Belinda Crisman and Dr. Alan Crisman, in back, and Greta Giglio, in front, work with students in Momance, Haiti.“Under the Same Big Sky,” a fundraiser showcasing the Haitian cultural experience, is being held Monday, May 9 at 6 p.m. to help a school in Momance, Haiti.
The event at Ringgold United Methodist Church features a Haitian-themed outdoor food buffet with pork, slaw, macaroni and cheese, red beans and rice, and potato souffle. A Haitian band will entertain guests.
“It will be like a Haitian experience where participants learn more about Momance and Haiti,” said Belinda Crisman, who travels annually to Haiti with her husband, Dr. Alan Crisman. “We will have a photo gallery of the project and a replica of a Haitian home set up. We will have a silent auction with Haitian arts and crafts. The highlight of the night is a documentary of a Haitian child going to school and an American child going to school to compare and contrast.”
The purpose of the event is to help educate the children in Momance by raising money to further RUMC’s mission to build and support a school there.
“The name of the event is ‘Under the Same Big Sky’ to connect our community to their community,” Belinda Crisman said. An RUMC church member, she has traveled to Haiti 10 times. “We built a well in Momance. We built three phases of the school that now serves children preschool through second grade. The goal is to add a grade each year. In the fall we want to add third grade. Every day, we give them a free hot meal – which is sometimes their only meal of the day. We give them books, school supplies and professional training for the staff. And they get yearly medical and dental care.”
Dr. Alan Crisman has traveled to Haiti 30 times. He hosts dental clinics in Momance twice each year.
The RUMC mission team just partnered with the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti, a Chattanooga nonprofit, to evaluate children in Haiti who are malnourished and give them immediate treatment.
“People should come out to learn about the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere: Haiti,” Belinda Crisman said, referring to the fundraiser dinner. “In Momance, only 20 percent of the children go to high school. There’s a 50 percent literacy rate. I am a firm believer that education changes a child, a community and a country.”