An embattled Canadian charity that has been hamstrung by a child sex scandal and ongoing legal woes is banking on a renewed aid effort in Jacmel to help pull their organization's name out of the rubble.
Hearts Together for Haiti, based in Windsor, Ont., made local headlines last October when the Canadian Catholic priest leading their mission in Labadie, Haiti, a small fishing village, was arrested and charged with nine counts of sexually exploiting teenage boys.
The charges, which will be tried in Canada, stemmed from an international police investigation instigated by the charity's board members who received their initial tips about Rev. John Duarte's alleged misconduct via a letter from Haiti.
Steve McDougall, Hearts Together's chairman, said in an interview in Jacmel this week that even though board members ousted Father Duarte upon learning of the allegations - and complied with the police investigation - the charity suffered "real and demonstrable damage" as a result.
"We were concerned it would crush the charity," he said, adding that several board members and benefactors moved to distance themselves from the group. As a result, efforts in Labadie were scaled back in recent months as board members began working to regroup.
When the Jan. 12 earthquake struck southern Haiti, however, unsolicited donations began to pour in from as far off as Japan, Mr. McDougall said.
The charity's board decided to mount an immediate humanitarian aid mission to Jacmel, a hard-hit area that was initially underserved by the international aid community. Over the course of the past week, a team of medical volunteers affiliated with Hearts Together for Haiti have spent their days at a local orphanage and a hospital on the outskirts of the city. They spend their nights camping in tents on the grounds of a local convent.
Their ultimate goal, Mr. McDougall said, is to identify victims of the earthquake who do not have a support structure in place here. The charity will pledge to pay their bills for about a year, he said, adding that his ultimate hope is to match needy families and individuals here with Canadian families who can afford to support them over more extended periods.
"I've heard a lot of people say what's the point of pouring more money into Haiti," he said. "With this huge cataclysm, there is so much attention focused here. … I'm confident that this is going to be the event that is going to help Haiti turn the corner on a long-term basis."