Haiti Native's Far from Home, Close in Spirit

Two months after an earthquake decimated her hometown of Carrefour, Haiti, Rose Marie Romain is still living there, helping her daughter with a food pantry table where they serve rice, beans and cornmeal. She allows dozens of the homeless to sleep in her house.

Pierre Romain is trying to do the same for his mother here: continuing to collect food, tents and money to send to Haiti, where he will travel in a few weeks. But he says his mother is "more industrious than any of us."

Also known as chef Pierre, head chef at the Allendale Bar and Grill, Romain is president of the young nonprofit foundation named after his mother, the Rose Foundation.

The foundation has picked up considerable support since the earthquake hit Haiti more than two months ago. Romain says it has received more than $100,000 in donations, more than 200 duffel bags and enough dry goods and clothes to fill  a 40-foot container.

"It's been amazing, the community response to this—such a humbling experience," he said.

And now he is trying to keep the momentum for the foundation going strong. This Saturday, the Plain Healers will be playing a benefit concert at the Mahwah Bar and Grill—which will add to the donations he will use to set up more tangible aid as well as a mission to set up a prosthesis camp in Les Cayes with a New Jersey-based doctor.

Romain started the foundation last year, when he grew convinced of the need to set up a nonprofit to coordinate charitable works, such as food and clothing distribution and health and education advocacy, in the Carrefour area.

The chef put the foundation in motion with a Facebook page that announced a broad mission statement. Its mission statement and acronym, "Reach Out Stronger than Ever," are meant to be in the giving and industrious spirit of his mother.

"The whole concept began because my mother Rose was always, always giving to other people," he said.

Romain said he sends her bottles of Ensure—but she gives them away to the dozens of people living in her house.

"We'd bring her down appliances, toasters, blenders—they'd just disappear. Only later did I realize she was just giving them away," Romain said. 

Only after the earthquake did the operation became entirely devoted to earthquake relief.

"Later down the line we'll get back to our broader mission statement, get into grant-writing. But right now, it's all about the quake," he said.

Major fundraisers have been thrown in honor of the Rose Foundation: the Mahwah Bar and Grill, Temple Beth Shalom in Fair Lawn, the Allendale Guardian Angel Church and the Allendale Womens Club have all thrown large fundraisers. A troop of Boy Scouts in Mahwah gathered $900, and Romain has received other donations from children, as well.

Romain said the work has led him to believe strongly in the volunteer model of the foundation. "We have less than 1 percent overhead costs," he said. "It's a lot different than the American Red Cross."

At the outset of the campaign for funds, the owners of the Allendale Bar & Grill organized and tried to get 100 people to donate $100. Within two hours the foundation had received $20,000, Romain said.

In addition, the foundation has organized a "drop a duffel" initiative, to bring tents, tarps, water tablets, ready to eat meals and other "tangible" items into duffel bags.

Donors have either gotten their own duffel bags together or have "sponsored" a bag at a cost of $30.

"Writing letters of thanks is very important to me. It brought tears to my eyes, writing back to the girl who broke her piggy bank to give $20," he said.

Romain is one of eight children; he grew up in Carrefour, just south of Port-au-Prince. "It used to be a decent place, but now it's a serious slum," Romain said.

"My best friend lost his 10-year-old daughter," he said. "The school I went to was completely pancaked."

He said he was initially grief-stricken and felt very guilty that he wasn't in Haiti.

"When the earthquake happened I was ready to pack up and go. But later I realized that I'd just get in the way. And if I waited until the dust settled, I could do a lot more here galvanizing people."

Monsoon season has set in now, which means the stakes are higher: the need for shelter is rising with the risk of infectious disease.

His sister, a doctor, who just returned from Haiti two weeks ago, said things are worse than before.

"There are people sleeping on concrete floors with umbrellas over their heads," Romain said. "It's just terrible.

"Although coverage has subsided, doesn't mean the suffering has subsided. If anything it is getting worse," he said.

Like his mother, who he says never quits, Romain is determined to keep providing aid to the Rose Foundation.

"I'm trying to keep the momentum going," he said. "I'm confident God will find me ways to do it. This is for the long term."