What's Your Why?

Mark Goeser, CEO

Traveling to Haiti in 2016 was an eye-opening experience. There are over a million orphans living there and approximately 40,000 orphanages. Shockingly, 75% of these children have at least one living parent. 

There are few things I can think of that are more excruciating than not being able to take care of your own child. As parents struggle to survive, they often make the difficult choice to leave their children in the care of an orphanage ... hoping they will get food, clothing, education and safety. It appears to be their only hope for a better future for their children.

Meeting these children in person melted my heart. I couldn’t not do something!  Meeting an immediate need wasn’t enough. Our group realized we needed to go upstream to find and deal with the root issues that subjected these families to the brutal effects of poverty.

We met with the indigenous leaders within the country, and they were clear, “We don’t need more orphanages. We need jobs.” It’s quite simple. Parents want to take care of their own children. When parents in Haiti have jobs and sustainable incomes, families can stay together.

This isn’t true just for the orphans of Haiti.  It’s true for orphans all around the world. They are orphaned by poverty. But, by training entrepreneurs to launch successful businesses, we bring sustainable incomes and dignity to individuals, keep families together, and create communities that thrive.