Our Team
Our Team is comprised of both Haitians and Americans that are dedicated to improving the lives of people in La Vallée and creating the future leaders of Haiti. Our Parish Priest is in charge of all in-country activities and he is supported by church and school staff. All of our programs are fully run by Haitians and our American Board of Directors assist the Priest in his endeavors. Our work could not be possible without all of our Haitian staff that have dedicated their lives to helping the community and students we serve.
Parish Priest
Father Simon Francois was born in Lamontagne, Haiti, located 9 miles south of La Vallée. He was ordained a priest at 20 years old on August 26, 1989. One year later, he went to Zaire, today's Democratic Republic of Congo, where he served the people there for 3 years. In 1993, he was sent to Rome to study media, and when he came back to Haiti he was given the responsibility to start the Diocese's radio station Ephphatha (the Aramaic word meaning "Be opened," uttered by Christ when healing the man who was deaf and dumb in Mark 7:34), which he ran until 2004. In 1997, he was entrusted with the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish foundation and stayed there until August 2004. From 2004 to 2014 Father Simon served as the Pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus at Meyer in the neighborhood of Jacmel and during the same period ran the Diocese's Caritas. Then, in August 2014, Father Simon was given a sabbatical year to rest up in order to take on his role at St. Jean Baptiste, serving the many missions of La Vallée Parish, basically acting as the de facto Mayor of La Vallée, commissioner of schools, and “feet on the ground” for our Haiti Mission.
Director of Services
Kirsten Fox is a native Nashvillian and graduated from Belmont University with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health. She originally became involved in the health side of our organization in 2015 and shortly after her first visit to Haiti, she moved to La Vallée to take a gap year as one of our first conversational English teachers. She remained involved in our organization throughout her time in college by being an active board member and the in-country Program Director for our Summer English Immersion Program. With the help of an English as a Second Language professional, Kirsten used her past teaching experience to form the foundations of our ongoing conversational English courses. Her experience living in Haiti and passion for helping its people has transitioned into a full-time position. She has continued being a member of our board and directing our English Program, along with coordinating fundraising and donor relations, assisting our business teams, managing communications and social medias, planning all in-country travel, and so much more.
