Star of Hope’s Tradition of Distributing Living Gifts” does it pay?
You bet! “Star of Hope’s tradition of distributing living gifts began in 2008 in Haiti after a natural disaster, as a way to help small family farms rebuild what they had lost.
Since then, we have distributed thousands of goats, hens, and sheep in Haiti and Romania. The families are very grateful for these important gifts. This year, the focus is on helping as many as possible in Haiti, due to the prolonged crisis in the country, but the work continues in Romania as well.
An important part of our concept is that the children who receive, for example, a goat promise to give away its first kid to a schoolmate. Thus, everyone who has been helped gets to help someone else in turn, and in this way, the help spreads like ripples on water. We call the setup “pay-it-forward,” and it is very appreciated.
In Haiti, we see a similar setup when distributing seeds. Farmers in the mountain village of Bois Negresse share their harvest with our village school, and in this way, the schoolchildren get more nutritious food in their stomachs.
These living gifts, together with the tool libraries we built in two villages in the fall of 2023, make a big difference in combating hunger.
Our warmest thanks to all of you who chose to give a living gift from the pay-it-forward choices to the children and families we are fighting for! Thanks to you, more children can fall asleep full, have the energy to manage school, and have hope for a better future.
Haiti is still plagued by criminal groups that block roads and charge sky-high tolls to allow transport to pass. This complicates our work, but it will not stop us from distributing more animals during the spring.
Support the long-term development work in Haiti by becoming a monthly donor here.”
If you can’t give right now please pray for Haiti!
Enjoy some of the photographs.
Dive deeper?
USAID Support: The U.S. government committed over $1.1 billion in foreign assistance to Haiti between fiscal years
2021 and 2024 with humanitarian assistance funding increasing steadily since October 2022. At the same time, USAID
has continued longstanding development programs across the country that provide basic healthcare and education,
create jobs, and support government and civil society. The Congressional Research Service has reported that the United
States is the largest humanitarian donor to Haiti and that congressional appropriations support Haiti’s recovery from
recurrent natural disasters and foster long-term stability in one of the United States’ closest neighbors.
Read the whole USAID report here (if it remains published)
The urgent need for assistance is evident in Star of Hope’s impactful “living gifts” program, particularly in Haiti, where a prolonged crisis compounded by criminal activity severely hinders access to basic necessities. The program’s success in providing goats, hens, and seeds, coupled with the “pay-it-forward” model, demonstrates its ability to create sustainable, community-driven change. However, the escalating challenges in Haiti, including road blockages and extortion, threaten to undermine these efforts, making increased support crucial to ensure more children receive vital nourishment and a chance for a brighter future.
