VERO BEACH — Haiti Partners will host its 2012 Annual Banquet, Focusing on Love on Friday, Feb.10, 2012 at the Community Church of Vero Beach. Doors open and silent auction featuring arts and crafts from Haiti begins at 6 p.m.; dinner and program begin at 6:30 p.m.
We look forward this event each year because it’s a chance to be with you as friends and partners in this work of helping people in Haiti through education. This year’s theme is “Focusing on Love.” It will be an uplifting evening about what we’ve accomplished together and sharing stories from Haiti — that also touch our lives right here.
Speakers at the event will include Haiti Partners co-directors Kent Annan and John Engle and special guests from Haiti.
Kent Annan, Haiti Partners co-founder and author has published two books, After Shock (InterVarsity Press, 2011) and Following Jesus through the Eye of the Needle (InterVarsity Press, 2009). He started Beyond Borders’ Living Words Christian Education program and has written for national journals and magazines. After living in Haiti for two and a half years, he now travels there regularly from Florida. He worked for almost three years with refugee ministries in Western Europe, Albania, and Kosovo. He holds a bachelor’s in business from Palm Beach Atlantic University and a master of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. His wife Shelly is associate pastor at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Vero Beach, and they have a young daughter and son. More about Kent’s writing at www.kentannan.com.
John Engle is a co-founder of Haiti Partners, and also co-founded Beyond Borders and its Haiti-based partner organization, Limyè Lavi Foundation, in 1993. He first moved to Haiti in 1991 to work with Tony Campolo’s organization (EAPE) in support of education for Haiti’s children and adults. John moved to Vero Beach in 2007 to establish Haiti Partners’ Florida office with Annan, but moved back to Haiti with his family after the January earthquake. Although he has been coordinating the building of Learning Centers and other earthquake response projects since January, his focus during the last two decades has been on participatory leadership and discussion-based education in Haiti. He has been a consultant with organizations including World Bank, Amnesty International, and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He and his wife Merline, who is a native of Haiti, have two children and are members of Community Church of Vero Beach.
Tickets are $30, which includes a great Haitian dinner. All proceeds from the night go toward education in Haiti.
To purchase tickets by phone call 772-539-8521. To purchase on-line visit www.haitipartners.org, click on the Donate page and enter $30 per ticket under “One-Time Gift.” (For example, $30 in that line for one person; $60 for two people.) Complete the rest of the form and in the Comments section toward the bottom, write in Banquet Tickets. Your tickets will be waiting for you in your name at the banquet (no tickets e/mailed to you). You will receive a confirmation email for the amount.
