As I stood at the back of this humble chapel, taking in this amazing moment, one particular child attracted my attention. He had one blind and clouded eye — but the other had a gleam in it. One of his ears was missing, but the other hung on to every word the priest said. His smile was bigger than everyone else’s, and he seemed to be oblivious to the third degree burn scars that covered his head, shoulders and chest.
Media personalities help distribute Boxes of Joy in southern Haiti
It was an experience no one will ever forget.
Radio personality Drew Mariani and Catholic journalists Rob Herbst, Patrick Novecosky and Peter Jesserer Smith went to Haiti with Cross Catholic Outreach President Jim Cavnar to witness the distribution of more than 2,400 gifts from the ministry’s “Boxes of Joy” program. The boxes, filled with toys, candy, school supplies and hygiene products, were for children in Les Cayes, one of the areas of Haiti devastated by Hurricane Matthew about 6 months earlier.
A Truly Joyful Christmas
We want to send a special thank you to all of you who helped make our 2015 Box of Joy outreach a tremendous success! The following video shows Cross Catholic staff and volunteers hard at work preparing the thousands of boxes for shipment to little children in need in Guatemala and Haiti.