​Promoting a global culture of solidarity with the poor - in Haiti, Africa, and beyond. - for a more just and sustainable world   .  .  .  

These semi-annual events serve as opportunities to deepen awareness of the importance of trees in the local ecology, the local economy, and the services they provide to the environment.  Ducis agronomists use these occasions to teach both youth and adults to nurture and protect the seedlings so that a majority of them have a better chance to become mature trees, a form of "village capital" that both generates income and protects the environment.

Rich in Mercy provides funding for the "tree planting" phase of recovery in Ducis through an anonymous donation received through the community of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Sisters, in Monroe, MI and another generous gift given anonymously.

After rebuilding houses for widows and single mothers in Ducis, Rich in Mercy launched a second phase of assistance to restore trees that provide food and income.  Periodic distributions of several thousand seedlings at a time become "whole village" events bringing together school students and their parents from the local St. Pius X parish under the leadership of its pastor, Fr. Dinnel, and Ducis native, Patrick Eugene, CSSp.

Planting Trees = Restoring Food and Livelihoods

When Hurricane Matthew, a category 4 hurricane with winds up to 145 mph, ravaged the southern interior of Haiti, it ripped off roofs and destroyed houses in Ducis village, but it also uprooted or snapped off hundreds of coconut palms, mangoes, avocados, and breadfruit. 

The loss of food-bearing trees and the livelihoods that depend on them resulted in a continuing crisis of hunger and economic insecurity.