FOR

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Plant With Purpose Advocates Travel to Haiti to Witness Their Impact

San Diego Millennials provide friendship and motivation to subsistence farmers in the hills of Haiti.
SAN DIEGOAugust 16, 2016 Plant With Purpose, an international development organization, recently
traveled to Haiti with a group of millennials consisting of former interns, staff, and volunteers. The groups
dedication to the organization runs deep having logged hours compiling reports, writing content, soliciting
local partnerships, and volunteering at outreach events. To see the program firsthand was life-changing.
These millennials witnessed the connection between deforestation and poverty in Haiti, which cannot be
missed. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has a meager 3.5 percent of forest
coverage (FAO). Because of this correlation, Plant With Purpose launched its Haiti program in 1997. In 2004,
a severe flood killed 2,000 people and motivated program expansion to the Fonds-Verrettes region. Three
days of consistent rain was too much for the barren hillsides and became a reminder of the crucial role that
trees play. Branches and leaf litter buffer topsoil from the pounding of rain while roots help water to absorb
into the soil. Without trees, water runoff intensified and became deadly, catching many who had settled in
the dry riverbed in the middle of the night.
During the five-day trip, the group visited numerous subsistence farming families who partner with Plant
With Purpose. With an agenda to celebrate progress and engage with communities, these millennials
provided motivation for farming families to continue in their environmental restoration projects. Partnering
farmers have planted more than 2.5 million trees in Haiti and are further healing their farms through
sustainable agricultural techniques such as composting, grafting, and building soil conservation barriers.
Dieula Morissaint shared her accomplishments with the guests. This past year, Plant With Purpose
constructed a water cistern on her property. Prior, this mother of five, spent 12 hours accessing clean water.
Dieula is paying for the cistern by growing and giving away tree seedlings, which she now nurtures in her
spare time. Dieula also raises and gives away rabbits to neighbors in need. Because of Plant With Purposes
program, she accumulated enough money to buy a donkey, the standard method of transportation in Fonds-
Verrettes, which means she no longer carries cargo on her head through the hills of Haiti.
The group of advocates returned to San Diego inspired to continue investing their time and talents to support
Plant With Purposes worldwide efforts. Trip participant Kayla Graham shares the many life-lessons that she
learned: I can do much more here at home. I can be more hospitable to others. I can invite more people into
my life. I can be generous to give, even when I feel like I have nothing to give. I can love the environment and
make peace with the land. I can do more to extend God's love to those even in remote areas.

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About Plant With Purpose
Plant With Purpose (plantwithpurpose.org) is an international development organization that transforms
lives in rural areas where poverty is caused by deforestation. For more than 30 years, Plant With Purpose has
provided lasting solutions to rural poverty through a community development approach that integrates
reforestation, sustainable agriculture programs, economic opportunity through microfinance, and local
leadership development. Plant With Purpose currently works in more than 495 communities in seven
countries: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Tanzania,
and Thailand. The organization has planted over 18.9 million trees worldwide.
For interviews, inquiries, or additional information on Plant With Purpose, including videos or photos, please
contact Becky Rosaler.
Contact: Becky Rosaler

Marketing and Events Specialist
800.633.5319 Office

760.650.2819 Cell


becky@plantwithpurpose.org
plantwithpurpose.org