New fundraiser aims to help send Haitians to school

In the 10 times Amy McTeague has traveled to Haiti, she has been to extremely impoverished areas where people live in ramshackle shacks, have little food, clean water, medical care or sanitation and few opportunities for employment and education.

"I've seen it and kind of lived with it," McTeague said. "It's so sad."

Most of those trips were taken on behalf of Hope for Haitians, a 15-year-old Rockford-based nonprofit charity organization. McTeague is the group's developmental director.

While projects aimed at providing housing, food and sustainable income sources continue, McTeague also is currently heading up efforts to fund a project that will give poor Haitian children the chance to attend school.

That initiative will get a boost with a new fundraising event: Hope for Haitians Night on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora.

"This event is new to kind of grow the Fox Valley area (awareness) and get our name out there," she said. "All of the proceeds go to children's education."

The entertainment bill includes Drew Doepke and the Red Delicious, a blues, pop and soul band, and Bobb Vylan, a Naperville-area band. Both bands are donating their time for the cause, McTeague said, and the Roundhouse is donating the space. There is a $5 suggested donation for admission, she said.

The evening will include two raffles with tickets priced at $5 each. A silent donation collection also will be taken between music sets, she said.

McTeague said Hope for Haitians got started in 2001.

"Cap Haitien is the second-largest city in Haiti. We work in one of the poorest areas outside of Cap Haitien," she said. "We look for places that have the most need."

So far, the organization has built 10 small villages, each with 150 homes.

"They're brick homes with tin metal roofs," she said.

While there is no plumbing or running water, each home has a sanitation unit, she said, supported by wells that Hope for Haitians has furnished.

The group partners with another organization, Food for the Poor, to bring nutritious meals to the residents, she said. Other organizations are helping with adult education.

McTeague said it costs $109 to send a child to school for a year. Donated funds cover uniforms, books and one daily meal.

The group's reach is increasing as more donors and church groups in Rockford and the Tri-Cities area lend their support, she said, and help can be delivered at an accelerated pace.

"In the beginning, it took us two to three years to build a village," she said. "The churches and people around here who have given have been a blessing."

Hope for Haitians also sponsors several other fundraising events each year, including a 5K run.

The help is warmly appreciated, she said.

"I've never met a culture with such personality and gratitude," she said.

If you go

What: Hope for Haitians Night

Where: Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 N. Broadway, Aurora

When: 7 to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16

Cost: $5 suggested donation

Info: (815) 847-0656 or hopeforhaitians.org