An Acadiana priest continues to make a difference in the lives of countless Haitian families.

Father Glenn Meaux of Abbeville, has been doing so for more than two decades.  By sunrise staff members of the Kobonal Haiti Mission begin preparing meals in cast iron pots on makeshift stoves and it’s all prepared and cooked outside. They feed over 1,200 students each day who attend the ministry’s primary school. Children ranging in age from kindergarten to 6th grade travel many miles on foot through the mountainous terrain to receive a life transforming education. The mission school is one of the largest in the region and is considered one of the best primary schools in the area especially noted for its holistic approach toward the student and his or her family. The classrooms are housed in sturdy, open sided buildings with solid flooring and strong roofs. Nearly half of Haiti’s population can’t read or write because public schools are few and far between. It is here dreams are fulfilled.  It is an answered prayer for the poorest of the poor. The children arrive each day that begins with a simple but important meal that fills their empty stomachs with nourishment to fuel their learning. Their uniforms, like their education, are free and it’s all because of the mission.

Fr. Glenn Meaux says, “The accessibility of food and their homes, their houses…if it’s a dry season, there are no gardens.  If the mothers don’t do well at the market, Wednesday or Saturday, they have nothing to eat.  nothing”.

For too many still, the meal at the mission is the only one for the day. The Abbeville native arrived here more than 25 years ago with only a suitcase in hand. KLFY has followed Fr. Meaux over the years and was there when the first clean water source was turned on. The water project was completed in 1996 through the efforts of the villagers and with funding from a church parish in Florida. Mission engineers developed the system from a tiny source of spring water that was discovered in the mountains. The water flows eight miles up and down the mountains to 7 of the villages, including Kobonal. The families now have access to filtered spring water through seven water stations they call fountains. Any overflow goes into gardens around the mission and is used for the irrigation of fields and watering of pigs and chickens.

KLFY was there to document the progress of some of the first houses that were built as well as the first school house. Through the support of cross catholic outreach and others, including many Acadiana residents, there are now many houses, jobs and self-sustaining programs including, the mission’s bakery, sewing center, agricultural and animal husbandry projects, schools, housing construction, food and nutrition and medical care. And these are just some of the important outreach programs that define the Haiti mission and the vision of one man, Acadiana’s own Father Glenn Meaux.

Thanks to the Lafayette community, thousands of men, women and children have experienced relief to their suffering and now have hope for a better future. But it doesn’t stop there. The Village of Hope Gala, now in its 4th year, will be held at the Doubletree by Hilton Lafayette on Wednesday May 27th.

For more info or to make a donation log onto www.crosscatholic.org/villageofhope, or call 800-914-2420 ext. 244.