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ARTICLES
 New initiatives boost support to Haiti
By Jean Denton
Special to The Catholic Virginian
The annual Richmond Diocese Haiti Gathering was bigger than ever this year and generated added enthusiasm with the introduction of two new initiatives of the diocesan parish twinning program.
About 170 participants attended the gathering at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlottesville.
Diocesan twinning coordinator Patrice Schwermer announced a new grant program for sustainable development projects to provide food and health care in Haiti.
The “Battaglia Fund” was created by the gift of $80,000 by the late Gaspare Battaglia of Norfolk.
The first phase of the program makes $40,000 available now in matching grants up to $5,000 each for twinning projects that meet guidelines for sustainability.
The Sustainable Development Committee of the diocesan Haiti Ministry Commission developed the guidelines and will review applications. Projects are required to be economically and ecologically sustainable.
“It generated a lot of interest,” Ms. Schwermer noted, and many parish twinning representatives picked up request for proposal packets at the gathering. Others may contact her at the Office of Justice and Peace to receive a packet.
The other initiative is a newly developed diocesan twinning database through which parishes can access and share specific information with one another about their projects in Haiti.
It will soon be online, Ms. Schwermer said, as a link on the diocesan Haiti website, www.richmonddiocese.org/haiti.
The database will have information about every parish Haiti twinning program including the chairperson’s name, how long the program has been active, nature of projects and such details as methods of communication, accountability and technical matters.
“Importantly, it has the capacity for users to make queries,” Ms. Schwermer explained. “So, for example, if you are beginning a water project or building a school, you can ask other parishes questions about their experiences with such projects.”
 The online database was developed by a group of Randolph-Macon College students under the guidance of professor Ben Burrell who has been active in the twinning program of Redeemer parish in Mechanicsville.
This year’s Haiti Gathering kept tradition with favorite activities that year after year draw those who love and work with Haiti — a meal including popular Haitian dishes, and breakout sessions in which participants shared stories and information about their twinning projects and relationships.
A panel of speakers “gave us a lot to think about,” Ms. Schwermer said, with their presentations on the subject of “Spirituality and Global Solidarity.”
Father Romel Eustache from the Diocese of Hinche, Ted Miles, executive director of Catholic Relief Services, and Haitian Djaloki Dessables offered different perspectives but all emphasized “mutuality of relationship and the need to listen with regard to each other’s needs and toward furthering understanding,” she said.
This year there are two new Haiti twinning programs involving six parishes in the Richmond Diocese. St. John parish in Dinwiddie joins with Sacred Heart Parish of Prince George in twinning with Marche Canard in Haiti. Also, four Portsmouth cluster parishes — Holy Angels, Saint Paul, Resurrection and Saint Mary of Chesapeake — are sharing a Haitian twin in Roy Sec.
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