What an amazing organization! I have been to Haiti twice with PID and the changes they are making there are just jaw dropping! Building houses for residents, providing free health care, education and an overall place for people to come and feel happy and safe are just a few of the things they provide. I have sponsored many in need children through them as well and got to meet them, play with them and see them grow up successfully!
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I just returned from my third trip to Guatemala with PID. I love working with this organization. Because they only work in one or two communities in Guatemala (and Haiti), they truly develop relationships with the individuals in the community. I love seeing the changes they have brought to the village and children's lives by providing houses, education, food, clothing, health care.... I also sponsor some of the children in the program, and it is great to get to see them when I visit. I have worked in a variety of tasks, and always feel like I get more than I receive. Everytime I return, I realize just how much we take for granted and waste in this country.
I went to Haiti in 2010 with VOSH (Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity) to provide eye care and give out many pairs of glasses. PID was an great organization and Gale Hull is doing an amazing thing for people who desperately need it. I am inspired and this trip has changed my life.
Not knowing what to expect, Gale and the PID staff quickly exceeded any perceptions I may have had. I traveled to Haiti in August with a group from my Church in Maryland. We spent 10 days with the PID crew helping to build homes in the community and 5 of the days were spent on a Vacation Bible School for almost 200 kids in Canaan. What an amazing experience. I can't wait to return with my wife so she can experience the same thing. What PID is doing in Haiti is truly remarkable. They have all the respect of the members of their community in Blanchard. PIDs presence is certainly noticed and appreciated among them.
Upper Iowa University went to Haiti with PID to help rebuild the community. PID is hands on, helping the people become independent along with providing people housing and medical care. Gale is outstanding in understanding what the needs are for the people and through her efforts PID is providing the people of Haiti independence, housing and medical care. Never doubt where your donations go when giving to PID. The people who need the help get it with PID.
Partners in Development is a truly outstanding charitable organization. Committed to building community and an improved standard of living for the desperately poor, their work in Haiti and Guatemala is personal, fluid to meet whatever the demand, and provides life-sustaining and life changing services. The ongoing partnership between locals and volunteers creates an environment of energy, unity, and purpose. To say that this organization's President is a dynamo is an understatement; she is on-the-ground, dedicated, and a model of the Christian disciple. This group is exactly what anyone donating time or money to a group could hope for... it's grass-roots, economical, respectful of all, mission-minded and it works!
I have spent about two and a half months working with PID, both in Haiti and Guatemala, over the past year. Their work is respectful and sustainable, empowering and educating the communities they work with. Their staff is hard-working and authentic. Their president is a saint. I whole-heartedly believe in and support their work.
I've been a board member since the mid 90's. The organization has helped 1000's maybe 10,000's of people since that time. To see the partnership between us in the U.S. and the people in Haiti and Guatemala is truly awe inspiring. The provision of education, food, housing, business lending, and medical care are the foundations of our livelihoods. They are not individual accomplishments anywhere, but necessarily require the partnership of individuals in societies everywhere. Reaching out from a distant spot in the world to assist others to forge a sustainable life for themselves and their family where there was once barrenness is one of the most profound connections I will experience in this world. It is God's shedding of his grace on us and them. For me it is the best in our humanity and the essence of our faith and spirituality.