Over five hundred walkers came together on Saturday for the Sixth Annual Walk for Haiti, successfully raising over $40,000 dollars for Harvard-affiliated international healthcare organization Partners in Health (PIH), according to Karen Fritsche, the walk’s co-founder.
This year’s theme was “Housing for Haiti,” as 100 percent of the funds will be used to rebuild homes in Haiti, where land and infrastructure were devastated by two hurricanes last summer, Fritsche said. She estimated the three-mile walk along the Charles River raised enough money to build at least eight houses.
In previous years, money raised has been used to purchase operating room lights, construct housing, and fund scholarships to support 1,200 Haitian students.
“Every year we ask the PIH what they need most,” said Fritsche. “Whatever we can do, we do.”
PIH was founded in 1987 by Harvard Medical School Professors Paul Farmer and Jim Y. Kim, who was recently selected as president of Dartmouth, and three other individuals.
The event began at noon at St. Paul Church on Mt. Auburn Street with a speech from HMS assistant professor Joia Mukherjee, medical director of PIH. The talk detailed Haiti’s historical struggles for freedom, first from slavery, and now from poverty. Read More ....
