Parish Twinning Program of the Americas

Parish Twinning Program of the Americas

http://www.parishprogram.org
PTPA is a Catholic-affiliated 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which has helped to develop over 350 “sister parish” relationships between churches in the US and Canada and church communities in Haiti. This program’s outreach was extended in 1998 and now has 50 twinnings in Mexico, Central & South America, the Philippine Islands and Cuba. Since 1978 parishes have been providing resources and aid for healthcare, educational, pastoral, and economic purposes for their sister parishes throughout Haiti and other countries in Latin America.  With nearly 1,000 people traveling to Haiti each year, PTPA is the largest citizen-to-citizen network linking Haiti with North America. American and Canadian parishes have sent over $30 million in monetary relief over the years and shipped tons of medicines, medical and school supplies and other goods. The organization and its parishes have brought numerous children and adults to the US for life-saving medical care since 1988.  PTPA parishes have also sent hundreds of medical missions to Haiti since 1989 with more than 60 parishes participating in organizing medical teams. Medical missions have also now been extended into Honduras. When it became apparent in 1999 that a hospital was needed to serve the numerous medical teams in Haiti, PTPA established the Visitation Hospital Foundation (VHF), a separate 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based out of Nashville, Tennessee, which is also providing healthcare for the community of Petite Rivière de Nippes and the entire de Nippes region. Visitation Clinic, the first phase of the full-service hospital, was completed and dedicated on January 19, 2008.