Volunteers deliver over 2,000 hot meals in Little Haiti

By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -

LITTLE HAITI | At Notre Dame d’Haiti Mission, phone calls flow in from the desperate. The church grounds, with their weeping willows and outdoor shrine, are visited daily by those seeking consolation.

“Sometimes they approach you and say, “I’m hungry” or “I have not been working” or “I do not go outside to get anything,” said Father Reginald Jean-Mary, pastor of the church. “If you hear it from five, from 10 people, that means there is an issue in the community.”

Even though church doors have been closed for over a month, the priest knew that the Church’s presence was needed. He had to go out to the people, especially the elderly who make up a large proportion of the residents of Little Haiti.

“Faith cannot be in the church alone. It must come out. We must live in the street of solidarity with people. We must bond together as human beings so that we let people know that God is not just in the Communion, it is not just in the church, but God is in the people next to you,” Father Jean-Mary said.

The intergenerational connection that exists between the elderly and the young of the parish inspired the young adults to risk going out for those who can’t.

“It just feels good. The people need it because when we go out into the streets, they’re grateful for even a bag of groceries. A lot of them aren’t going out, and if they’re elderly, they’re really not going to the grocery stores,” said Jessica Cola, a young adult volunteer who is a nurse at Baptist Hospital.

The problem with carrying out the plan was money.

“People are not coming to church, so there is no money being put into the baskets,” said Jean Souffrant, events coordinator at Notre Dame d’Haiti.

So Father Jean-Mary started making calls, reaching out to anyone who could provide funding to buy food not only for his parishioners but also for the people of Little Haiti. Responses began trickling in, among them from Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of public schools in Miami-Dade County, who is spearheading a campaign to distribute hot meals to children all over the county. Assistance also came fromPACT (People Acting in Community Together), the St. Vincent de Paul Society atOur Lady of Guadalupe Church in Doral, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami — which also is distributing MREs (meals ready to eat) in the community — and others who contributed either food or money.

As of April 15, Notre Dame volunteers had cooked and distributed over 2,000 meals in the span of three weekends. The volunteers include members of the young adult group known as the Good Samaritans, choir members who come and cook, sometimes overnight, and any other parishioner interested in participating by working in the kitchen, meal packing, or delivering.

“We are serving them a good meal, especially for people in the neighborhood that like good national food,” Father Jean-Mary said. “They are served rice, beans, pasta, spaghetti, chicken, turkey, griot (a Haitian dish consisting of pork shoulder marinated in citrus, braised and then fried). We also bring them a drink.”

March 28 marked the first distribution, 489 meals. The following Saturday, the volunteers cooked and delivered 511 meals. That was the weekend of Palm Sunday, so they also distributed palms alongside the hot meals.

“People started expecting it from us. They would say, ‘When are you coming back?’ The food was really good,” Souffrant said.

On April 11, Notre Dame d’Haiti cooked and delivered over 1,000 meals not only to the elderly, but as Father Jean-Mary said, “To every person that comes out and wants to receive, we will give to them. To children, youth, adults, and the elderly. The people of God in need.”

The young adults who do the distribution wear protective face masks, face shields and gloves.

“I’m not gonna lie, at first I was scared, but I’m like, ‘Whatever. Let God’s will be done,’ because we’re doing it to help someone else who doesn’t have food,” said Macha Fils-Aim, a young adult who is a nurse at Coral Gables Hospital.

The volunteers use a pick-up truck and Father Jean-Mary’s SUV to deliver a few hundred meals at a time to the surrounding neighborhoods, returning to the church to pick up the next batch until they run out of meals for the day. For security, the caravan travels the streets with a police escort. Wherever they stop, they knock on doors and greet people through windows, handing out Styrofoam containers and bottles of water to whoever opens their door.

At St. Mary Towers, an apartment building for low-income seniors operated byCatholic Health Services, the volunteers alert the front desk and call out to residents with open windows, who alert their neighbors. At another apartment complex, the young adults venture to the building’s courtyard and start calling people down to pick up their meals.

The recipients were ecstatic, humbled, grateful — some were even tearful.

“Like I’ve been saying, it is not just about giving people food, but also our presence motivates them,” said Father Jean-Mary. “These are people who have been living in confinement, and they are scared, they don’t know what is going to happen. Their own children cannot come to visit them. When they see you, they see you as (the) Church. It gives them a sense of hope.”

TO DONATE

Notre Dame d’Haiti Mission plans on continuing the distribution of hot meals and home delivery until the COVID-19 crisis ends. But to do so they need continuing support. To donate, call Notre Dame d’Haiti Mission at 305-751-6289.