Our organization builds on work begun in 1997 by individuals from the Chicago area. ZANMI SASYE—PARTNERS WITH SASSIER, INC. was formed as an Illinois not for profit corporation in 2005 to expand the original program and to broaden its fundraising efforts. “Zanmi Sasye” is Kreyol (Creole) for “Partners with Sassier.”
ZANMI SASYE—PARTNERS WITH SASSIER provided more than $200,000 in funding for education, health care, and community development projects in our first two years of operation. Our budget for fiscal 2009 is equally ambitious. Our volunteers receive no compensation. Members from the U.S. and Canada travel at their own expense to Sassier to provide medical care, educational and planning assistance, and technical advice. Therefore, we’re able to operate with virtually no overhead. More than 98% of the funds we raise goes directly to our projects in Sassier.
We cooperate closely with other NGOs operating in the region to ensure that our programs are coordinated and do not overlap. Local partners include Sacred Heart Parish’s Haiti Ministry Committee and the Archdiocese of New York’s Office of Black Ministry in education; Haitian Health Foundation, Doctors of the World, and St. Francis of Assisi Haiti Ministry in health care; and Caritas in community development.