participate in RMI’s Hot Lunch Program are required to store the food that they receive in a closed, secure store room that will keep the food dry and free from 4-footed rodents.  After the earthquake, RMI’s Haiti leadership visited each church and school and made a comprehensive list of everything that was damaged or destroyed.  They saw first-hand the extent of the devastation.  They noted that the majority of the depots were destroyed.  As they visited the schools, they saw that the conditions for preparing the food were not adequate.  Most of the kitchens were simple lean-tos, covered with tin.  They were open to chickens, dogs, and cats wandering through.  This was not appropriate either.

For the past several months RMI has been addressing these issues by constructing small buildings that will house the food depot and a kitchen that will be secure and dedicated to the Hot Lunch Program.  The RMI construction staff designed a building that can be replicated in all the locations (that’s why all the pictures look like they are the same building while, in fact, they are in different locations).  Several have been finished and approximately 11 are in process.  Earthquake funds were used to build these buildings, but as Benson Joseph, RMI’s Director of Haiti Field Operations said “we ‘elasticized’ the money and made it go further so we could add the kitchens to the buildings”. 

When school resumes, these schools will have excellent facilities to securely store their food as well as prepare it for the kids.  We want to thank all the donors that have given to the earthquake fund.  This is just an example of the many rebuilding projects that are taking place as a direct result of your gifts.