Haiti is undoubtedly the poorest country in the Americas. Education is a direct link to breaking the cycle of extreme poverty in Haiti. In a country where 70 to 80% of the population is uneducated, education represents the future. It is estimated that only 40% of Haiti’s children will ever set foot inside a school, and a mere 4% will graduate.

Since 1993, members of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Falls Church, Virginia, have collected funds sufficient to build a pre-k through high school facility at Our Lady of the Nativity parish in Gros Marin, Haiti.  The founders of PM, Chris and Henry Gonzalez, administered the St. Anthony program for several years in the 2010s. They saw an unmet need among some of the high school graduates for funds that would allow them to pursue higher education or professional training. To assist promising students in continuing their education, the Gonzalezes started PM. All of PM’s scholarship recipients have graduated from Our Lady of the Nativity School in Gros Marin.