Hi Ciele Team, 

Happy 10th Anniversary! What a huge accomplishment. We’re honored and grateful to be a small part of your journey over the years as partners and friends. You’ve made a significant impact locally in your communities as well as globally in our community of Menelas, Haiti. 

Our partnership started through a connection made by Esther Park, Ciele Friends and Family, and a donation of 40 Ciele GoCaps for our family members in Haiti and Run Across Haiti runners to support their efforts as they traveled 200 miles in 8 days to showcase Haiti’s beauty and show its not a place to be feared or to be pitied.

Many of our family members joined us on the Run Across Haiti to crew, which also gave them an opportunity to explore their country and have a seasonal, paid job. As we passed through Port-au-Prince on Day 7 of the Run, the closest city to Menelas, many of our families would join us to cheer the runners on. 

Whether you realize it or not, you are a part of many of our family members' stories, including Sajina, in the framed photo from us and pictured below with her family. Sajina is 12 years old and in the 7th grade. Most children have to drop out of school by the 2nd grade, due to not being able to pay for school. Your support year over year allows Sajina and the rest of our kids in our program to have the same opportunity to attend school and graduate one day. In Haiti, only 1% of the population attends college. We’re here to change that.

Sajina is a kind and smart young girl. She enjoys being with her family, singing and dancing. She started her own small business at home. Whenever she’s not in school, she sells candy, cookies and bags of water to her neighbors. We really admire the entrepreneurial spirit of her, which she gets from her mom, Natacha. 

Sajina looks up to her mom as a strong, female influence in her life. After meeting Natacha, you'll walk away with the motivation that you can do anything in this world. Natacha is a brave, independent, single mother of 4 and a business owner reselling clothing and essential products in her neighborhood.

Having completed our WORK Programming, Natacha is among 14 family members who are graduating out of poverty for good this Summer. We’re thrilled to have her shift from a participant to a community leader, who will help mentor new families joining our organization. 

Natacha always shares with us that she only wants to see her children succeed and grow into the best version of themselves. Natacha’s oldest daughter told us once, "I want to do this [go to college] for my mom because she has worked really hard to get me to where I am today. I know this would make her really proud. She never had a chance like me to go to school or even to go to college. I'm thankful for this support and I hope that it's possible to reach my dream."

Your commitment and contributions have provided uninterrupted wrap-around services to families and supports their ability to pull themselves out of poverty through dignified work. There are more family members like Natacha that are now financially independent and able to take care of themselves and their families. Your dedication and support over the last 7+ years has been tremendous. There’s more work to be done, and we couldn’t be more proud to continue to partner with you.

We’re forever thankful for your support, for showing up consistently for our families, for your donations of Ciele caps, 1% give back of online sales to support our vision of a world where poverty doesn’t exist, participating in our Move Across May (formerly Run Across May) as a team, matching donations, featuring our work through newsletters and social media posts, and hosting multi day fundraising events in your city of Montreal to build awareness and raise funds. You continue to go above and beyond as a company and as a partner. Thank you. 

At WORK, financial independence means at least $267USD/month per head of household. It’s a significant improvement from less than $1 a day, which is the starting point for the majority of our family members. Commitment over a period of time is required to reach this goal and we can’t thank Dan, Martin, Jeremy and the entire Ciele staff and community for their commitment over the years.

Your support has made a difference. $35,000+ has been raised from the 1% give back program, fundraising events, and Ciele Run Across May / Move Across May teams. The direct impact includes:

• 801 family members accompanied with direct services including access to health care, education scholarships, and workforce development training and investments

• 170 students were able to continue their education and have all school supplies needed to have a successful school year, year after year

• 73 businesses in our community created and invested in through our Workforce Development Program

On behalf of our families in Haiti and our entire team at WORK, mèsi anpil (thank you). Congratulations on an amazing 10 years and cheers to many more. 

For our families…

Vivien, Christina, Nelly and the WORK Team