On May 20th, a group of dedicated donors met at the Boston College Club to celebrate 25 years of hard work and honor founders Rev. Gerald Osterman and Nannette Canniff.

Rev. Richard DeVeer was the Master of Ceremonies for the evening which was full of stories about Nannette and Fr. Jerry.  Sarah Hackett, the first Administrator of the St. Boniface Hospital shared memories of the early years along with Dr. Wilfrid Cadet, who was our first doctor on staff and is currently the Director of the Hospital.  Jack Logue and Jeff Lynch also spoke as friends and Board members.

Nannette and Fr.Jerry reflected on their beginnings in 1983 when the parishioners from St. Boniface Parish in Quincy, MA, had a "Walk for Hunger".  They decided to give half of the money raised to someone less fortunate than themselves.  A small group traveled to Haiti to bring the money to Mother Teresa's Home for Children which had just opened in Port-au-Prince.  On the trip, their eyes were opened to the plight of the poor.  The next year, they went to Fond des Blancs at the invitation of a French priest, Père Gouello.  They traveled 5 hours in the back of a pick-up truck to get there.  It was here, in the heart of the backcountry, that the seeds for St. Boniface Haiti Foundation were sown.  They began by immunizing 5,000 school children and enlarging and stocking a meager clinic. 

This year, St. Boniface Hospital will double in size, from 30 to 60 beds and 50,000 patients will be seen.  The growing staff has 9 Haitian physicians and a dentist.  A total of 7 surgical teams will visit from the U.S. bringing supplies and performing many needed surgeries.  Our Haitian OB-GYN and a visiting general surgeon from Port-au-Prince will also do surgeries.  The ART (Anti-Retroviral Treatment) Program for HIV will snatch dozens of people from the brink of death and maintain many more in a state of health and productivity made possible by the discoveries of modern medicine.  In a time of critical food shortages, our Nutrition Program will sustain hundreds of families.  Our Scholarship Programs send 800 children to school, providing avenues in medicine, computer science, dentistry, and education.  We have built eight new water wells in remote areas, giving access to clean water to thousands of people.

Thanks to all of you, we are growing and thriving.  We thank ALL of our donors for making this possible and hope that you will be with us when we celebrate our 50th!