The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) is coordinating a fundraising effort on behalf of the university to support Barry's community partners in the Diocese of Port-de-Paix, Haiti. An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scaledestroyed structures and injured residents of the regional capital and rural villages in the Caribbean nation’s northwest region.
According to Port-de-Paix diocesan priests, schools and homes in mountain villages were leveled, injuring or killing their inhabitants. The hospitals and clinics serving the area are lacking medicine and supplies critical to treating the injured.
Since 2015, Barry has been developing a Nursing and Education International Learning Partnership (NEILP) in the Northwest Department of Haiti. Faculty and staff from Barry's Adrian Dominican School of Education, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, the Department of Communication, and the Alternative Breaks Program have traveled with CCSI staff to Haiti in support of NEILP, which focuses on providing professional development to Haitian nurses and teachers working in the Port-de-Paix Diocese.
Lilia DiBello, associate dean of education, visited schools in the affected areas when she traveled to Haiti last winter.
"The earthquake has directly impacted our friends in Northern Haiti, who are once again facing a challenge to their resiliency," DiBello observed. "I hope the Barry community will help those directly impacted in this region to re-build their schools and provide the basic supplies needed to ensure access to clean drinking water and safe places for children to learn and grow."
The CCSI will be accepting donations for the Port-de-Paix Diocese Bureau of Education and area clinics and hospitals. Cash or check donations can be directed to the CCSI in Adrian 208 through the end of October. Checks should be made out to "Barry University" with "Haiti earthquake 2018" in the memo.
For further information contact Courtney Berrien, CCSI associate director, at cberrien@barry.edu or 305-899-3696.