The situation in Haiti has been bad and growing ever worse for a few years now, but the world has just recently sat up and taken notice. Now is the time to act. In an era of civil unrest and food uncertainty, you could be the person who ensures that a child gets to eat at least one meal a day.

As most of us have heard from the news, gangs are wreaking havoc in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and the surrounding areas. Their violent crimes have left people fearful, hunkered down in their houses or homeless on the streets and in shelters. Many are only able to procure enough food for their families to eat a few times a week, and clean water is also scarce.

Photo: MCLC/Mackanaky Steevens Magloire

One of the places in dire need of assistance is the Matènwa Community Learning Center (MCLC). GreaterGood has been working with the MCLC in Haiti for several years to give Haitian children access to a high-quality education in their own native Creole language. We believe this school is a bright beacon of hope for poor children who would not otherwise have access to a good education. Most adult Haitians have less than five years of schooling, often because most Haitian schools teach in French, not Creole, the native tongue of their pupils. So MCLC has been working to turn the education system on its head and teach in a way that actually works for its students.

We're proud to already fund teachers' salaries and new school buildings at MCLC. But now Matènwa is in need of our support more than ever before to keep their students fed during this time of crisis.

Photo: MCLC/Mackanaky Steevens Magloire

For many of the 330 school children at Matènwa, school breakfast is the only meal they get in a day. MCLC provides their students with a nutritious and filling breakfast every day of the week to help keep them full and focused for school, but this meal is even more important than that, because it is sometimes their main or only meal.

MCLC is located on Lagonav Island, very close to Port-au-Prince. Most of their food comes from the mainland, and gangs are now making transporting food to the island difficult.

“Gangs checkpoints make the travel expensive, which then gets put on the food prices,” reports Matènwa’s Chris Low. “And the risk is so high that not everyone is willing to brave being stopped by pirates.”

Photo: MCLC/Mackanaky Steevens Magloire

Food stores are running low on the island, and the prices of the available food are two or three times more than they should be. Some of MCLC’s nearby neighbors are only eating a few times a week.

Now that food suppliers are charging so much and there is not enough to go around, Matènwa is sometimes only able to feed the children about half of what they used to give them for breakfast. The school is working to grow some of their own food, but it is not harvest time yet.

Photo: MCLC/Mackanaky Steevens Magloire

Low continues, “The situation is bad. We are just trying to raise enough money so the school can continue to meet the demand despite the hike in prices.”

Matènwa is educating and nourishing the next generation of leaders, but they can’t do it alone. You can help a student in Haiti get one square meal a day by participating in the Matènwa Breakfast program. For $30 a month, you can sponsor one child and ensure that he or she is able to eat a nutritious meal at least once a day.

Photo: MCLC/Mackanaky Steevens Magloire

Your monthly gift will help a child stay in school and engaged in their studies, sheltered from the horrors going on around them as they work on the critical thinking skills they’ll need to someday change their world for the better.

These children cannot wait – they need caring donors like you to help them get nutritious food so they can continue to survive and thrive despite the desperate conditions surrounding them. Will you be there to support a student in need today with a monthly gift to Matènwa's Breakfast Club?