Fundraiser returns after hiatus with special guests of honor from Haiti
The friendship between Holy Family, Virginia Beach, and its twin parish, St. Jude, Baptiste, runs deep – and all around the neighborhood and back.
The Virginia Beach parish held its annual 5K fundraiser on Friday, May 5, in support of its Haiti Ministry’s Teacher 2 Teacher program. Proceeds from the event will go to the maintenance of five schools in Baptiste and to pay the salaries of its 40 teachers.
“It’s a time to raise awareness of what’s going on in Haiti,” Kathy Dowdy, of Holy Family’s Haiti Ministry, said. “Most of all, it’s just a fun, family night.”
Approximately 180 runners and walkers participated – from teens raring to begin, to parents with young children, to adults content to stroll and enjoy a warm spring evening.
Among those gathered were the parish’s special guests from Haiti – Father Jean Ronel Bonnet, pastor
of St. Jude, and Father Cassagnol Métellus, former pastor of St. Jude, who had arrived the previous week for a visit.
“It’s the 12th year of the run with a three-year hiatus,” social justice minister Brian Alexander said. “We were glad to be able to bring it back again.”
An after-party followed the race, with music, a traditional dinner of beans, rice and cornbread, and a bar featuring mixed drinks with Haitian rum.
Starting line
Holy Family’s Haiti Ministry began in 2004, not long after Father Thomas Quinlan became pastor.
“He came to our parish, and asked, ‘Who is your twin in Haiti?’” Dowdy said. “When we told him that we didn’t have one, he said, ‘Well, you do now.’”
Through the diocesan twinning program, the parish was assigned St. Jude, Baptiste, located in a
mountainous area near the border of the Dominican Republic in the Diocese of Hinche.
“Our first project was to replace the church roof,” Dowdy said, “and it grew from there.”
One of the larger endeavors undertaken by the two parishes has been the construction of a water pipeline leading from a reservoir in the mountains and traveling two miles to feed seven fountains within the town of Baptiste.
“In the past, people in Baptiste had to walk two miles up to the reservoir. We’d see kids, walking up the mountain with their buckets,” Dowdy said. “Now the kids just walk down to the corner, fill up their buckets and go back home.”
Holy Family’s 5K run/walk began, Alexander said, as a walk to commemorate the installation of the pipeline.
“People were given a cup at the beginning, and they had to walk two miles to get water and then return. It represented how far a person would have to walk to the source of water and back,” he said.
Today, the event has grown into a 5K in support of the twinned parishes’ largest ongoing project: five schools in Baptiste. There is a larger school, named for Father Quinlan, three chapel schools, and a smaller school in the mountains.
“We prioritize education,” said Dowdy, who also serves on the Diocese of Richmond Haiti Edu- cation Support Team. “Haiti needs good, young leaders for things to get better.”
Keeping on course
“Dèyè mòn, gen mòn. Beyond the mountains, there are mountains,” Alexander said, addressing the crowd gathered at the starting line.
The Haitian proverb served as words of inspiration for the evening: whether they be obstacles in one’s path, or stumbling blocks of the spirit, there are always new challenges to be faced.
“Let us take a minute to think about the mountains that we’ve encountered in our lives and those who helped us over them,” Alexander said.
After a few moments of prayer and reflection, the racers awaited the start.
Among those prepared to follow the winding course through the leafy suburban neighborhood behind the church was Father Bonnet, who said he was pleased to have been able to make the trip to Virginia Beach.
“For a long time, due to COVID, the situation was not good, and we had to be careful,” he said.
He’d had a good visit thus far, he said. He celebrated three Mass- es over the previous weekend and was ready to walk in support of the ministry.
Sandra Hall, a parishioner of the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Norfolk, said she heard about the event through a friend from Holy Family.
“I was invited by a great, great friend of mine,” she said, “and I was interested in learning more about the Haiti Ministry here.”
Parishioner Yves Tanguy signed up for the 5K with one of the young- er racers, his 9-year-old son, Matthieu, who is celebrating his first Communion this May.
“It’s nice to be able to bring this support to the people of Haiti,” he said, “and it’s a nice thing for a father and son to do together.”
Matthieu was confident that they would complete the course in good time.
“It will be fun,” he said.
“We’ve been training in the neighborhood, to prepare,” his father said, smiling.
The Tidewater Striders running club volunteered to keep time at the finish line, where children jumped and cheered, and early finishers waited to give incoming runners high-fives.
Jacki Friedsam volunteered at the party after the race by working at a table offering Haitian goods for sale: a selection of coffee as well as PeaceCYCLE bags – totes made by a small Port-au-Prince company whose workers make new products from the thousands of discarded plastic water bags that clog the city’s streets.
“The Haiti Ministry at Holy Family has always been very active,” she said. “We have found that, in ministry, people will help if you invite them.”
It’s a policy that has also served to make the annual fundraiser a success.
This year’s 5K raised $6,800. The Holy Family Day School also raised $600, which will be used for seeds that they will send to one of the schools in Baptiste.
“It was a lot of fun,” parishioner Pat Connor said. “There were a lot of children, which is always very welcome and cute to see. Next year, I’m going to run it.”
“We all made it,” Hall said, laughing. “That’s the main thing.”