Hearts with Haiti

St. Joseph Family-A History

In 1985, Michael Geilenfeld, a former brother with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, started a small home for five boys to bring them off the streets and offer them a Christian family life. Twenty-four years later there are now three homes that serve roughly 200 children through a variety of programs. Graduates from the first home run a home for disabled children in the mountains above Port-au Prince. This home, called Wings of Hope, also serves day students that attend educational programs there. A third home for boys, Trinity House, is located in the coastal town of Jacmel. In addition to the home, a school at Trinity House, Lekol Sen Trinitie, offers education to neighborhood children whose families cannot afford to pay for school. Other children are served through a Saturday Restavek Program, and there is a bakery and a coffee project at Trinity House as well.

St Joseph's Home for Boys and Wings of Hope were damaged beyond repair in the 2010 earthquake. A smaller home next door to the former St. Joseph's Home was purchased to serve as home base while the rebuilding project commences. The Wings of Hope children are currently housed in a rental facility and plans for building a new home for them are underway.