Fish Fry for Haiti: For 31 years, annual fundraiser has allowed Good Shepherd Episcopal Church to support a school in the mountains near Bégin
Published 3:30 pm Friday, March 3, 2023
Almost 500 students attend Saint Mathieu Ecole, which has been funded by Good Shepherd Episcopal Church for 31 years. The church began by building five elementary school rooms, and has steadily added more classes until it now goes through grade 13.
Prayer is an important part of every day at Saint Mathieu Ecole, especially before receiving a meal of beans and rice with a fortified creole-seasoned sauce.
Students at Saint Mathieu Ecole in Bégin, Haiti, wash their hands before lunch. The school was closed last summer because of political turmoil and danger, but was able to reopen in December.
The Quackers formed to cook breakfast and at special events for Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, and now cook for many events and organizations such as Boy Scouts, Autism Services of SWLA, CCA, plus gatherings for friends and family. Wild game and seafood are the group’s specialties. All are members of Good Shepherd except as noted. From left: Frank Wood (Our Lady Queen of Heaven); Doodle Walker, Fred Rau, Paul George (St. Michael and All Angels), Guy Richards, George Paret and Fred Bennerscheidt.
By Mary Richardson
Special to the American Press
Haiti is a dangerous place right now. The US State Department says to not go there “due to kidnapping, crime, and civil unrest.” Gangs have taken over much of the country. Schools, traditionally considered safe zones, are now the target of armed violence with Shootings, ransacking, looting and kidnappings have been the norm.
However, against all odds, a K-12 school located in the isolated mountains near Bégin, is open. The school, Saint Mathieu Ecole, has been funded by Good Shepherd Episcopal Church for 31 years. The church began by building five elementary school rooms, and has steadily added more classes until it now goes through grade 13. Although the school was forced to close after Haiti’s president was assassinated last summer, it was able to reopen the first of December.
Today, almost 500 students attend Saint Mathieu Ecole. Due to the generosity of an anonymous donor, lunch is being provided through the Trinity Hope Feeding Program. Every student, faculty and staff member is receiving a daily meal of beans and rice with a fortified creole-seasoned sauce. Also, a clinic is going full steam ahead, treating three times as many people as it did before violence closed services in Port au Prince.
The funds provided by Good Shepherd are administered by the Haiti Education Fund (HEF), a non-profit organization centered in Alabama. Susan Tuberville, who is the liaison between HEF and Good Shepherd, says she has received many notes from priests and educators thanking Good Shepherd for continuing to support the school, even when it was closed. “So many schools and missions have not reopened because their funding organizations had to leave the country,” she said. “But we did not shut down. Your church continued to send financial support even when the school was closed, and that kept the community alive.”
Good Shepherd funds the school by providing scholarships and through one fund raiser – the annual Fish Fry for Haiti. This year the dinner will be held on Friday, March 10 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Dinners can be picked up by driving north on Kirkman St., following the signs through the parking lot.
The dinner will consist of fried catfish with homemade accompaniments and desserts made by Good Shepherd members. Tickets are $15 and only 500 will be sold. Tickets will not be available at the door, but can be purchased at the church, 715 Kirkman St., or from Good Shepherd members Dr. Ben Williams, Glenda Williams (chair), Mother Boo Kay, Denise Rau, Martha Hoskins, Tausha Kordisch, Tom Sanders Jr. and Jay Winters.
The fish will be fried by a group of Good Shepherd men called The Quackers. The men — George Paret, Doodle Walker, Paul George, Fred Rau, Frank Wood, Guy Richards, Matt Hughes and Fred Bennerscheidt – cook breakfast at the church on Sundays, plus serve for groups such as the Boy Scouts, Autism Services of SWLA, CCA, and other benefits. Wild game and seafood are their specialty.
The school in Haiti is also funded by scholarship donations. A $100 scholarship will fund one student for an entire year, and $35 more provides the student’s books and school supplies. Both Good Shepherd and committee members have forms to provide for the scholarships. Checks should be made out to Good Shepherd Episcopal Church with “Tend My Lambs” in the memo line. No administrative costs are taken out. One hundred percent of all money collected through Tend My Lambs goes to the school in Haiti.
Saint Mathieu Ecole Episcopale has become a stabilizing force for the entire area surrounding Bégin, and a place of refuge for the community in times of trouble. And there has been lots of trouble!” said Glenda Williams, chair of the Tend My Lambs committee at Good Shepherd.
Both the school and community have endured many demoralizing setbacks. The church had to rebuild the entire school in 2010 when a 35-second long earthquake destroyed the school and the surrounding countryside. Many of the buildings slid down the mountain. A few months later, the area was hit by a hurricane. Everything still standing was filled with mud.
Tend My Lambs committee members believe it was a miracle that the school kept functioning. The faculty taught in makeshift tents and the students kept coming. Through the first Fish Fry for Haiti and an increased number of scholarships, Good Shepherd raised enough funds to rebuild the classrooms.
In 2021 the village of Bégin was hit by another earthquake, this one of 7.2 magnitude, and almost immediately afterward was hit by another tropical storm – all while dealing with the epidemic of Covid 19.
Only a year ago, the violence and civil unrest in Haiti directly touched the school. A beloved community member, nurse, and wife of an essential Haitian HEF employee was murdered. She and her driver were pulled from their car by gang members as they were attempting to return to Bégin from Port au Prince, Haiti’s capitol city. “We were all heartbroken,” Glenda said, “and we still grieve for her husband and two sons.”
The church remains hopeful that good things will happen at their school. Ben Williams reminds the Tend My Lamb Committee members that they are serving the Lord through this mission.
He quotes the verses: “Do you love me?” asked the Lord, and John answered “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
Through this fish fry, Williams says, the entire community can help “feed my sheep.”
