October Visit with Father Lazard of St. Marc’s Church and School in Jeannette Haiti, to the Diocese of Eau Claire:
On Sunday October 13,
Father Lazard con-celebrated the 9:00 AM Mass at Christ Church Cathedral,Eau Claire. He brought
greetings and thanksgivings from the people of Jeannette to the people of the Diocese of Eau Claire.
He was the guest of honor at the Coffee Hour which followed, where many parishioners took the
opportunity to visit with him and get caught up on the latest news from Haiti.
The news that Father brought from Haiti was not good. The recent Hurricanes did much damage in the country.
Luckily, the people of Jeannette were spared any deaths and no one lost a home. However, crops and livestock
were ruined or lost and buildings were damaged. So, once again,these tenacious people experienced trial
and suffering. He said that hunger was a major issue and emphasized the importance of the Lunch Program
at St. Marc’s School.
Later that same day Father Lazard was honored at a reception at Christ Church, Chippewa Falls where he was
greeted by old friends and made new ones. The women of the church presented him with clothing and gifts for
him and his wife’s 3-month-old baby girl, their first child.
The decision was made to purchase 3 Dell laptops for use by the Computer Teacher at St. Marc’s.That brought
their total to 5, which gives several children a day, an opportunity to learn about computers. During
discussion with Father, it was determined that number would work well. He has the computers brought to the
Rectory each evening, for safe storage and to get them charged up for the following day. The Rectory is the
only source of electricity at the present time. They use both a diesel-fueled generator as well as solar to
energize the batteries. This purchase allowed us to fulfill one of our most illusive, but very important,
2008 goals.
After touring Chippewa Falls and Irvine Park, and lunch at the local Spanish Restaurant on Monday, Father made
his way to Spooner for a meeting with the Haiti Commission followed by Evening Prayer and a wonderful lasagna
supper at St. Albans. Father once again greeted old friends and met new ones.
He and his wife look forward to traveling to the Diocese again next year and would like to visit other churches
to share their story of the transformative mission work that is being done in the community of Jeannette and how
people’s lives are being changed, especially the children’s.
They give heartfelt thanks to the people of the Diocese for the prayers, sponsorships and other support offered
to brothers and sisters in Christ at St. Marc’s Episcopal Church and School in Haiti.He departed early on
Tuesday morning to take our greetings back with him to our friends on the mountaintop.
Pictures from Fr. Lazard's Visit to Christ Church
| A reception was held at Christ Church to welcome Fr. Lazard |
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Enjoying food and laughter among friends |
| Just enjoying the company of friends |
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The Sunday School Class built a model of the mountain top |
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Jeanette through the eyes of the Sunday school Children |
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Alot of time was spent on detail. The children are very proud of the work they did |