FOR HAITI, WITH LOVE, INC.
PALM HARBOR, FLORIDA

On April 15, 2006 Don DeHart, the founder of For Haiti With Love, lost his long battle with cancer and went to be with our Lord and Savior. A memorial service was held on Monday April 24th 2006 at 2pm at First Presbyterian Church of Dunedin, 455 Scotland St. Dunedin FL. For the 32 years we have been married, I can say he has always been one to do things as soon as he had the idea. Never was he able to leave a job long enough for volunteers to come to help him… do it now, get it done… As we look at the wonderful way he had things set up in Haiti so that they could run smoothly during his cancer battle…I finally understood that he was simply driven to help—and help now. Learned to accept it, watch God provide the funding and see his dreams complete one by one. The purchase of the headquarters, the security wall, the annex on the land down from the headquarters — homes for the homeless, feeding the hungry, and mending the hurt, burnt and wounded. He had a passion for helping and zero tolerance for procrastination. Join us in prayer that God's work through Don, helping the poor of Haiti, will continue. He touched the lives of thousands of people both in Haiti and in the U.S. and their world and ours is a better place because Don did the work that God called him to do. In the late 60's Don DeHart was working full time heavy construction (highway and subdivision) while pastoring small country churches for free in rural Indiana. As his career advanced, he found himself in management of what became a multimillion dollar construction company, while maintaining his volunteer services to country churches. It became more and more discouraging to preach and teach about tithing and contributions and then, in the meetings of the churches, listen to the congregation vote to spend the money on their own personal creature comforts. After sharing these feelings with a fellow minister, Don was encouraged to go on a mission trip to Haiti where he could have more time to commune with God and reestablish his priorities. Using a brace and bit to drill holes and wooden dowels to peg things together, cutting wood with a machette and eating sugar cane with the local workers for lunch, Don lost a lot of weight, had plenty of physical challenges and gained a whole new perspective -- he also left a big part of his heart in Haiti and was never able to walk away from helping these poor people. Even during times of battling cancer, somehow the Lord provided the funds to keep the programs in Haiti going. In the early 80's the DeHarts were hired to leave Indiana for Florida to work as an administrative team for a developer. Thinking this was a great way for God to get them closer to the mission field (little did they know the real plan) they closed their business, loaded up a truck and moved to Florida. For Haiti with Love, inc. was born sitting on the balcony of a rented home in Palm Harbor with Mac Barksdale. Dr. Barksdale is a veterinarian from Orlando who was a contact from the Indiana days. Dr. Mac had the contacts to get the initial printing accomplished -- yellow paper -- horrors! But it was free. Once we realized the value of black on yellow, it is still our colors. Eva had the expertise through years of working in a law office to make the contacts and handle the reserving of the name and incorporation papers for the nonprofit. One of those part time jobs had been with H & R Block, so she also filed for the 501(c)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service and in 1982 For Haiti with Love became an active charity. The first official tax-deductible gift was a $50 check from Don's cousin, Jim Crowley, in Indiana, who still writes a monthly check today. To get the 200 minimum for a nonprofit bulk rate permit for a monthly newsletter, the DeHarts took their Christmas card list and used the directory from the Community United Methodist Church with their permission. The developer reneged on his deal, the DeHarts were left without jobs and began using the "stuff" they brought with them for survival by selling all they could sell. Finally, after trying all sorts of things personally that didn't work, taking turns with part time jobs and getting to Haiti with a volunteer pilot who had his own plane and a heart for Haiti, they finally surrendered in prayer, "okay, Lord, everything is working for your part of this, nothing for us, so we are yours, Haiti is the priority, where do we go from here?" Don was "free at last" to pursue the burden that had been on his heart since the late 60's, to dedicate his life completely to helping the needy in Haiti. Using his medical background that has been enhanced by working shoulder to shoulder with volunteer doctors in Haiti, his construction experience gained from a family of construction people, his pastoral training (which he earned mostly through night school), God had equipped him for the field. Eva's gifts to this Lord's work include education in accounting, years of working in law offices, the love of writing and the willingness to be one of God's beggars for both needed supplies and funding. For Haiti with Love, inc. is a faith mission. No bigger barns, just do next month what the contributions this month provide. Today there is (1) food program providing nutritionally balanced meals to the hungry, (2) formula for babies with no mothers or mothers without breast milk, (3) construction program that has completed churches, schools, marketplaces in 6 villages, over 50 homes for the homeless and (4) medical program providing 24-hour emergency medical care for the poor. As funding permits, there is also funding for tuitions for the school of choice, funerals, x-rays and other medical needs from doctors and hospitals that charge and, of course, the poor box by the door for the elderly. Used clothing in excellent shape is used as packing material and distributed primarily to the burn patients who have lost everything in a home fire. When the budget permits, their home is either repaired or rebuilt and they are put on the food program during their recuperation period. Everything is done as a gift from God through His people, every recipient is very aware that they thank God for their help.