On May 5, 2010, the LiUNA Caucuses partnered with LIUNA’s Central/Eastern Canadian Region to donate $46,000 to the Hamilton Wentworth Catholic District School Board to assist in their efforts to rebuild, St. Joseph Home for Boys, an orphanage in Port au Prince, Haiti.
LiUNA and the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic Distric School Board
The January, 2010 catastrophic earthquake which registered 7.0M on the Richter scale, had an epicenter only 16 miles from Haiti’s capital of Port au Prince. The Haitian Government estimated 3 million people were affected by the massive earthquake – 230,000 died, 300,000 injured and 1,000,000 were made homeless. In the middle of this catastrophe, destroyed was the small 20- bed, St. Joseph Home for Boys, which had been recently reconstructed with the help of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic Schools. Over the past five years, the school district had participated in fundraising for the orphanage.
At the first quarterly meeting of the LIUNA Caucuses, Caucus leaders were eager to rally together to jointly support a common project to assist in the efforts to rebuild the devastated nation. Sister Paula Randazzo, President of LiUNA’s Women’s Caucus, knew exactly how they could help, as her son had worked with the Prince-au-Port orphanage in 2009 on a Christian service project. She suggested the Caucuses team up with LIUNA’s Central/Eastern Canadian Region and the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School District to raise money to aid in the relief effort. Each LIUNA Caucus (African American, Latino, and Women’s) pledged to donate $5,000, respectively in support of the effort.
On May 5, 2010, during Catholic Education Week, representatives from each LIUNA Caucus, the LIUNA Central and Eastern Canada Regional Office, which donated $25,000, LIUNA Ontario Provincial District Council, and LIUNA Locals #837and #1110 presented checks to the District totaling $46,000 in front of students, staff and School Board officials at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Hamilton, Ontario.
LIUNA Vice President and Central/Eastern Canada Regional Manager, Joseph Mancinelli, said, “The partnership was an easy decision, because while $46,000 may seem like a large sum of money, this only “scratches the surface.” Mancinelli also added, “We’re pleased to do that much, but we need to do much more.” LIUNA Ohio Valley and Southern States Regional Manager and Director of Minority Advancement Department, Robert E. Richardson said, “It is an honor to assist in facilitating such a humanitarian effort. It is the goal of the Department to build community coalitions with LIUNA affiliates in the United States, Canada and around the world.” LIUNA is currently exploring the feasibility of sending construction workers to the orphanage and other facilities to help in the rebuilding efforts.