The key to working with local hospitals

Welcome back!

Chances are you know about our Maternity Centers where babies are born and mothers get prenatal care.

Chances are even higher, that you’re familiar with—or have a deep connection to—our Malnutrition Treatment Centers where parents are empowered and children’s lives are saved.*

*often via dramatic transformations that make even Scrooges among us smile.

But we suspect that you’re less familiar with the role a local hospital plays in this process.

Allow us to fill you in!

Over the past 3 months, Second Mile Haiti has covered the costs of medical care at a local hospital for 84 children and 15 pregnant women, including 13 women who benefitted from emergency c-sections. 

Eighty-four children and 15 women! 

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Since the beginning, we’ve committed to creating facilities and programs that would complement the existing health care institutions in Haiti, not replace them. 

But to stick to this goal, we have needed amazing partners along the way, and Hôpital Sacré Coeur-Milot is at the top of that list. 

Thanks to a hard-fought partnership with Hôpital Sacré Coeur-Milot, if we identify a mother or a child who needs urgent medical care—they can get it.

Quickly, effectively, without delay. 

Why does this happen? In addition to relationships, a more basic answer is this. Second Mile Haiti pays for that care.

Our most recent hospital bill was $10,655 for care provided between February and April. While it’s a big number, it’s a relatively small sum considering nearly 100 individuals received medical care.

Second Mile paid an average of just $62 in medical fees per child.

Chloe, 9-months-old, is currently recovering from Severe Acute Malnutrition at Second Mile Haiti. She benefitted from two hospital visits during her first month of recovery.

Are your hospital bills that affordable? We guess not! But that’s a topic for another email.

That 10 grand in US dollars represents more than 100 families who needed support during a health crisis and got it.

More specifically, it represents:

13 emergency c-sections

81 children who had lab tests

78 children who needed medicine

4 children who received oxygen

and 4 chest x-rays

Additionally, 3 children had an ultrasound of their heart and started taking medication to resolve a congenital heart condition.

2 children had surgery.

Among these children were Fabiola, Besley, Chloe, and Ella—all alive and well today because of the services they received. 

SO why did these kids like Chloe and Besley need hospital care and what was done for them there?

Here’s the short version:

The children we care for through our Malnutrition Treatment Center fall into three main categories.

In the first category are the children who have a straightforward case of Acute Malnutrition.

These children respond rapidly to treatment.

A short round of antibiotics, medication to treat parasites, and a

high-calorie diet is all they need to regain their health and be on on their way…

“Dawens” age 2, has *officially* recovered from Severe Acute Malnutrition as of April 19, 2024.

When children in the second category arrive at our center, it is clear they need immediate medical intervention. We get these children to the hospital as quickly as possible and hope for the chance to work with the family on the other side. 

Children in the third category fall somewhere in between. 

Their progress is rarely linear and they may require repeated trips to the hospital to determine what is making them sick. 

These children are battling heart conditions that they were born with but were never diagnosed-

HIV infections passed on to them from their mothers-

and conditions like cleft palate, hydrocephalus, and diabetes.

These children often require long hospitalizations and even longer stays at our center.  

We’re here for it all. We send money to the hospital so that their caregiver’s stay fed during those long days by their child’s hospital bed.

We check-in on the child and speak with the hospital staff in person a few times a week and track down special medications that the hospital doesn’t have in stock—making stops at one pharmacy after another until the medication is found.

At hospitals in Haiti, supplies and medications don’t materialize every time a child needs another dose.

Families have to pay for and collect the items from the hospital’s pharmacy and physically bring them back to the child’s nurse before they receive care.

Our arrangement with the hospital removes this complicated step. With our promise to pay, parents can get the medicine and supplies their child needs.

At our Maternity Centers, we occasionally have to transfer laboring mothers (about 6% of the laboring women that come to the birth center), and less frequently, we have to transfer a just-born baby.

In fact, this occurred yesterday, with a baby who was struggling to breath.

Even Jenn was involved. She helped by holding the newborn across her lap in the middle seat. Flanking her on either side, Lourdie & Gedalia (a nurse and a midwife), continued resuscitation while the car jostled along the bumpy village roads.

For times like these, our Maternity Centers are always staffed with at least one team member who is also a licensed driver. Over the years we’ve helped nearly a dozen employees attend driving school and obtain their driver’s license for this very purpose. 

~~

When the baby was passed into the capable hands of the hospital staff, his vital signs were stable and the baby’s dad reports that he had a good night.

Just this morning, the “transfer vehicle” was called upon once again. A client arrived at our birth center with signs of a placental abruption. She needed a a c-section fast.

She got one.

Mom and baby are doing well. 

It’s in these moments—when someone’s life is on the line—that our midwives, our drivers, and our “transfer vehicle” join forces with your support and our partner hospital to save lives.

For us, that is what is means to the go the second mile.

If you’ve read this far, thank you.

If you’re moved by these stories, please consider how you might help.

We’re seeking to raise $10,000 for the next three months of hospital-based care for children and mothers.

Right now, this is our most urgent need.

Thanks for reading ~❤️~ love from Haiti

Skipping the Orphanage

Hey Friends, it’s nice to be back with you.

This week, we have someone we’d like you to meet: a spunky, healthy,  pre-schooler named Christy!

Christy and her mother Wislande spent time at both our maternity center and nutrition center in 2019.

Initially, Wislande received prenatal care at Second Mile Haiti, but when she went into labor at 33 weeks, she was referred to a local hospital to be  monitored during her early delivery.

Wislande and newborn Christy were hospitalized for thirteen days before returning to our Cap Haitien Maternity Center where our Midwives taught her the importance of Kangaroo Care for a premature baby and worked with the duo around the clock.

Once their postpartum needs were met, the pair jumped over to our nutrition center where they stayed with us for six weeks.

Christy grew from 1.35 kg to 2.98 kg.

But that’s not the best part.

From there, we got to watch Christy grow under her mother’s doting care as the pair returned to Second Mile Haiti for follow-up visits a few times each year.

Their most recent visit? Today!

Today, Christy is a bright-eyed, curious, 4-year-old with no shortage of personality!

Wislande and Christy’s story can’t help but remind us of a family that we worked with in 2015, a mother named Beigemanie and her daughter named Beige-landine.

Both youthful mothers went into labor prematurely with their first child and both mothers ended up at Second Mile Haiti for malnutrition treatment.

The difference?

Before Second Mile was available, an orphanage seemed like the only way for some families to keep their children alive.

In 2015, Beigemanie and her 30-day-old infant were referred to Second Mile by an orphanage that Beigemanie had found herself at as a last effort to save her daughter. Her baby weighed only 1.4 kg (3lbs), and had already spent her first month of life in the NICU, which drained the family of finances.

In 2019, Wislande and her family got to skip the orphanage trauma completely; she didn’t even have to consider it. She was already being monitored by our prenatal specialists when we determined that she would need to be transferred to the hospital because the baby was coming early.

Wislande knew that she had somewhere to go after the hospital that would help her take care of her small baby. She never had to contemplate surrendering her daughter.

We started offering Prenatal Care at our first Maternity Center in 2018 to give mothers the kind of prenatal & postpartum support that would give infants and young families a strong start.

We also hoped to replace orphanages as a place families felt compelled to turn to when their babies were unwell.

We are happy to report that both the Second Mile Haiti Maternity Center and Nutrition Centers are serving their purpose.

Families are staying together and children like Christy are thriving in their mother’s care.

Thank you for helping us make this a reality for families in Haiti.

Be sure to join us on Facebook and Instagram for more inspiring stories like this one.

❤️ love from happy, healthy families in Haiti

Second Mile Haiti in the News

This week we had the honor of hosting BBC news correspondent Will Grant and his team at our Cap Haitien campus. It was a warm, sunny day and quiet, with no aircraft on the flight path overhead and very little traffic on the rural roads outside our gates.

They brought cameras and mics and a genuine desire to learn more about urgent issues like rising hunger and malnutrition as things in Haiti continue to deteriorate.

It was a long visit and Jenn tried not to spend too much time wondering what sound byte they’d would ultimately extract from several hours of conversation.

But in the end, Will and his team got it. 

In the news segment, which aired throughout the day on Thursday, they shared footage of our team at work, mothers learning in our education pavilion, and children getting essential nutrition.

They even shared the statistic we are most proud of “less than 1% of children who recover from Malnutrition at our centers have to be readmitted because of relapse.”

Importantly, the BBC made clear that Cap Haitien is still a safe haven from the violence of Port au Prince.

We are grateful that the coverage showed Second Mile Haiti’s Malnutrition Treatment Center as the beacon of hope that it is. 

Their interview with Jenn was also a reminder to all that large aid organizations, like the Red Cross, have a history of failing to meet the mark in Haiti and that by finding a local non-profit working on the ground, you can be better assured that your donations will reach the people who are suffering. 

In the end Will was able to conclude that while “millions are caught in a perfect storm of politics, violence, homelessness and hunger…children seemingly have more of a chance in Cap-Haitien.” 

We have you to thank. It is because of your support that we are able to be a source of strength during this dark time. 

In the coming days and weeks we will be making changes that allow us to open our doors even wider during this time, something our budget, of course, did not anticipate.

If you have people in your networks that would like to support the people of Haiti during this humanitarian crisis we hope you will share this clip as an example of one organization directly involved in relief efforts.

You can watch the clip here.

Give with confidence.

Second Mile Haiti is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization. EIN: 45-3643634.

Named a Top-Rated Charity by trusted charity evaluators including Candid and Charity Navigator for measures like transparency, financial stewardship, and impact.

Week of Response

Hi friends-

Last week we sent you a video update from Jenn. If you watched it, you know that we are safe and doing what we can to support our communities during this especially difficult time.

We’ve received so many comments, emails, & messages over the past week. The fact that you are checking-in really means a lot to us.

Thank you to everyone who joined us last Sunday afternoon on Zoom for our question & answer session. 

It was encouraging to be among people who truly care about Haiti and the work that Second Mile Haiti is doing. Seeing the faces of caring supporters on screen was the best way to spend our Sunday night and we plan to do it again soon. 

Next time we won’t forget to hit record or take a “group photo.”

This week our news is similar. Things have remained calm throughout Northern Haiti where Second Mile Haiti’s two campuses are located. Most businesses and schools are still open.

Our centers are all open and operating at full capacity.

Currently, we are not directly affected by the rising gang violence you may be seeing in the news. Nor are we directly in harm’s way. However, the thing we are most worried about now is the prospect of shortages of food, gas, and essentials like medications.

About 1 million of Haiti’s 11 million people are reaching famine levels of hunger and food insecurity related to the current political and economic crisis.

More than 350,000 people have been displaced. Many of those people have been making their way to cities in Northern Haiti, including Cap Haitien, because it is an area of relative safety. 

The airport in Cap Haitien (one of Haiti’s two International Airports) has been closed for over a week. The airport’s closure means that there are now no international flights coming into or leaving from Haiti.

So, what did the week look like for us at Second Mile Haiti?

After our zoom call on Sunday evening we were surprised by a few donations which allowed us to jump into action on Monday morning. 

On Monday we were able to buy medications for all four of our health centers including our 2 Maternity Centers and 2 Malnutrition Treatment Centers.

Tuesday, we were able to put more Formula and Milk on our shelves before it becomes more expensive and harder to find.

On Wednesday, we focused on water.

We tested and replaced various water filters and added a few more bucket filter stations at our centers so that the Maternity Center clients and caregivers at our Malnutrition Treatment Centers can bring home some clean drinking water when they come for visits or leave for the weekends.

Sometimes, the best place to start is the basics.

On Thursday, we broke out the bikes.

We purchased several bicycles because during the major countrywide fuel shortage we spoke about often in 2021 & 2022.

The bicycles became a great, gas-free way to travel especially on the rural roads around our centers. Some of our employees even borrowed the bikes to travel to and from work each day when no vehicles in circulation.

Since fuel is once again scarce (and expensive!), we purchased new tubes and tires and brought in two local bike mechanics to make all the necessary repairs.

The mechanics worked their magic and the bikes are back in play!

There’s nothing quite like the smile of a grown person taking a bicycle for a spin.

The laughter and enjoyment expressed during these “test rides” brought some much needed fun to the week.

Finally, on Friday, we started working on a “Staff Store.” We’ve purchased some bulk food items (like rice, oil, spaghetti, dried fish, and flour) and starting this week, employees can buy from within without any additional markup or added transportation expense.

It’s a small way to help their funds and their support for their families to go farther during this time.

Next, we will be turning our focus our neighbors.

Typically our agriculture teams travel to areas where families from our Malnutrition Program live in order to help these parents and their neighbors start vegetable gardens. The trips are one of the few instances where we rely on gasoline, as the teams often travel an hour or more by motorcycle to reach these locations.

Since fuel costs have risen and gasoline is harder to find, we’ve decided to concentrate our efforts closer to home.

Next week, we will turn our attention to the women and youth within walking or biking distance of our centers and help those families to increase their yields and the variety of foods they’re growing at home.

Your support means everything to us during this time. We are so grateful to our Kolektif of monthly supporters and to each of you who have expressed a desire to help during this time of unimaginable hardship for the people of Haiti.

Your continued support means that we can continue to do what we do best:

Meet immediate needs. Invest in families. Invest in Haiti.

We won’t be posting any fundraising needs on social media or many of the specifics of what we are doing from day to day.

By keeping a lower profile, we are able prioritize the safety of our team and our beneficiaries. Instead, we will continue to share updates with you here.

What are those needs?

While our residential Malnutrition Centers can only support 40 families at a time, our Outpatient Program can and needs to grow.

The Outpatient Program is how we help families who still need immediate care when our residential beds are full. Contributions made today will ensure no one is turned away.

Video Update From Jenn in Cap Haitien

Hi friends!

If you follow the news, you may have heard Haiti mentioned in the headlines. And if you were online, you may seen the “Message from Jenn,” we shared on Monday.

In short the political instability that has been plaguing Haiti for years has reached a tipping point and the future is uncertain.

Instead of a newsletter this week, here’s Jenn, with an update from Cap Haitien.

If you have questions, want to learn from the questions of others, or simply want to say hello, please join us for a special Zoom Q&A session this Sunday at 6:30 pm ET.

We hope to see as many of you as possible.

Register below to access the Zoom link & meeting details.

And like Jenn said, your support does not go unnoticed. Thank you for walking with us on the Second Mile.

Addition to the Second Mile Haiti Family

Hi friends!

This week we’re celebrating new life.

Of course, celebrate new life is something we do every week, if not every day!

With two Birth Centers and more than 2,000 clients in prenatal care at any given time, we help welcome a lot of babies!

But, it’s not everyday that we get to welcome one of our own. 

This is Noah.

He’s one week old and a product of a Second Mile Haiti love story between one midwife, Manithe, and one Operations Manager, Herode.

The story of Manithe & Herode starts out like the story of many lovebirds who meet at work—they were friendly, but not exactly “good” friends. 

Manithe, who first trained as a nurse, started as a midwife at Second Mile Haiti in 2018. She was one of the first three birth professionals to join our team!

She is loved for her quick smile, her wit, and her sweet demeanor. But she is also excellent in an emergency, easily making everyone around her feel safe and supported by her calming, take-charge presence.

Herode is our Operations Manager.

He’s been working with Second Mile Haiti since 2014. You may have seen him in our Black Friday posts—or seen his name in any story that has to do with car trouble, logistics, supplies, or working in the community.

Back in 2018, his only workplace interactions with Manithe would have been in the event that the Midwives had reported a maintenance problem (i.e. plumbing or electrical) and he’d be required to oversee the work of a professional he’d called in to solve said problem.

In other words, their paths did not cross often.

But then Manithe changed roles at Second Mile Haiti, becoming the Maternity Center Manager for the newly constructed campus in Saint-Raphaël.

When the Maternity Wing at the new campus was finely ready for its opening debut in 2021, Manithe was present to cut the ribbon and welcome women on the first day. 

Herode was there too!

While still based primarily in Cap Haitien, Herode’s role as the Operations Manager had him traveling to the new campus every few weeks for those first few months.

When it was time to time to fully launch all of the Maternity Centers many services—including birth—it was time for Manithe to move to Saint-Raphaël full-time.

Manithe giving women a tour of the birth room after a day of Prenatal Education

A sad occasion triggered Manithe’s prompt return to Cap Haitien. Herode’s mother had passed away suddenly and Manithe travelled all the way from Saint Raphael to support him by attending the funeral. 

And that, I believe is how their love story officially began—as two friends offering support. Manithe, for Herode through the loss of his mother and he, to her, through the process of moving to a new city and into a new role.

They married in January 2023.  

Flash forward to February 2024.

Manithe is freshly on maternity leave and everyone is still teasing Herode for failing to commit her due date to memory.

And then Manithe is here! Much to my surprise, she is here at the Cap Haitien Maternity Center and she is in labor!

Noah Maëlo came barreling into the outside world right here at 11:03 AM, after a relatively short and complication free labor.

I was standing on the other side of the door waiting for the baby’s first cry.

Herode was in the room with the two Midwives who happened to be working that morning, Miss Cossier and Miss Claude. They’d come in to replace Miss Gedalia, another one of Manithe’s long-time colleagues, who had been with her through the early morning hours.

Noah’s cries were loud and immediate. Yes, I cried.

And no, crying is not a common response to birth in Haiti. I received many looks of confusion and concern from Manithe’s family who had been standing by the door just as I had.

But this is why I cried:

The truth here is that birth in Haiti can be so very scary.

Sometimes, the hospitals don’t have power. Sometimes, the blood banks don’t have blood. According to the most recently collected data, one in 240 births is associated with a mother’s death.

These facts are why you can often find me outside of the birth room, holding my breath, and ready to spring into action if necessary.

This is also why, sometimes, you’ll see me cry with relief when everything turns out all right. Especially for the people we call family.

We are so proud to have these two on our team and so happy for them.

We feel honored that they chose to have their baby at Second Mile Haiti.

As a double income household, with two well-paying jobs, Manithe and Herode could have chosen to give birth anywhere. They had the funds for a hospital birth. And the health insurance benefits, provided through their jobs at Second Mile Haiti, to cover any expenses related to a hospital birth.

You may be wondering what it costs for a family to give birth at a Second Mile Haiti birth center. Do we charge? And that’s a great question. We do charge a small fee for prenatal care and birth (family planning and postpartum care is free).

It is the equivalent of $6.50 USD which includes an unlimited number of prenatal consultations with lab tests, vitamins, medications (all included). The cost for birth is around $11 USD at our centers, and again, any supplies or medications a mother or a baby may need are covered in this one-time fee.

The care we offer is not reflected by that minimal fee.

In fact, little Noah is proof that the quality of our team and the quality of our service is good enough for two people in managing roles at Second Mile Haiti, two people who could have afforded to give birth anywhere.

That makes me proud. And as a supporter of Second Mile Haiti, I hope it makes you proud too.

The Second Mile Haiti family is one (tiny) person bigger, thanks to you!

Sending love from Noah, Manithe, Herode, and all of us at Second Mile Haiti 🇭🇹

Caregiver Transformation

Today, we’re celebrating with Somène, a mother who stopped by our Cap Haitien Family Center this week to pick-up her second Business Kit! 

How did Somène get here? Who is the little one in her arms?

And what’s a “Business Kit?”

You’re about to find out!

But first, let’s give you a proper introduction.

Somène is 35 years old. She is a mother of 3 and she lives here in Cap Haitien, together with her entire family.

She is one of 280+ caregivers, who spent time at one of our Malnutrition Treatment Centers with a child in 2023.

Somène warmed to our team quickly. They describe her as “kind to everyone and and always smiling.”

But what stood out to our team the most was how close she was to her children.

Somène had all three of her children with her at the center: Her youngest, Ruth, who was being treated for Malnutrition, and her two big brothers, ages 2.5 and 6.

Ruth’s brothers weren’t alone in their “big-sibling” status.

About 10% of the children that spend time at our center are accompanied by one or two “healthy” siblings in addition to their mother, or another primary caregiver.

We know that not every caregiver has someone to look out for their other children while they focus on a single child and spend week nights at our center. So we welcome and encourage parents to bring these other children with them to Second Mile.

Often, the siblings even make a few new friends of their own.

So what about Baby Ruth, Somene’s daughter? How did she fair?

When Somène first arrived at Second Mile Haiti, her daughter was 9 months old and weighed just 7 lbs.

She was a tiny thing, with big eyes and skin the color of heavily-creamed coffee, made pale by anemia and other nutrient deficiencies.

When we met her she was one of the smallest 9-month-olds we’d ever seen.

Malnutrition is graded in severity by a few different indicators and one is the circumference of a child’s upper arm.

For a child under 5 years old, that measurement should be at least 13.5 cm (about the size of a gatorade cap). But Ruth’s was only 7.5 cm, smaller even than the small white cap of a plastic Coca Cola bottle.

Somène shared that Ruth had been sick repeatedly for the past 6 months and had endured two different hospitalizations for those illnesses.

The little one had seen a lot in a short amount of time.

She had a strong appetite. And shockingly! No underlying illnesses or infections to hamper her progress. She gained weight every day and made a miraculous and drastic recovery under her mother’s diligent care.

Amazing, right?

What’s often most impactful to us is not the child’s transformation, but the caregiver’s.

And in this photo, Somène is giving confidence, peace, and joy!

Somène was active in all of the classes and learning opportunities available to her at the center from art and sewing to gardening—and learned a lot about health and nutrition.

But her biggest take away was this.

“I feel happy because when I first arrived, I felt completely overwhelmed with stress. Now I’m going back with a lot of joy.”

Ruth has never been better! She’s continues to improve every week in her mom’s care.

Somène stays busy with her business which she launched a few weeks after leaving Second Mile. She sets up her business every morning in front of the rented home where her family has been living.

Ruth is never far away.

Somène has had success with her business so far. She’s been able able to put some money in savings and ensure that her family eats well, all while growing the business with new products.

She hopes to buy some land and build a house one day.

If her success at Second Mile Haiti in any indication, we have no doubt she’ll achieve that goal!

Sending love and gratitude from Somène and all of us at Second Mile Haiti.

❤️‍🩹 ➡️ 💖

Why Follow-Ups?

Hello again!

And welcome back to our Sixty Seconds of good news from Haiti.

Last week we told you about how Follow-up visits are an important time for children and caregivers to reconnect with the Second Mile Haiti staff. They are also a key part of our commitment to support families long after they leave our centers.

But we didn’t get to share the what and the who!

Let’s start with the who!

Who comes to Follow-Up visits?

Children of all ages, from all years of recovery.

We still see families who spent time at our center 10 years ago! Gasp!

But many of the kids we see most frequently recovered from Malnutrition in the last two to 3 years. Like Roudnaelle, age 7, who spent time at the center with her mom and brother in 2017.

They both have their school tuition fees paid through our school program and Roudnaelle recently benefitted from the dental and vision clinic we held for Second Mile nutrition program graduates.

Her eye exam resulted in the snazzy glasses you see below.

She’s currently Dream’n Big from the first grade.

At the follow up appointments we check their weight and other indicators to make sure their in good health—prepared to give them medication, nutritional supplements, or support the family with a trip to the local pediatrician if they aren’t doing well.

We don’t want a common childhood illness—like a virus or an ear infection—to set a fragile child back even further, and so, if they’ve been sick recently, we may send them home with some high calorie supplements or extra micronutrient powder that parents can mix in their food.


If the child really isn’t doing well, we may have the family stay for the evening so we can accompany them to a consultation at the hospital the following day.

But fortunately, this is rare occurrence!

Out of 1,776 follow-up visits, there were only 7 children that required a more thorough medical check-up by a local pediatrician and not once did we need to re-admit a family to our center! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Children who have recovered from Malnutrition more recently are more at risk for relapse. And so these visits are more crucial and more frequent to allow for closer monitoring.

Just one look at kids like Woodley—who spent time at our center with his mom in 2023—and it’s easy to see that they’re on the right track!

He is 12-months-old now with not of a hint of the fever, dehydration, and gastrointestinal illness that plagued him back in June.

Most of the time, the same parent or caregiver that stayed with their child at our is the one to bring them back for a follow-up check-in.

But since many of those parents are busy tending to the businesses they launched with support from Second Mile Haiti, sometimes we see dads, older siblings, or another family member.  

Woodley’s Dad is always present at his follow-up visits and makes sure to remind the team how grateful he is for the support his son and wife received at Second Mile Haiti.

When you support our mission, you make this continued care for some of the Haiti’s most fragile children possible.


Thank you for helping to keep families together in Haiti.

Sending ❤️

Thursday's Are For Follow-ups!

Hello friends!

You may be wondering how we decide what to share with you each week and if we’re being honest, 9 times out of 10, it’s the photos that call the shots!

Every week we see new photos—staff from various programs upload them to a google drive or drop them in to group chats.

We see photos of children making progress at the nutrition centers, women showing off the fresh foods they’ve grown in their gardens, and mother’s standing proudly beside their businesses.

Other days there will be photos of community members helping to install street lamps in their villages or piles of beans, plaintains, or sweet potatoes that were harvested from our own campus gardens.

We’re often overwhelmed by all that we could share with you, so we let the photos do the talking.

And this past week, photos from Thursday were speaking the loudest!

Thursday is “Follow-up” day at our Malnutrition Treatment Centers! Caregivers and children of all ages—graduates from our Malnutrition Treatments Centers from as near as last week and as far back as 2013—trickle in throughout the afternoon.

The vibe is immaculate—full of joy and brimming with gratitude and delight.

Caregivers that became friends during their time at the center are reunited once again. They use the nicknames they earned at the center and bring up the inside jokes that were a part of their shared experience.

Children are dressed to nines! Parents beam with pride as the Second Mile nurses and fellow parents lavish them with praise.

There is often a lively, verbal recounting of the child’s progress—a collective remembering of how sick and frail they were before and how miraculous it is to see them alive and well today.

Caregivers whose children are much older now, may have gone six months or more without reconnecting with our team. These parents make their rounds, at ease in this place that was their home away from home during a transformational time in their life.

They greet our team with kisses and giant smiles.

There are “We’ve missed you!”s  and “I’m happy to see you!”s bouncing off the walls of various spaces around the centers.

Likewise, children who were a bit older when they spent time at the center are happy to reconnect with the staff members they grew to love. Some smile shyly as their parents urge them to greet their elders in the culturally accepted way, a kiss on each cheek.

Others are uninhibited, running and jumping into the arms of the nurse or social worker who had become their confidant and ally.

In short, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of reuniting with someone who knew you at your most vulnerable, someone you think about often and love because of the love they showed for you.

That’s what happens when our team reunites with the families they cared for and when those families reunite with our team.

We’re thrilled that the new year has contained so many happy reunions. Your support makes this possible.

And if this year is anything like last year, we will see caregivers and their children at more than 1,500 follow-up visits this year.

We can’t wait!

Did you enjoy this week’s photos?

That was only half of them! Stayed tuned for more news like this.

Until next time,

❤️ from Haiti

Annual Report

Hello friends!

In case you haven’t heard from us yet this year, Happy New Year!

It’s truly a privilege to be here writing to you in 2024. Today, we wanted to share a few things that are making us smile as the month of January rolls quickly on.

But first, have you seen our Impact Report? Reports can be boring, we won’t argue with you there, but this one is not. We promise.

You get to see some of the best photos of the year while seeing just how many women, children, and communities benefitted from your support this year.

Have a look for yourself!

Speaking of women and families, that brings us to the first thing putting a smile on our face this week.

The garden teams from both of our centers have been busy making trips into the field to see how mothers are fairing with vegetable growing efforts.

As it turns out, they are fairing very well! We enjoyed several days of rain in the month of December, which was a welcome weather phenomenon for these home gardeners.

Lunise and Dieudelaine (pictured above), are thrilled to be harvesting green, bell peppers and hot, scotch bonnet peppers from their gardens—to eat and to sell.

Edeline—pictured below—has been harvesting amaranth greens from her garden and will soon have more tomatoes than any one person can handle! She’s looking forward to selling, sharing, and enjoying the fruits of her labor.

The second thing making us smile this week?

These family photos.

Did you know that we visit the homes of every caregiver/child that spends time at our Malnutrition Treatment Centers?

It’s true.

Typically, a few days after a caregiver and child’s last day at the center, someone from our team heads to the caregiver’s home to meet the rest of the family. The purpose of this visit is three-fold. We want to know that they have a safe place to live, we want to find out who is a part of their supportive network, and we want to know where they will be doing business so that we can visit them again once their business is launched (and later to help them start a home garden).

Meeting the extended families of the caregivers and children that spend time at our center is a true joy.

Yesterday, we met Gena’s family.

Gena is mom to Kendaylie, a 10-month-old who was fighting Severe Acute Malnutrition at our Saint Raphaël campus during the last months of 2023.

We met Gena’s mom and brother, her cousins, and her mom’s two sisters (far left).

Gena’s husband is away from home, working in the Dominican Republic, but in his place, Gena has three strong women in her corner.  Plus, she has a few young cousins to entertain and watch out for her daughter as she grows.

They are so pleased to see how healthy the baby of their family is today.

And that makes us smile!

Sending a little Haitian warmth your way today. ☀️

❤️ Love from Haiti

Things That I've Learned From Reading Two Years of Second Mile Haiti’s Newsletters:

Hello fellow supporters,

I’m Courtney, a follower of Second Mile Haiti for four years now. I was introduced in 2019 through a friend of mine who’s sister (the one and only Jenn Schenk) began this non-profit organization with co-founder, Amy Syres, in 2013. 

I got to meet both Jenn and Amy in person, and I was instantly smitten with their effort to pour some of our privilege in America into people in under-served communities around the world, such as those in Haiti.

The focus on women and children further heightened its significance for me. Women, who nurture the world's most vulnerable, and children, the epitome of innocence and helplessness, undoubtedly deserve access to basic nutritional and medical needs.

I subscribed to their newsletter with an e-mail address that I didn’t use often, and I can see now that that was a mistake. I was missing out on so much action and current happenings within Second Mile Haiti! I was missing the magic. 

Only now, in 2023 when I’ve gotten the opportunity to help transfer their newsletters to their website, do I realize the multitude of decisions and actions that Second Mile Haiti’s leaders make daily. Nothing small, either. Things like securing electricity, coordinating travel, seeking resources, and providing blood for transfusions. By applying their innovative, informed, and inspired ideas, Second Mile Haiti is solving problems that a whole country is suffering from. The best part? Their humility about it all.

By reading through the newsletters, I’ve learned the multitude of ways that communities in Haiti are benefiting from Second Mile Haiti’s efforts. 


First and foremost, caregivers in Haiti now have a refuge to bring their sick children for medical care instead of having to watch them perish from illness and malnutrition. Did you hear that? When their parents do not have the resources to pay for medical care elsewhere, babies now have a place to go to get the care they need! Surrendering their ill children to an orphanage seemed to be the best answer for these families before Second Mile Haiti came to the scene. Can you imagine?

LIFE.

Second Mile Haiti reached further to the expectant mother population in Haiti to provide them with medical care that a pregnancy and delivery require but that has never been accessible to them before. Having appropriate medical care decreases maternal morality rate and ensures a greater likelihood that the mother will get to see her baby grow up. What a relief for families.

The Second Mile Haiti team works tirelessly to make all of this happen. Behind every accomplishment there are a multitude of steps completed by staff members. They organize events, access medical equipment, and ensure that mothers and caregivers are never alone or without answers. This crew of more than fifty members are like a community of bees working together to take care of one another!

LOVE.

I’ve learned that the children who grow through the malnutrition program continue to receive medical care, nutrition follow ups, and scholarships to attend school! Access to education allows more opportunity for these children as they become adults.

Second Mile Haiti didn’t stop there, either. 

Caregivers of children in the Malnutrition center are receiving invaluable information on their children’s wellness. They also have access to business and education classes so that they can produce an income for themselves. They learn and practice gardening techniques so they can provide food to their children and avoid a malnutrition relapse. They grow a supportive community of other caregivers who can relate to their situation. Caregivers are blossoming here, too. 

HAPPINESS.

I also learned that Second Mile Haiti hires their staff locally in Haiti including nurses, midwives, chefs, psychologists, architects, photographer, gardener and any other specialist they could need. That means that the Haitian economy is improving with more jobs and income to go into the community! 

Second Mile Haiti has also enhanced the community by providing solar lamps and trash services along the street-sides. This allows for businesses to stay open longer, kids to play safer, trash to be disposed of, and makes travel easier as the sun goes down. People in the community are also sent meals for the holidays from Second Mile Haiti— a special treat to many.

Finally, I learned that Second Mile Haiti has ignited hope in one particular community, by installing a water filtration system. This means they are safe from the Cholera outbreak, something that they’ve worried about every single day. Until now.

So, cheers to Second Mile Haiti, its founders Jenn and Amy, and all of the people who play a role in it’s operation.

Reading the newsletters has also taught me about the violence from gangs trying to overthrow the government, how dangerous it can be to travel south, and about the shortages of gasoline and blood and fresh water for the entire country. I’ve learned about the risk of cholera. I learned that expecting mother’s didn’t have medical care or a safe place to deliver their babies and that many mothers die in childbirth because of this. I’ve learned about the dangers of malnutrition and other illnesses in children. I’ve learned that malnutrition isn’t always about the food. Most of all, I’ve learned how necessary Second Mile Haiti is to this community by providing life, love, and happiness to the Haitian population. 

Love from Texas,

Courtney Belue

2023 in Review

Dear Friends,

2023 was a wild ride.

We came into 2023 ready to take on whatever came our way.

What came our way was several thousand mothers, aunts, and grandmothers, seeking support during a challenging time.

Here are just a few of the highlights.

At our Malnutrition Treatment Centers, we housed 611 caregivers and children during their recovery from Severe Acute Malnutrition.

These stays contributed to the health and well-being of 328 children with more than 250 children benefitting from medical care at the local hospital.

We feel proud of all the ways we supported mothers this year, through skill-building, psychological and emotional support.

And not just at our centers, but at home too!

We continued to support these caregivers after their children recovered by helping them launch businesses and start home gardens. 190 women started businesses and another 611 women started vegetable gardens at home.

992 babies have been born at our two birth centers since the beginning of 2023. That’s 307 more babies than last year!

In addition to these 992 Birth Center births, we labored with 81 women who ultimately needed a c-section or hospital birth. We got them to the hospital safely and followed-up with them after their recovery.

In May, you responded to our call to help us create more space at our flagship Maternity Center on our Cap Haitien Campus and we completed the 3-room addition in June.

In total, we cared for 2,979 women during 14,292 prenatal and postpartum visits and made family planning available to 1,409 individuals.

Our Communities really felt the love this year.

In February, we started a community trash pick-up in Jean Louis introducing colorful trash bins in the community.

In July, in Saint-Raphael, we opened a community water tap that provides water that is 100% safe to drink, bringing free, clean, drinking water to a community of more than 2,500 who didn’t have access to this resource before.

We continued installing solar streetlights—96 street lamps to be exact! The new street lamps extended the length of road now safely lit via solar light.

Our goal to connect 6 villages outside of our Cap Haitien Campus is nearly complete!

In May, we celebrated 10 years of operations in Haiti. It was a year to celebrate all the children and families who have benefitted from Second Mile Haiti’s support through the years.

In August, we held an eye and dental clinic for past graduates of our Malnutrition Program.

144 children had their vision tested and teeth cleaned. Several hundred cavities were filled and 14 children received eye-glasses!

We paid the tuition fees and purchased school books for 168 children who recovered from malnutrition at our centers in previous years. They started the new school year this October.

It was a fun year for connecting with many of you in person. We saw friends in Colorado, in Texas, and in Tennessee!

And finally, in November, we had the profound privilege of gathering with all of you virtually, with the In Her Shoes Global 5K + podcast.

It really was global with participants in Africa, Europe, Australia, and all over North America.

You helped us become more sustainable as an organization.

In our campus gardens, we grew over 2,100 lbs of produce. It was shared with families at our centers or passed to the kitchen for daily meals for these families and our staff.

In total, the cooks at our centers provided more than 93,548 warm meals to the staff and families of children recovering from Severe Acute Malnutrition.

We even celebrated becoming a Canadian Charity this year!

It’s hard to believe, but the first children admitted to our Malnutrition Treatment Center (10 years ago) are now pre-teens!

And the first babies born at Second Mile Haiti flagship Maternity Center turned 4-years-old in 2023. They are now in preschool.

You’re truly making a lasting impact.

Thank you for the role you play in the Second Mile Haiti family. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you.

There’s $16,214 left to raise in our year-end campaign.

Can you send us into 2024 with a year-end gift?

Sending you warm winter greetings and love from Haiti

❄️☃️🇭🇹

Heroic Holiday Party

A 36-Hour Christmas Adventure, a Christmas Miracle?

The week started off gloomy and rainy. Tuesday, rain, Wednesday, rainnnnnnnnn, Thursday. More rain.

A look at the attendance at our Cap Haitien Maternity Center will give you an idea of just how troublesome this weather was for folks in Northern Haiti.

On Tuesday we saw just 11 prenatal clients when we typically see 60 to 75

Wednesday was an infant immunization day. Surprisingly 5 parents ventured outside. But a typical immunization day we see around 90 parents with their infants.

Thursday we see an average of 75 attendees for our two-hour prenatal education class. Zero people showed.

With all the rain, Jenn started to get nervous about how the week’s festivities would play out.

The week before Christmas is one of the busiest weeks of the year.

In addition to all the activities necessary for closing out a year, we also have our Staff Holiday Parties (one for each campus) and community food distribution to 1500 people.

Mainly, rain can be pretty disastrous for unpaved roads, especially the mountain roads that lead to our second campus, in Saint Raphaël, Haiti.

The staff party in Cap Haitien was scheduled for Friday and the staff party in Saint-Raphael was scheduled for Thursday. The community food distributions for each campus were scheduled for Friday morning.

The plan was that a few key members of our Cap Haitien team would drive the staff gifts for the Saint Raphael team up and over the mountain on Thursday. They would attend the party scheduled for 12 pm and return back home.

HR Manager and Lead Psychologist, Louino, Dacheline, also a psychologist, also a very fabulous photographer, and Herode, Operations Manager in the driver’s seat.

With each day of rain, this trip had more and more question marks.

Would there be enough time for the road to dry out?

Would parts of the road become impassable?

Would the team be able to make it?

Louino felt strongly that they had to at least try.

And so the three, brave adventurers arrived at the Cap Haitien Maternity Center at 7 AM on Thursday morning dressed head to toe in rain gear, ready to depart for Saint-Raphaël.

We packed the car with gifts and gift bags and the “Fearless Three” waited for the green light.

But there was a new problem.

Much earlier that morning, there had been a bit of an incident involving the main gate at the Maternity Center and the driver of a vehicle who had arrived at 2 AM to drop off a laboring client.

In the heat of the moment, he’d forgotten to put the car in park and it had rolled forward, denting and damaging the gate. The damage made the gate difficult to open and now, it would not open at all.

The driver had been distraught and promised to return first thing in the morning with “his people” to repair the damage.

Sure enough he and “his people” also appeared at the Maternity Center at 7 AM and ith enough people (8 to be exact), the gate was lifted and moved. The truck was able to pass.

Jenn and Amy planned to attend the party as well, but a last minute illness kept Jenn in bed. The fearless 3 were on their way!

In average conditions, this drive takes about 2 hours (18 miles from our Cap Haitien site)—but 2 hours and 20 minutes after their departure, 9:50 AM we got the first call.

Stuck, again.

But this time, they were really stuck—halfway up the mountain, behind a line of vehicles all sharing a common problem. At the front of the line, a sideways semi was motionless in the mud.

This was fairly inevitable considering the conditions, but the fact that the stuck vehicle blocked the entire road was particularly unfortunate. It was now a matter of how long they would all be stuck in this line up.

After an hour of waiting, it was time for a plan B. Priority 1: Safety! Priority 2: Getting those staff gifts to the Christmas Party!

Fortunately, there were vehicles lining up on the other side of the road. Ready to transport any passengers or cargo that happened to be stuck in the line-up.

While Herode stayed with the vehicle. Dacheline and Louino loaded up the gifts and boarded a Tap Tap on the other side of the roadblock.

It took them another 1.5 hours to make it to Saint Raphael city center where members of the Saint Raphael team were waiting with motorcycles to bring them the rest of the way.

The party was scheduled for 12 pm. Louino and Dacheline and the presents made it to the Center by 12:40.

There would be a Holiday Party after all!

Dacheline creating gift bags

It took Herode another 5 hours to make it past the road block and up the mountain in the Second Mile Haiti vehicle. But by 3 pm he arrived. Fun was had by all.

Now there was the question of getting back to Cap Haitien.

The fearless 3 set-off at 4 pm with bellies full of party food, a camera full of photos, and hearts full of warm feelings from the time spent with their more remote colleagues.

Herode and Louino, happy to have pulled off the party afterall

They were on the road for just 50 minutes before they were stuck again. It was dark now and the probability of the road clearing any time soon was unlikely.

Fortunately, they weren’t stuck-stuck.

Herode had just enough cash on hand to pay for accommodations for the three to spend the night in a nearby town.

In the morning they were back on the road, that is until they were stuck for the fourth time in less than 24 hours.

This time there was no time to waste.

It was a big day for the Cap Haitien team, starting with the community food distribution that morning and the staff party in the afternoon.

With so much on the line, Dacheline and Louino immediately jumped on alternate forms of transportation, north of the blockage.

On their trip down the mountain they saw wreckage from the day before: abandoned vehicles, mudslides, and more stuck and broken down vehicles blocking the road.

This led Louino to believe that Herode wouldn’t even make it back that same day.

But Jenn had more faith.

And sure enough Herode arrived an hour later, covered in mud from head to toe.

The three changed into fresh clothes and managed to fulfill their respective duties before celebrating with the Cap Haitien team.

sending off 20 families at the nutrition center,

distributing food to 750 people in the community of Jean Louis…

finishing off the last workday before the holiday break,

and setting up for the second Staff Party.

It’s days like this where it feels especially rewarding to be a part of such an adaptive and resilient team.

This was not our first rodeo. It wasn’t the first time we were hampered by fierce weather or rough roads.

It wasn’t our first time swerving around figurative (and literal) road blocks to make the impossible possible.

In fact, nothing feels impossible when you work together.

We are so grateful to all of you and so happy to share this snapshot of our December with you.

You are every bit a part of this team as these people right here.

We love and appreciate you and thank you for making it possible to serve and love our communities so well.

❤️ from Haiti and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate

Black Friday Gifts

Hello Friends,

We missed you last week!

Wasn’t it just yesterday that we were shopping on Black Friday for your gifts?

At the end of our Black Friday event the hallway at our Cap Haitien Maternity Center looked like this.

These supplies will help save the lives of hundreds of mothers and children and keep families together.

One of the best parts of the day was getting to watch members of our Second Mile Haiti team shop for the supplies that they use every day in their programs.

This was especially true for gifts like Literacy Kits & the Gift of Art Therapy.

Daniel, Dacheline, and Magdalie are three of the psychologists on our team.

When they aren’t teaching daily education courses that help parents learn what to do when their children get sick, they are holding space for caregivers to process their thoughts & emotions through art.

On Black Friday, they travelled off-campus to stock up on supplies like paint and fabric, choosing items they knew would bring the most genuine smiles to the faces of the caregivers they work with daily.

Support towards our Holiday Catalog also provided the funds for 20 more Solar Street Lamps, bringing added safety to an area without access to electricity.

These lights shine brightly over a previously unlit stretch of road leading to our Cap Haitien Maternity Center campus.

Before, when there were no street lamps, many women who went into labor late at night or very early in the morning stayed home for fear of venturing out into complete darkness.

Now, they have a safe place to go and a safe path to get there.  

Speaking of births, say hello to one of the newest additions to the Second Mile Haiti family!

In the past 48 hours, our Midwife and Nurse teams in Saint Raphael and Cap Haitien have supported five families in welcoming their newborns.

37-year-old Cido, a client of the Cap Haitien Maternity Center, welcomed her third child exactly 48 hours ago. She told the team that she is was so glad she took the chance to come to Second Mile Haiti for prenatal care and birth.

She attended 8 prenatal visits and another 7 prenatal education classes. She received treatment for chronic hypertension and a medication regimen that can help prevent preeclampsia.

And then she had a smooth induction and delivery.

When we think about all the stories we could tell this week, this one stands out, not because it’s extraordinary, but because it’s what we hope for all women everywhere.

Mothers who are alive and with their children.

As we look towards 2024, we want to thank you for your support this year.


The Holiday Catalog donations, the monthly donations, and the checks you send—make this work possible.


We’re making great progress towards our year-end fundraising needs.

Today we are just $19,900 shy of our year-end goal—where every donation to the Holiday Catalog makes a difference.

If you can, we hope you will support Second Mile Haiti with a year-end gift today.