Board of Directors and Advisors

Sarah first visited Fond-des-Blancs, Haiti, in 1992 as a volunteer nurse with the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, a Boston-based public health NGO. She quickly fell in love with the country and its beautiful people. Working in the hospital, Sarah saw the dire effects of poverty on the health and well-being of the villagers living in one of the poorest countries in the world, with the highest mortality and lowest literacy rates in the hemisphere. The challenges that faced women in the community particularly touched Sarah and she sought to create programming to help the women pull themselves out of poverty. In 1994, Sarah launched a family planning clinic that provided much-needed family planning services to community members. In 1996, the Haiti Projects Artisanat Cooperative was launched, bringing meaningful work and regular income to women of Fond-des-Blancs. Haiti Projects Artisanat Cooperative now provides life-saving income to nearly 100 women in the villages of the Fond-des-Blancs commune who work to support their families.  The Isabel Allende Foundation gave Sarah their “Espíritu Award” in 2009 in recognition of the “compassionate action” of Haiti Projects in promoting the empowerment of women and girls in Haiti. Subsequently, Haiti Projects built the first community library with internet and seeded an education scholarship fund to help educate the community.

One day, the village leader, Briel Leveillé, approached Sarah for help. He wanted to start a farmers’ cooperative to help locals buy tools and learn how to enrich the impoverished soil. The Bishop’s Fund provided a grant for about $6,000 and Rassemblement Travailleurs Paysan (RATRAP) was born. For 24 years, RATRAP has been going strong with more than 300 member farmers and a meeting house built with these original funds.

In 2017, Sarah focused on another community need - food security and sustainable agriculture - and went to work creating her fourth not-for-profit effort in Fond-des-Blancs, Greening Haiti Fund. In partnership with talented agronomists, educators and regional officials as advisors, and with the financial backing from supporters in the United States and beyond, GHF quickly raised the resources to begin solidifying the infrastructure to grow, plant, and care for tens of thousands of tree seedlings that will help to provide the shade, soil retention, and sustenance so vital to the future health and welfare of the people of Fond-des-Blanc.

As Greening Haiti Fund expands its mission with GHF Climate Curriculum and GHF Backyard Gardens and Orchards, Sarah’s dream of revitalizing one community on the southern peninsula of Haiti is coming to fruition.

Born in Haiti, Joel Theodat came to the United States as a young man to continue his studies. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Philosophy from Suffolk University in 1980 and a Master of Science degree in Philosophy from Boston College in 1984. For 22 years, Joel worked as a teacher and Bilingual Program Director at West Roxbury High School and at Hyde Park High in Boston, MA. Dealing mostly with Haitian youngsters who recently migrated to the United States, Joel helped them adjust to the American culture while maintaining and honoring their Haitian culture. In 2006, his passion and love for Haiti took him back to Haiti as Executive Director of a non-profit organization providing education and health care to the people in the Bourdon area of Port-au-Prince. Joel currently teaches Haitian Creole to health care providers and others at the University of Massachusetts.  His heart is fully committed to help eradicate illiteracy and denounce injustice wherever it may be. Working with Greening Haiti Fund is another extension of his efforts to help the people of Haiti. 

"Life is a puzzle. Imagine if we work together to find the right pieces and its meaning." Joel Theodat

Vickie is a retired attorney who served as board chair of Haiti Projects, Inc., also founded by Sarah Hackett, and has travelled to Haiti and Fond-des-Blancs many times, acquiring her love of Haiti.

Vickie currently serves as an Access to Justice Fellow, a program of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, and has developed and manages an on-site program in the Suffolk Probate and Family Court that provides conciliation services to unrepresented litigants.

Vickie is board chair of The Elmore Bolling Initiative in Lowndesboro, Alabama, a non-profit created to honor Elmore Bolling, the prosperous father of seven who was the victim of racial murder in the Jim Crow south. The Initiative’s mission is to serve the underserved citizens of Lowndes County, one of the poorest rural counties in the country.

She also serves as an editor at The Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern Law School. 

Barbara was employed as a special education teacher and administrator for 30 years. She worked with adolescents dealing with learning disabilities, social and emotional difficulties placed in public schools, day and residential programs.

Her first experience in the Caribbean involved helping to build a parish house in the Dominican Republic with a youth group. Later, she and her husband sailed and vacationed in many Carribean islands. After meeting Sarah Hackett, she visited Haiti and Fond-des-Blancs. She enjoyed meeting the people involved in Sarah's projects including the women's clinic, library, farming coop, sewing cooperative, and Greening Haiti Fund nurseries.

Barbara joined Greening Haiti Fund to help with fund raising, secretarial work, and continues to support its efforts to improve the greening and education of Haiti and her people.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Nadia Adison, Stamford, CT

Ellen Bolden, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

Michelet Mascary, Boston, MA and Fond des Blancs, Haiti

Diane Pulliam, Lowell, MA

Susanna Taylor, Corrales, NM

The Team in Haiti

As President, CEO and Lead Agronomist of Haitian operations, Emerson is invaluable to the success of Greening Haiti Fund.  Emerson speaks four languages and was born and raised in Fond-des-Blancs. With GHF since its inception, he takes pride and pleasure in teaching sustainable techniques to small farmers, encouraging participation, supervising practices and marking his successes. He also consults with the local community on diversifying plant and animal production, and strengthening community agricultural programs.

Emerson received his degree in Farm Management and Agricultural Science from Simon Bolivar United World College of Agriculture in Venezuela. He studied Human Ecology with a focus on agro-ecology and sustainable agriculture practices at The College of the Atlantic in Maine, USA. Before moving home to Haiti, he worked in sustainable farming in the United States, France, Grenada, and Venezuela.

“I'm always up early to get organized because I always have something to do. It is good to get things started early in the day if you are working in the nursery or planting because it is very warm and the sun is strong. Simple things like buying supplies in Port-au-Prince can take a lot of time. I enjoy teaching and supervising the staff - we get along well.”

Jacques was born and raised in Fond-des-Blancs. He studied agronomy sciences at Université Episcopale d’Haïti, graduating in 2019. As GHF’s Director of Education, Mr. Poulard both teaches and directs implementation of GHF’s Climate Curriculum. He came to GHF through an internship and is now employed full time. In summary, he is a beloved son of Greening Haiti Fund. 

Dumonel hails from and lives in Fond-des-Blancs. He studied Agronomy Sciences at the Faculté d’Agronomie et de Médecine Vétérinaire (FAMV) of the State University of Haiti (Damien), graduating in 2017. He is an Agronomist and teacher of Music Education, French-speaking Literature and Natural Sciences. He has worked with GHF since 2018.

Frantzcy helps people understand the sometimes complicated concepts of sustainable agriculture. His is a treasured position. After studying agronomy sciences at Université Caraïbe, Haiti, Mr. Peltrop is now GHF’s Agricultural Vulgarization Agent.  He came to GHF as an intern and has worked full time with the team since 2019.

Mr. Capel is a native of Fond-des-Blancs and today lives close to the nursery. Unemployed at the time, he was the first person to help GHF when we began to build our operations in Murier and has been a member of the team ever since.  Today, he concentrates his time at the seedling nursery and remains busy taking care of the rabbits and making sure everything is in place. He is well-loved in the community.

Simeon lives with his family in Fond-des-Blancs. He is the Guardian of one of our demonstration plots: watering plants, cleaning the plot, and maintaining the fence after goat damage.  Before coming to GHF in 2019, Simeon cut trees for charcoal production, but no longer needs to for money. He is earning a salary growing trees and protecting the environment.