VERO BEACH – Haiti Partners, whose mission is to help Haitians change Haiti through education, will host a Focus on Hope Banquet, beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, January 21, at the Community Church of Vero Beach. Join co-directors John Engle and Kent Annan, along with special guests from Haiti, as they lead an evening of inspiration one year after Haiti’s devastating earthquake. This year’s theme, Focusing on Hope, will feature stories of faith and progress alongside the suffering and hardships of post-earthquake Haiti. Organizers will discuss what has been accomplished over the past year, and will also focus on hope for the future of the country as they rebuild their schools and communities.
The evening’s activities will also include an authentic Haitian dinner and a silent auction featuring Haitian arts and crafts.Tickets are $30 per person; all proceeds go toward education in Haiti.
To purchase tickets, call the Community Church ticket office at 772-778-1070.Featured speakers for the evening include Vero Beach resident Kent Annan, author, speaker, and co-director of Haiti Partners. Kent’s forthcoming book, After Shock (IVP, 2011), recounts his search for honest faith against the backdrop of the earthquake’s devastation. His previous book, Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle (IVP 2009), an account of Kent’s first few years living in Haiti, has been praised as “funny, gritty, and strangely hopeful” (Andy Crouch).
Haiti Partners co-director John Engle, who was in Port-au-Prince at the time of the earthquake, will also be speaking. John and his family have relocated to Haiti from Vero Beach indefinitely, coordinating Haiti Partners’ efforts to rebuild schools, train teachers, develop leaders, and equip people of faith to impact their communities.
Other presenters will include Benaja Antoine and Franzie Cyril, both native Haitians on the staff of Haiti Partners. Benaja has over 15 years of experience working in all aspects of education, and Franzie has spent the last 10 years focusing on the educational needs of marginalized children.
Haiti Partners is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to assisting thriving schools for children, supporting faithful churches and stronger institutions, and enabling democratic and economic growth for Haiti. Haiti Partners educates over 1300 children in 7 partner schools and is training hundreds of teachers a year with innovative teaching methods. Over 40 community leaders are taking part in an intensive three-year equipping program, and 10,000 Creole Bibles and study guides are being distributed each year to Haitian Christians with little access to these materials.If you cannot attend the dinner, you will also have a chance to meet Kent Annan earlier in the week at a book signing at the Vero Beach Book Center where he will speak about his recently released second book, After Shock: Searching for Honest Faith When Your World is Shaken. That event will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, January 19.
For additional information about Haiti Partners, and to read reviews about Annan’s latest book, visit www.haitipartners.org.