The Mission was founded in the 1980s by a Detroit pastor as The Caring and Sharing Mission.
Following the devastating earthquake of January, 2010, the Mission was the second project chosen by the A Hole in the Roof Foundation. The Foundation was committed to rebuilding and repairing the home to more than seventy children. In December 2010, as the Mission fell upon hard times, and A Hole in the Roof Foundation assumed operation, changing its name to Have Faith Haiti, inspired partly by Albom’s book “Have a Little Faith.”
To follow the progress of the original campaign and repairs from the beginning, follow the timeline below.
February 2010: $70,000 | 30 Days | One Mission
Following the devastating earthquake that ravaged Haiti in January of 2010, A Hole in the Roof Foundation launches a campaign to raise funds for an orphanage in Haiti. Over $82,000 is raised in just 19 days!
April – August 2010: Detroit Muscle Crew I
A group of skilled tradesmen from Detroit make several trips to Detroit to repair existing spaces, build bathrooms and showers, and build a new school building. Watch their video diaries. These generous volunteers would continue improving various infastructure needs through 2013.
December 2010: Caring & Sharing Becomes Have Faith Haiti Mission
Realizing the Mission needed more than physical repair, A Hole in the Roof assumes responsibility of the mission.
January 2011: Haiti, One Year Later
ESPN’s Jay Harris shares this special report from Haiti, where faith and sports have helped rebuild an orphanage.
November 2011: The New School Opens!
The Detroit Muscle Crew created new learning spaces, and the new bilingual school opens!
December 2011: Deck the Wall Campaign
Thanks to your generosity, a dangerous and crumbling stone wall at the edge of the Mission’s property was repaired.
November 2013: Detroit Checks in on Haiti
Fox 2 News reporter Amy Lange returns to Haiti in a special two-part series.
January 2015: Haiti, Five Years Later
Watch the special video report from the Detroit Free Press, or read the USA Today column.
2017 & 2019: Chika’s Story Brings International Attention
In May of 2015, Chika Jeune, a child at the mission, was diagnosed with a DIPG brain tumor and came to Michigan for treatment. For the remaining years of her life, she lived with Mitch and Janine Albom and was cherished as a daughter and surrounded with endless love from her “American” family and friends. After her passing in 2017, The Chika Fund is established to cover life-saving medical costs and health care, including inoculations, nutrition, regular doctor checkups, medical tests and if-needed hospitalizations. Chika’s story is told in Albom’s bestselling book, Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family
January 2020: 10 Years Later, We Cannot Forget
Read Mitch Albom’s op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, and watch this special video. We have the luxury of forgetting. Haiti and its children do not. Hear the stories from our kids.
2021: Life at the Orphanage Newsletter Launches
Selected by Meta’s Bulletin newsletter startup, Mitch Albom began publishing a weekly newsletter that takes readers in to what it takes to run the orphanage: his kids, their hardships, laughs and challenges, and the life lessons he’s learned there every day.
Joy is the fuel that makes Have Faith Haiti go. Experience the laughs, hardships, and love of a big, sprawling, wildly different family through the eyes and voices of its children. In 2022, the newsletter moved here to havefaithhaiti.org.
“Thank you for sharing, inspiring and giving us hope in seeing what’s right with the world.”
—Sue B., a subscriber.
2022: Mission to Move
The mission has outgrown its original third-of-an-acre facility while its surrounding area has become less secure and more unstable. The Have Faith Haiti has moved to larger, safer property in Port-au-Prince.
