Father Andre Sylvestre is
a Catholic priest of northern rural Haiti.
As of 2014, he has been a priest of 32 years. He is the son of coffee farmers. His father died when he was 12; his mother is
still living and never received any schooling.
Father Andre operates the orphanage that we supply infant formula, powdered milk, and vitamins to...here he is holding a few boxes from our shipment which will be soon be prepared into nutritional shakes for the orphans...we could get 'his kids' food because of your support at our 5K run/walk + silent auction
As a child, Andre
Sylvestre would walk 3-4 hours to school.
At some point in his schooling, the distance was too great to walk daily
and he only could come home during Easter and Christmas vacations. His schooling was interrupted several times
and he completed 6th grade at the age of 18.
He was forced to quit
school when his family’s coffee crop failed.
This upset him terribly and he wrote a letter to the Sisters that
operated the Holy Cross School and he requested that they find some means for
him to continue his schooling. They
granted him a full scholarship for 3 years…”a miracle”, he says.
After completion of those
years, he was recommended for the seminary and continued his education in Port
au Prince. The “miracles” continued and
he was granted the opportunity for schooling in North America. Father Andre received a Master of Clinical
Psychology from a university in Ottawa and later a Master in Counseling
Psychology from Ball State University in Muncie Indiana.
While in the United
States, Father Andre contacted Linda Thieman, a woman well-known in a small
Ohio town for guiding over 50 trips to Haiti. He explained to her that he felt
called to start an orphanage – though he did not know when or how he would
accomplish it – only that he felt it was something he was supposed to do as a
way to pay back some of what God had blessed him with in his life. Linda had no
financial means to help him, but remained in contact with Fr. Andre and kept
their conversation on her mind.
Father Andre completed
his degree, graduated from Ball State in December 2009, and planned his return
to Haiti. On January 12, 2010 a 7.0
magnitude earthquake struck Haiti that killed over 200,000 people and destroyed
the largest, most populated city in Haiti.
Within 4 days, Father was able to gain entrance into Haiti and spent 6
months counseling the survivors. There
are not many trained counselors in Haiti and these people had lost everything
and sometimes everybody they knew. He
knew when he saw the parentless children living in the streets that it was time
to start the orphanage he had long felt called to begin.
Shortly thereafter, 2 private
individuals gifted Father Andre a one-time donation to purchase 15 acres of
land in northern rural Haiti.
Formula for Life presenting Fr. Andre Sylvestre with the starter money for his new orphanage. The money you donated, the money from your race registrations, etc goes right to Fr. Andre. We each paid for our own flights to Haiti and directly hand him the money...it gets to him + no one takes out money along the way- May 2012
If you would like to make a donation to help Fr. Andre continue to provide for children who have no one to care for them - especially to feed them and treat them with dignity see the tab "how you can help".
Formula for Life presenting Fr. Andre Sylvestre with the starter money for his new orphanage. The money you donated, the money from your race registrations, etc goes right to Fr. Andre. We each paid for our own flights to Haiti and directly hand him the money...it gets to him + no one takes out money along the way. May 2013
F4L alumnus, Ariel Quickery, and Fr. Andre at a meet/greet opportunity at the Brookside Ballroom. July 2013
I bought a truck...a big truck," Fr. Andre. This truck will cut down on the very expensive transportation costs Fr. must pay to deliver supplies...he also plans to rent the truck out to help pay for it. March 2014
May 2014
Vestments from the University of Saint Francis chapel...leaving for Haiti in a semi trailer...to be received by Fr. Andre for the orphanage chapel - November 2013
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