Haitian Supper Fundraiser set for Friday, Aug. 28
The Haitian Supper Fundraiser will have authentic tastes of Haitian rice and beans and other unique Haitian foods.
Haitian rice and beans, chicken, spicy cabbage relish, and red beet salad is a simple yet authentic Haitian meal. It was an idea that launched seven years ago when Lenord and Trish Bonnegre from Haiti cooked up the first Haitian Supper Fundraiser and served it to the community where 280 people attended.
“We felt surprised mostly but also excited that there was so much interest in an event like this,” Trish Bonnegre said.
Trish Bonnegre was raised in the Holmes County area and met Lenord Bonnegre in Haiti more than 20 years ago. They married in 2010. Together they launched Restoring Lives Ministry to serve the Haitian people through church, pastoral training and providing education to the youth and children.
All are invited to attend the Haitian Supper Fundraiser set for Friday, Aug. 28 from 4-8 p.m. at the Maranatha Church, 941 state Route 93, Sugarcreek. Take-out will be served, and there will be dine-in with extra precautions taken in consideration of COVID-19.
The call to the ministry came to Lenord Bonnegre in his late teens. “I want to see the church progress spiritually,” he said of his ministry vision.
Though the call to the ministry was clear, Lenord Bonnegre endured frustration of how to work it out. After much discouragement and limited resources, he began exploring options of how he could serve people in the states and use it as an avenue to raise funds to help his own people in the village of Passé boi d’ormes (pronounced Paws-Bwadom) in Haiti.
Each year the crowd attending the fundraiser has grown, and the positive response serves as a great encouragement to Lenord and Trish Bonnegre and the ministry they have been called to in Haiti. They feel like each attendee somehow becomes a part of the ministry to bring freedom, deliverance and hope to the people of the island of Haiti.
Most of the food is prepared in the same Haitian style that Lenord Bonnegre grew up with. Many people from the Holmes and Tuscarawas county areas have visited Haiti on mission-related endeavors, and this gives an opportunity to reconnect with the tastes, culture and ministry on the island. All guests are welcome to dine for a freewill donation to benefit the ministry.
For more information on the fundraiser, call Marion and Tena Mullet at 330-852-2059.