HELP & LIDE: Partnering for the Future
On June 4th, Pace Gallery in Palo Alto, California was bustling with life. About 30 attendees gathered from all over the United States and beyond to join HELP and LIDE in bringing to life the conversation on education in Haiti. Amidst a beautiful studio space featuring contemporary art and complimentary Haitian food catered by Celestine’s Restaurant in Sacramento, guests discussed the importance of education programs in Haiti, as well as broader issues and paths to progress in the country.
The focal point of the evening was a panel discussion moderated by Haitian journalist and host of Radio One’s “Carel in the Morning”, Carel Pedre. The panelists included: Daphnée Charles and Stephanie Rubin, both HELP graduates (Daphnée now works as the Development Officer and Alumni Affairs Associate at HELP, and Stephanie is a former Fulbright Scholar now working as an analyst for Rochester Institute of Technology) Arne Duncan (the former US Secretary of Education) and Holiday Reinhorn (co-founder of LIDE). Rainn Wilson could not attend but sent a personal video message to attendees.
LIDE is a Haitian education non-profit founded by Rainn Wilson (the actor famous for his role of Dwight on “The Office”) and author, Holiday Reinhorn. Their aim is to provide primary and secondary education to young Haitian girls, with a focus on art and literacy. Though HELP and LIDE have different specific missions, the shared goal of providing education to underserved populations in Haiti makes the organizations a great pair.
LIDE and HELP have maintained a relationship for many years. LIDE has made donations to HELP including a 2015-2018 sponsorship of HELP student, Nishina Previlon (education ’19). Thanks to LIDE support, Nishina is now a special education teacher at Ecole Acacia. LIDE has also hired 24 HELP students as interns over the 12-year relationship, including HELP graduate and current Fulbright scholar, Isabelle Joseph (education ’16).
Hoping to capitalize on this fruitful relationship our Director of Development, Sam Connor, and our Development Assistant, Katie Febres coordinated with LIDE Development Director, Sharona Shuster, for four months to bring this event to life.
“We wanted to create a ‘friendraiser,’ to just get all of these people who have a demonstrated interest in Haiti and get them all in the same room and just make meaningful connections and to plant seeds for the future,” Katie says.
Another motivator for the event was to spread public knowledge about both organizations. One of the biggest obstacles for non-profits to combat is a lack of awareness. Sam explained why we thought it would be a good opportunity to collaborate “because LIDE is based in California, and we don’t have a presence in California. So, we thought it would be a good way to build that donor base, bring those people together, the few supporters of ours in the Bay Area, and that was really the motivation for this event focusing on education - unleashing the potential of education.”
Sam also gave a compelling example of how forming connections with likeminded people can transform situations for the better. Isabelle Joseph, a 2015 HELP graduate, worked as the Director of Education at LIDE for a few years, until she earned a Fulbright scholarship and started her master’s at St. Cloud University near Minneapolis. Sam says, “thanks to an introduction from Isabelle, Anderson Foundation has become a new friend and supporter of HELP. They already support and love the important work of LIDE, and they connected with Isabelle when she came to Minneapolis to begin her studies. They talked with her about her formative experience at HELP... and now Anderson Foundation’s a significant new partner to HELP, assisting both LIDE and HELP to unleash the potential of education in Haiti!”
Katie said of the discussions, “I learned a lot, especially the testimony from Daphnée and Stephanie was really powerful.” Sam agreed, adding some more details about Daphnée’s testimony. “For Daphnée , one of the questions was ‘why do you stay in Haiti when you could easily leave and when so many others have left?’ So, they were very compelling answers as well."
"These people speak from the heart, and Daphnée made a tough decision to stay when she could easily do very well in the US. She said it’s been tough the past couple of years with people leaving Port-au-Prince, in particular. But still about 80% of HELP graduates stay because they understand that you need to change Haiti from within.”
Regarding the future of HELP and LIDE’s collaborations, Sam says, “We already collaborate extensively on the ground in Haiti. Hopefully, this joint event is the beginning of an annual tradition for us. That’s how we build momentum - by starting.“