BREAD FOR HAITI — Cody and Carina of Christopher House in Saskatoon mix dough toi make bread to raise funds for L’Arche Haiti after the devastating earthquake in that country. (Godziuk photo)

 

Bread for Haiti animates L’Arche

By Andrea Godziuk

SASKATROON — Seeing the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti, with people left without food, clean water and shelter, the L’Arche community of Saskatoon reached out to help.

There are now over 135 L’Arche communities in 35 countries on six continents. The oldest community in Latin America is L’Arche Carrefour in Haiti, which was founded in 1976.

L’Arche Carrefour is located in a suburb of Port-au-Prince, which was at the epicentre of the Jan. 12 earthquake. The community has two homes and a workshop welcoming more than 30 people with intellectual disabilities, as well as operating a school attended by 20 children. Another 20 people with disabilities live in L’Arche Chantal in the town of Les Cayes in the south of the island country.

Two L’Arche board members died in the quake and the buildings sustained serious structural damage.

The L’Arche communities in Haiti were very much in the thoughts and prayers of L’Arche Saskatoon, but community members wanted to do more. The residents of Christopher House, the L’Arche Saskatoon home, bake bread. About every two weeks, loaves and buns are prepared, often with the help of everyone in the house. While making bread one day, Carina and Cody came up with the idea of Bread for Haiti.

Christopher House residents decided to bake bread and sell it, with proceeds going to assist L’Arche Haiti. Notices and emails about the project were circulated. Interested people contacted Christopher House with their orders and within a few days their bread was ready to be delivered or picked up. There was no set price for the bread, just a donation for L’Arche Haiti.

Within a week, Christopher House was a mini-bakery, with bread being made almost daily. In one month, 70 loaves of bread and 36 dozen buns were baked, and the project raised nearly $1,600. Almost $1,400 of this amount was raised in time to meet the federal government’s deadline for matching donations.

The founder of L’Arche, Jean Vanier, first travelled to Haiti in March 1975 to help lay the groundwork for the L’Arche community to be founded there. On March 4, 1975, he sent a letter from Haiti to all the communities of L’Arche, sharing his many experiences in that country.

Vanier concluded his letter with the affirmation that “Jesus truly wants the presence of L’Arche here.” Those supporting Bread for Haiti 35 years later are helping to sustain the presence of L’Arche there.