Rich in Mercy

Rich in Mercy (RIM) is a division of Partners in Progress (PIP) that is rooted in work supported in Haiti by PIP executive director Rich Gosser and his wife Daneen before PIP’s creation in 1999. 

Its mission is to promote a “global culture of solidarity” by uniting people of the “first world” with resource-poor people of the “third world” as brothers and sisters by

• Educating for peace, justice and integrity
   
• Building relationships by linking people with people and communities with communities
   
• Providing opportunities and inspiring initiatives to meet the material and spiritual needs of the poor in the Americas

Like its parent organization PIP, Rich in Mercy provides technical, material, and financial support to various projects in Haiti that aim at local development.  A sampling of these includes:

• The “Solino Project” providing capital support that enabled jobless, young entrepreneurs to launch a successful motorcycle transport business in the Solino neighborhood of Port au Prince.
   
• “Skip a Lunch, Save a Child” providing partial financial support for a pre-school nutrition and early education “head start” program for more than 100 preschoolers in the St. Louis de Montfort church in the Delmas section of Port au Prince, through $5 a month contributions.
   
• The “Little Flower Project” providing capital support for the renovation of kitchen, dining, and dormitory areas of a private orphanage in Port au Prince.
   
• Support for the construction of an elementary school in the Charette neighborhood of St. Marc and for the post-hurricane restoration of a school building in the mountain community of Gwayavye.
   
• Support for the “compressed earth block” (CEB) school construction project in PIP’s partner community of Deslandes.

Since 1992 Rich in Mercy has coordinated numerous “reverse mission” delegations to Haiti. These provide participants with the opportunity to minister in solidarity through presence and caring and to be changed through what they see and experience through personal contact with brothers and sisters in Haiti.  “Reverse mission” trips are windows through which to glimpse what life is like for the poor majority of the world’s people and mirrors in which to see oneself and one’s nation in relation to the global poor. For additional information about PIP’s Rich in Mercy division, contact PIP executive director, Dr. Rich Gosser (rgosser@PIPHaiti.org).