Mission of Hope is Building 650 Homes for Haitian Families Displaced from 2010 Earthquake

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mission of Hope, with partners including Hope for Haiti, 410 Bridge, and Foster Friess Family Foundation launched a project in 2010 to build 650 new concrete block homes in the village of Leveque, Haiti on land donated by the Haitian government. When the project began, the initial goal was to provide homes for displaced earthquake victims living in temporary blue tent shelters in that camp, as well as to integrate 150 deaf families from the slums of La Piste. In two years, over 450 homes in that community have been funded. Despite the success of this project, there are still 200 families in this village still living in tents after 3 years.

After the 2010 earthquake in Port-Au-Prince, international aid organizations responded to meet the immediate need by building tent shelters, meant to be temporary solutions. But over 300,000 people still live in these "tent" villages. "In what international officials term a protracted humanitarian crisis, hundreds of thousands remain in increasingly wretched tent camps." (Sontag, Deborah. "Years After Haiti Quake, Safe Housing Is a Dream for Many." The New York Times 16 Aug. 2012: A1. Print.) Brad Johnson, President of Mission of Hope explains, "It is Mission of Hope's goal to get every family in the Leveque community out of a temporary blue tent shelter and into a permanent block home. We want to move them from existing to beginning to live again."

The secondary objective of "Blue to Block" is to build a community, not just a housing project. In Leveque, a church has been constructed, a temporary community center houses a small marketplace, and soccer games take place every Tuesday night. "We want to give the people of Leveque a home that they can live in, and land they can manage to support themselves, as part of a larger, thriving community" said Brad.

To learn more about this project, please visit: http://www.mohhaiti.org/bluetoblock

About Mission of Hope
Officially founded in 1998 by Brad and Vanessa Johnson, Mission of Hope houses an onsite orphanage, medical facility, school, and church. Through partnerships, the mission also serves outside of its property through education, healthcare, agricultural, and community development programs in Mission of Hope's surrounding region of influence. To learn more about Mission of Hope, please visit www.mohhaiti.org.

Press Contact
Annette Boorman
512-565-9849
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SOURCE Mission of Hope, Haiti