Then, Now, Forward
The MFO Foundation was incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2002. The sole member of the corporation is the Roman Catholic Bishop of Richmond, who appoints its Board of Directors. The Board includes representatives of five supportive Virginia Catholic parishes as well as individuals with other kinds of expertise. The support now is broad-based and derived from people of many faiths and walks of life.
The Foundation’s mission is to support Maison Fortuné Orphanage morally, financially, and educationally. Its initial efforts, while providing funds for food, clothing, and other needs of the children, focused on building structures for housing and education. Four small buildings already on the campus served as living and dining facilities, but as the numbers of children grew, these buildings were soon inadequate.
The Foundation raised funds to construct a ten-room, two-story school building; then a two-story dormitory for the older boys; then an administration building with offices, guest rooms, and a clinic; and more recently, an expanded dining building and a laundry facility. (see photo-tour)
Because of the need to take in young female orphans as well as boys, the next major project was the construction of a girls’ campus. To accommodate the post-earthquake influx of boys and girls from Port-au-Prince, the Foundation provided funds for the rental of a building across the street from the campus until a second dormitory can be built on campus.
This success has faced the orphanage with the challenge of sustainability and how to provide job skills, either through higher education or technical training, to enhance the employability of these young men and women in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world. The Foundation has begun plans for a vocational training school on three acres near the orphanage. Its aim is to provide to the Maison Fortuné children (and young people from the town) skills training in agriculture, construction trades, sewing/tailoring, and auto mechanics. The Foundation’s goal is to make this vocational school self-sustaining.
For the first few years of the Foundation’s existence, it raised funds mainly for the purchase of the property and construction: roughly $216,000 in 2002, $120,000 in 2003, $85,000 in 2004, $260,000 in 2005. By 2005, the number of children had increases so dramatically that the Foundation shifted its focus to the operating budget—that year, $69,410. Since then the operating budget has grown so that we will need to raise nearly $400,000 annually. Still, the per-child cost is less than $4 a day. The Foundation’s overhead expenses represent only about 3% of income, since it has no paid staff, operating entirely through volunteers.
The Foundation has achieved these milestones:
- 2002 Purchase of property in the Sheepa section of Hinche, containing three small residence buildings and a dining/kitchen building.
- 2003 Basketball Court built with help from the Xaverian Brothers
- 2004 Establishment of the Fortuné Jean-Louis Primary School and the beginning of construction of a two-story school building, which then enabled the school to admit poor children from the neighborhood as day students.
- 2005 Purchase of a girls’ campus in the Village Creole section of Hinche and the beginning of construction of a dormitory building and a dining hall.
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2006 Construction of a new dormitory building on the boys’ campus.
Current Administration Building
- 2006: Construction of an administration building on the boys’ campus.
- 2007 July - Completion of the Library within the school building
- 2008 - Renting a building adjoining the boys’ campus to be used as a temporary home for girls while the Village Creole campus was rented by the United Nations Mission in Haiti.
The first twenty-two girls take up residence. - 2009, July: Completion of Cistern (Water Reservoir) Project
- 2010: Second Annex leased to help with housing 100 new orphans from the Port-as-Prince area as a result of January 12, 2010 earthquake.
- 2011, January: Land was purchased across the road from the orphanage. The land is for the trade school to be built for use beginning in the Fall o f 2012. Please see the Sant Teknik McKenna (McKenna Technical Center) for more information.
Next Steps and Future Needs
- Solarization of the campus. Cost: about $48,000.
- Construction of a two-story building containing dining room, kitchen and chapel. Cost: Estimated at least $100,000.