Q: What do sheets and charcoal have in common?  Are you stumped?

 

A: Sheets and charcoal are items that families in Haiti purchase on a regular basis!

 

SHEETS: 

Women in Haiti often make do with what they have and have learned to use sheets for many purposes.

Bed sheets can be hung in a home to block the sun from peeking in through a tear in the tarp siding.

They can be used to wrap up and haul dirty clothing to the community well on laundry day. Sheets with flowers can be used to drape over open doorways as a decoration. They can also be folded and used as a tablecloth.

CHARCOAL: 

Most families in rural Haiti do not have electricity and using charcoal for cooking has become a way of life.

Families purchase charcoal regularly for their cooking needs, as food is almost always cooked over an open, outdoor fire.

Why is this important to know?  The answer is sustainable jobs.

 

When a family in Haiti receives a small business grant (thanks to your generosity!) they brainstorm with a WWV staff member on which products will be best to sell. Charcoal and sheets were the two products chosen to be sold by the most recent recipients of a small business grant.

 

MEET KELITHA & ROSELINE!

 

Roseline has been struggling with poverty for many years. She is raising her children as a single mom.

 

Roseline will be selling charcoal to earn a living in hopes of better providing for her children and two new grandchildren.

Kelitha is a widow who lost her husband many years ago. She is raising three teenagers and the oldest recently graduated from high school.

 

Kelitha chose to sell bed sheets and pillowcases because these are items regularly purchased by families in Haiti.

 

 

Do you want to be a part of helping families in Haiti each and every month?  When you give to the Cornerstone Club, your monthly gifts can provide funds for small business grants.

 

Join the Cornerstone Club today with a monthly gift of any amount!