Christmas in August Fundraiser to Benefit Haitian Children

This post was reported and written by Patch Senior Field Editor Linda Hersey.

The Palm Harbor-based charity For Haiti With Love will be holding its annual "Christmas in August" fundraiser Monday, Aug. 12, 2013.

For Haiti With Love founder Eva DeHart created the fundraiser so impoverished North Coast Haitian children can experience the joys of Christmas in December. The stateside Christmas party features a meal and auction with guests bringing unwrapped gifts to put under the tree. In Haiti, the gifts will be sorted by age and gender for distribution to more than 500 children on Christmas Day.

For Haiti With Love operates a mission on the north coast, where even by Haitian standards, aid is sparse, according to the group. It has been helping the people of Haiti for 46 years.

While billions of aid was pledged to Haitians after the 2010 earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince, little of it reached the people, especially those outside the capital, according to the nonprofit.

For Haiti with Love, Inc. is a faith mission. It runs a food program, provides formula for babies without mothers, oversees a construction program that has completed churches, schools, marketplaces in 6 villages, over 50 homes for the homeless. 

As funding permits, there is also help with school tuition, funerals, X-rays and other medical needs from doctors and  hospitals that charge and, of course, the poor box by the door for the  elderly. 

"Christmas in August" will be held at 6 p.m., Aug. 12, at the First United Methodist Church, 421 Main St., Dunedin.

For more information, contact Eva DeHart with For Haiti with Love, 727-938-3245.

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