Hearts with Haiti

Hearts with Haiti Receives $100,000 Donation from Puerto Rican Band

Raleigh, NC – The 501c3 nonprofit organization Hearts with Haiti based in Raleigh has received a $100,000 donation toward earthquake relief from the popular Puerto Rican band Wisin y Yandel for the St. Joseph Family in Haiti, a group of homes for street children and disabled children.

Wisin y Yandel are a Puerto Rican reggaeton duo, consisting of Llandel Veguilla Malavé Salazar (Yandel) and Juan Luis Morera Luna (Wisin). They started their career in 1995 and have been together since, winning several awards during that time.

“We have been overwhelmed with the concern and generosity of many individuals since the earthquake,” says Cheryl Proctor, board chair for Hearts with Haiti. “But this gift surpasses anything we might have imagined. Wisin y Yandel can be sure every penny will be spent to help the children in the St. Joseph Family who have been so traumatized and displaced by this tragedy. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.”

The donation is being accepted on behalf of Hearts with Haiti by author Ben Skinner, a friend of the St. Joseph Family. Skinner met the family while researching his book about child slaves, A Crime so Monstrous. One of the subjects in his book is Bill Nathan, a former slave who grew up in the home after he escaped the family enslaving him. He is now the director of the St. Joseph’s Home for Boys, the original facility of the St. Joseph Family.

Skinner just returned from Haiti where he rescued Nathan, who was severely injured in the earthquake when the St. Joseph’s Home collapsed and Nathan was hurled several stories, landing on his back. Skinner and Hearts with Haiti board member Miles Wright brought Nathan back by chartered plane provided by an anonymous donor and admitted him to an emergency facility in Fort Lauderdale.

Nathan was featured on the Sunday, Jan. 17 evening edition of ABC World News. The Haiti correspondent for ABC News had used Nathan as a translator when he produced a feature on child slavery in Haiti several years ago.

In the segment, Skinner was interviewed on the tarmac leaving Port-au-Prince with Nathan and explained his motivation to come to Haiti upon learning of Nathan’s injury. Nathan, he said, had saved him when he had contracted malaria during his research in Haiti, so he was intent on returning the favor. Skinner added, “If Bill doesn’t make it, it [Haiti] will be a less hopeful place.”

Nathan was discharged from emergency care and is now recuperating in Raleigh.
Updates on his condition and the condition of the rest of the St. Joseph Family are posted on the Hearts with Haiti website, www.heartswithhaiti.org.