Haiti Update: Program Highlights and Back-to-School
- Jim Zilinsky
- Aug 27
- 4 min read
As we gear up for another school year at Fils Brilliant School on La Gonâve Island, I want to take a minute to share a few highlights from our programs at Gifts of Love Haiti this summer, along with areas we are investing in this next season.
June Trip to Haiti
I traveled to Haiti for the first time in over a year in June, encouraging children and staff, setting up sustainable communication systems, and hosting several conferences and youth events.
After many canceled trips and waiting due to flight bans, we were able to establish a safe new route to La Gonâve Island through Missionary Flights International, who were approved to fly to Cap Haitien, bypassing the instability in Port-au-Prince.
On this trip, we upgraded the internet service at our school and clinic based in Anse-à-Galets, and established systems for transporting medicine through St. Mark and other alternate supply routes which ensures future stability for our programs.
June 2025 Haiti Events:
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The highlight of my trip was spending time encouraging and equipping our staff across teams. In the U.S. we can choose a different conference every week for encouragement, new strategies, and systems to improve our organizations. On La Gonâve, these kinds of resources are more limited than ever. During a time when the the nation of Haiti is enduring unprecedented challenges, we have strengthened local leaders and partnered with other nonprofits to provide leadership structure, organizational resources for teams, and spiritual training to local pastors.
We also hosted a soccer tournament for students, including a spirited game between one of the classes and the teachers. Events like talent shows, youth mentoring, and soccer tournaments may seem ordinary, but here they bring a sense of accomplishment and normalcy to children with few social outlets. To see the joy from the youth conference or the soccer tournament made me realize how valuable our investment is in this community!
Back to School
The school year is beginning in September, and we continue to receive positive reports each year of how excellent a job our staff are doing, with our students achieving some of the highest test scores and graduation rates of the schools on the island. We have 36 educators on staff, and each of them demonstrates such passion and quality in supporting the education of the students. Please keep the teachers and students in your prayers in this season, and if you are interested in donating to our back-to-school drive, all funds go directly to purchasing supplies for these classrooms.
Malnutrition Program Launch
We are thankful to have support to feed the children and staff at our school as well as 9 community feeding programs in rural surrounding areas that provide 1,100 children with meals each day.
However, malnutrition is a growing problem in Haiti that we are seeing more of, and have begun developing a program in our medical clinic that will help malnourished infants and children when they come in for medical treatment. It is heartbreaking to treat a malnourished child’s illness without addressing their ongoing hunger. That has been the reality until now due to a lack of extra resources to purchase formula and vitamins.
The good news is, we have capacity with clinic space, staff, and medicine, and have started treating some cases of malnutrition by providing formula, vitamins, personalized care, and emergency food for the families. We have seen life-saving success and would like to offer this program as a permanent part of the care offered at the clinic. Our goal is to never turn away a child in need of care, and having funds dedicated to this will ensure we don’t have to.
The cost to cover a child in the nutrition program is $50 per month for a minimum of six months, and we are committed to accepting as many children into the program as we have sponsors for. If you are interested in helping this program get started, sponsoring a child is a tangible way to impact a life.
We could not do any of this without your prayers, partnership, and sharing our story. I’d be glad to connect, answer questions, or share more details of the impact your support makes possible.
Thank you for your continued prayers and partnership!
Jim Zilinsky
Director of Development
Gifts of Love Haiti
615-772-1857
Join us October 20th for our annual Helping Haiti Topgolf Tournament - St. Louis and enjoy an afternoon of golf, food, and purpose. This impactful event brings the community together to support meaningful programs that uplift lives in Haiti.
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