Our Story
HH5K: EVERY KID NEEDS A SUPERHERO
4th Annual: Saturday, August 1st, 2020; Eldridge Park, Elmira, NY
For information:
Email: HeathersHome5K@outlook.com
Visit: www.heathershome5k.com
Back in November of 2009, Heather's Home Orphanage was founded in Port-au-Prince, Haiti by John and Heather Earley of Erin, NY. John and Heather became very aware of the plight of children in nations around the world. One day, as they sat at home watching a commercial, which portrayed the horrendous conditions of children in an African country, so starved that they were mere skin and bones and pot bellies full of worms, John and Heather decided that it was no longer enough to just feel bad about it. They decided that it was time to DO something about it. Thus Heather's Home was born.
Did You Know??
Only 60% percent of Haitian children are enrolled in elementary school; less than 30% of that number even reaches the 6th grade and only 20% move on to high school?
Did You Know??
Experts have estimated that since the earthquake in 2010, the number of orphaned children in Haiti has reached about 750,000. Apart from that number, which consists of those who have lost their parents, many more have been abandoned and left on the streets to fend for themselves, even at the young ages of 2 or 3 years old.
These children are at serious risk of
starvation,
disease
abuse
s*x trafficking
labor trafficking
and death.
Heather's Home Orphanage is making a difference.
It is the vision of Heather's Home to take children off the dangerous, unmerciful streets of Haiti and give them a safe home, a loving family, and a bright future. By the grace of God, they currently have rescued and are caring for 13 beautiful kids, either orphaned or abandoned; each one handpicked by God and plucked out of the grips of darkness and despair. Their faces, once full of anguish and misery now shine bright with eyes full of hope and smiles on their lips. They are still in a process of healing, but now they have several people who love them like their own, who see them as precious gems, and would go to great lengths to protect and nurture them. The goal is to raise them up as outstanding men and women of God with a heart for justice and love for those around them and then to send them out to make a difference in their community, in their nation, and in their world.
With more funding, so much could be done:
Heather's Home could purchase their own land and build their own facilities: a house of their own, a school, a health clinic; they could grow a garden and raise livestock (teach the children some valuable trades and sell the goods to make more money). They could set aside scholarship funds to send the kids to college after secondary school where they could study to become doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers, pastors, business owners, maybe one of them could even be the next president, or at the very least an influential voice of justice and morality in their government.
It costs around $1700 a month to take care of all the needs of the children's home; from food and clothing to electricity and schooling. The Heather's Home 5K Volunteers would love to raise enough money through this event to cover all of the Orphanage's main needs for the next year. Any additional money could then be used to push the vision forward toward its full potential.