Native of Haiti rises to the call to help others

Pierre Romain, head chef at Allendale's Bar and Grill and a native of Haiti, started the Rose Foundation in 2008 in hopes of giving back to his impoverished country.

KEVIN R. WEXLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Buy this photoPierre Romain of Waldwick is surrounded by donations he has received through his Rose Foundation.

When the devastating earthquake struck in January, his calling became more important than ever.

Romain's bosses, brothers Craig and Chris Kunisch, immediately offered to help by reaching out to friends and acquaintances to see if they could donate to Romain's foundation, which was collecting money for relief efforts.

After just a couple of hours, Craig called Romain and told him he didn't want to overwhelm him with the number of people he found willing to donate. Romain's response: "Overwhelm me."

Romain's foundation, named after his mother, Rose, was flooded with donations: $10,000 from 100 people. And more coming in.

"The outpour of love has been amazing," said Romain. "Here we are in recession, and so many people are out of work in New Jersey and they are still giving."

The past three weeks have been a blur for Romain, whose brother used to take him to the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince as a child. The collapsed palace was among the first images he saw on television after the quake.

"I fell apart completely" he said. "I said to myself: If this palace can fall apart then I don't even want to know about anything else."

Romain, of Waldwick, tried for hours to reach his 86-year-old mother, who lives in Port-au-Prince, when the magnitude-7.0 earthquake hit on Jan. 12. He had to wait five days before getting news that she was safe and unhurt.

His initial thought was to leave as soon as he could to get to his mother, who told him she had been sleeping in the yard outside of a friend's house because the aftershocks made her house — still standing — traumatizing to live in.

"It's a sense of guilt when I am sitting here in my house and knowing that my mom is sleeping in the yard," Romain said.

Romain, the youngest of eight children, is planning to go to Haiti in early April to distribute survival-kit duffel bags filled with tents, three days' worth of packed meals and water tablets.

He has collected a total of 60 duffel bags that crowd his garage along with bags of clothes and other necessities. He also will donate all the money he has raised through the Rose Foundation, now at $75,000 and counting.

Recently, Allendale's Bar and Grill, where Romain has been the head chef for 17 years, held a Happy Hour for Haiti that raised $3,600. Romain said the community response has been humbling, and he hopes to have the same support at the fund-raiser he is holding on Feb. 20 at the Guardian Angel Church auditorium in Allendale.

"I do not want to just hand down the money to anybody," he said. "Having come from Haiti, I know about the corruption and all that, which is one of the reasons I decided to do a foundation myself.

"I hope in the long run this is a rebirth for Haiti, because if anybody can come back from this, I believe it is the Haitian people."