Frequently Asked Questions

All of the money donated for the child sponsorships will go to feeding the children. This includes purchasing the dry goods as well as paying the cooks. The food accounts for 80% of the cost and the money to pay the cooks, who are members of the local community in Canaan, accounts for 17% of the cost. The transfer fee for sending the money through Western Union accounts for 3% of the cost. No money is spent on overhead.
The president and executive director sign off on an expense request form to buy the food, which the treasurer then signs prior to transferring the money to Elmo Guichard via Western Union. Elmo Guichard is the contact in Haiti responsible for paying the food supplier and for picking up the food from the supplier. Once he picks up the food, he delivers it to the field director who then checks to see that every item on the list have been delivered. This list is the same every month and it is the same list that is included on the expense request form. The field director then signs off on this to confirm that all items have been delivered.
At this time we do not have enough funds to provide lunches during the summer months. If you are interested in helping to support your child’s family during the summer, please see Question 8 below for a way you could provide food individually using CAM Transfer.

Yes, if you are able to write in French or Haitian Creole, great! If you choose to write in English, your letter will be translated into either French or Haitian Creole and be emailed to the director of the school. The director will print the letter and then give it to your sponsored child or to his or her parent. Your letter should be emailed to friendsofcanaanhaiti@gmail.com or submitted on the “Contact Us” page of this website. Please do not send hand-written letters at this time. Please include your child’s full name and ID number in the email so we can be sure your letter makes it to the correct child.

Yes, you are welcome to send gifts to your sponsored child. Gifts will either be sent by boat (which takes about a month once the shipment is picked up), or it may be brought by plane if a board member is traveling to Haiti. Please do not giftwrap your gifts. For the purpose of going through customs, gifts will need to be unwrapped. When you send your gift, please include your name, your child’s full name, and your child’s ID number. Gifts can be mailed to the following address:

Friends of Canaan
P.O. Box 142
Danvers, MA 01923

A photograph will be taken of the child receiving the gift. We will send you a photo, either a hard copy or a digital version via email, so you can see that your sponsored child has received the gift.

Please see our “About Us” page which describes a brief history. The main idea is that after the earthquake in 2010, much of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, was destroyed. The Morijah Evangelical Church in Waltham, Massachusetts, had been connected with church members in Port-au-Prince who were now relocated to this remote area in Canaan where the Haitian government allowed them to claim land. The Morijah Evangelical Church helped to construct a school in Canaan in 2014, since the children there had not been able to attend school since the earthquake. At the time of the school’s construction, Andrea and Igor Alexis, the president and executive director of Friends of Canaan, had been attending the church in Waltham and visited the school where Igor could see that the students were hungry. This visit took place in November of 2014, and it inspired the start of the lunch program in March of 2015. Friends of Canaan, Inc. officially became a nonprofit in July of 2017.

1.    Yes, there is an organization called Caribbean Air Mail, Inc. (CAM) which allows you to have food sent to individuals in Haiti. CAM is its own company, and in no way affiliated with Friends of Canaan. For this reason, donations made through CAM Transfer are not tax-deductible through Friends of Canaan, Inc. CAM is a business, and not a nonprofit organization. However, we wanted to share this with you as a resource because people in the U.S. often use this to send food to their relatives in Haiti and in other parts of the Caribbean. Their website is www.camtransfer.com. If you would like to have food sent to the family of your sponsored child, here is how you would fill out the information.

·       Register:

·       First you will need to create an account by clicking “Sign In.” If this is your first time using CAM Transfer, fill in your email address where it says, “Not Registered?” Type and confirm your email address, and then press “Continue.”

·       Enter the requested information. They will send you an email to verify your setup.

·       Enter your newly created login information in order to proceed.

·       Order Food:

·       Click on the “C.A.M.” logo in the top left to return to the home screen.

·       Under where it says “Send money/food online,” enter the following information:

1.    Send Where: HAITI

2.    City: P-AU-P (Port-au-Prince)

3.    Send What: Food

·       Then press “Continue.”

·       Use the dropdown menu to “Select Existing Goods.” (You may need to look up some of the words in French!)

·       Select the quantity and then select “Add to List.”

·       When you’re finished, select “Next Step.”

·       Checking Out:

·       Since you’ve already created an account, the “Personal Information” should already be populated.

·       Here’s what you should enter for the “Receiver Information.”

·       Receiver’s Name: (First Name) Mireille (Last Name) Alexis

·       Phone Number: 32073657

·       Address (Line 1): La Plaine Route 9

·       Address (Line 2): Village Renaissance, Rue Catherine Flon #14C

·       Personal Message: **This part is important!!** Please include the following information to make sure the food makes it to your child’s family!

Friends of Canaan
Your child’s full name
Your child’s ID number

·       Select “Next Step,” and then continue to follow the prompts as it takes you through check-out.

·       You will be givena confirmation number. Please keep it for your records.