PROVIDENCE MINISTRIES

Providence Ministries was co-founded by Greg and Marcia Erickson, Saint Paul, MN, in 1997. The purpose of Providence Ministries is to enter into partnership with Haitians to better the lives of individual children and others in the Haitian community. The work of this organization concentrates on two main areas:

1) Providence House : Over the past twelve years the main focus of Providence Ministries is providing a safe and nurturing home for six girls that came from desperate living situations. A wonderful Haitian woman who has taken these girls on as if they were her own children oversees this home. In order to establish a family atmosphere, the home is intentionally small. Providence House is not an institution. It is not an orphanage. These girls were taken into a home and accepted into a family where they receive medical care, food, clothing, an education and lots of love. Our commitment to these girls is very much like a commitment to any child in any family. Sometimes kids live at home while they attend college. Sometimes they get involved with missions work and need help in the form of finances. Sometimes they fall in love and start families of their own. It's no different with these girls. We are providing them with a hope of a better future in their home country.

2) Haitian Education Project : Every year, Providence Ministries raises funds to help educate children in Haiti who cannot afford the cost of tuition. Over the past eleven years, the Haitian Education Project (HEP) has given over 1000 scholarships. The impact of this project has been amazing in that it does more than educate. On average, it costs about $70 a year for each student to attend class. This money provides books, uniforms, and supplies for the students. But beyond that, the money reaches deep into the communities and changes everything. It employs teachers and administrators. It builds feeding centers and school buildings and latrines and wells. It employs the people who work on these projects. It provides hope.

Providence Ministries is an all-volunteer based organization. A stateside team and a Haitian team work together in making our work possible. One oversees raising funds and the other oversees the children, respectively. Funds raised will go toward Providence House, which has an annual budget of $24,000 and the Haitian Education Project, which has an annual budget of $20,000.

Thank you for taking the time to read about the work we are a part of in Haiti.