Make Your Mark: Helen Little

This incredible woman has made 41 trips to Haiti to help those less fortunate than herself.

• Inspiring People

The Person: Helen Little
The Cause: Mission to Haiti

Clayton, NC--Helen Little doesn't let her age slow her down. At 77, she will make her 42nd trip to Haiti in July to help the poverty-stricken country in any way she can. A little over 20 years ago, Helen was attending a church service during which a spokesperson from an organization called Mission to Haiti gave a presentation. As he spoke about the extreme poverty that was overtaking the Caribbean nation, Helen was literally shocked into action.

The first time Helen traveled to Haiti with Mission to Haiti, she was appalled by what she saw--little boys walking around naked, families living in poor conditions, and the great lack of education for children. Since then she has helped build seven schools, four wells, one church, and an orphanage. In addition, she has personally provided countless pieces of furniture, clothing, medical supplies, and food to the suffering people.

When she is not in Haiti, Helen spends her time in North Carolina going to yard sales to gather up cheap clothing and any shoes she can find to send there. She also spends a large portion of her time fundraising--she tells her stories about Haiti to church members and local residents and handwrites personal letters to major businesses asking for financial support.

Helen believes that the greatest need in Haiti is for education. She feels that education is the way out of poverty and a way to establish a middle class, which is nonexistent at this point. Since she started her trips over 20 years ago, she has seen a rise in funding for children to attend school. She has recruited over 100 people to pay for school expenses for children, and she herself has been paying school tuition for a young boy for 22 years.

Since she began her work two decades ago, Helen has seen improvements in Haiti--the streets are cleaner, more children are attending school, and the generation growing up seems more aware that things need to change. And Helen plans on helping them continue that change for as long as she can.

If you would like to learn more about how you can help Haiti, please visit http://www.horneumc.net/ or http://missiontohaiti.org


--Story submitted by Mary Wagner

From rd.com

Originally in Reader's Digest

 

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