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TOUCH HAITI
Touch Haiti is a small nonprofit organization founded by artist and DJ Final Touch, Mitch Laguerre, in April 2012. It was simply a means to raise funds to help provide aid to some of the 2010 Earthquake victims in Petite Rivière de Nippes, Haiti, Final Touch’s hometown. It was initially called Caribbean Bridge Foundation as it started with a group of DJs that Final Touch was working with at the time on a radio station. After the earthquake, Final Touch convinced his friends to get together and raise money to provide some sort of assistance to a section of Haiti where they could get a group together to distribute food, water, and supplies. When no one stepped up, Final Touch chose his hometown as the section they would provide assistance to. Since he already had family and friends there, he knew he could gather a team down there to handle the distributions. The team in the U.S was able to raise some funds from family, friends, and a few others and transferred it to the team in Haiti to purchase food and necessary supplies to distribute to those who needed it most. It wasn’t much, but they were able to provide hope to a few people who had lost everything.
As Caribbean Bridge was only a temporary solution, Final Touch decided to come up with something bigger. He created Touch Haiti as a permanent assistance program for this part of Haiti with a plan to create different projects and activities to help the community rebuild. Having visited the country a number of times and speaking with a number of people there, Final Touch realized that there are a number of issues that the families of Petite Riviere and many other areas face. One of them being that, they get left out most of the time when other parts of the country receive any type of aid. Most aid that comes into the country go through Port-Au-Prince, the capital. Distribution does not make its way past most of the closer towns surrounding the capital city, which leaves many of the smaller provinces that are further out, with very little or nothing at all.
As Final Touch managed to bring some people and other smaller groups with similar ideas together, they managed to create a few programs for the people of Petite Riviere de Nippes. For example, Touch Haiti was able to team up with another organization called MD+, and they put together an activity to provide some hundred students with backpacks and some with scholarships for a full year of paid tuition. They also honored some members of the community with awards of recognition for their participation in the community.
Touch Haiti eventually merged with MD+ as well as members from another older organization that had a similar mission. Final Touch had successfully registered Touch Haiti as an official nonprofit with a 501(c)3 tax exempt status with a plan to grow the organization, but unfortunately, Touch Haiti became inactive for a few years as each member had their own personal issues and political issues in the country probably discouraged many of the organization’s members. This cost the nonprofit its tax exempt status because it failed to file taxes even though it didn’t have anything to report even though Final Touch, himself, kept providing assistance to some families and individuals in Petite Riviere.
Today, as Final Touch continues to keep in touch with a number of people in Haiti and tries to keep track with news across the country, he has come to realize that these people need Touch Haiti now, more than ever. Although he continues to provide assistance as much as he can, he cannot do it alone. There is currently an urgent need for aid and support to folks in ALL of Haiti, but the mission for assistance to the people of Petite Riviere de Nippes is imminent. Most of the people there do not have jobs nor any real activity to bring them food and other necessities to take care of their families. The explosion of gangs with an increased rate of kidnappings and violent acts in other parts of the country has made it tougher for people of different parts of the country to mobilize and go about finding other means of making a living. The increase of gas prices, food, and way of life makes it ten times worse!
As a response to this urgent need, Final Touch has decided to reform Touch Haiti. He has reached out to a few people and have even assigned some board member roles to a few people in the US and some in Haiti. They are hoping to rebuild Touch Haiti from the ground up while carrying this urgent mission to help as many as possible in this southern part of Haiti called Petite Riviere de Nipped, which often is forgotten. Final Touch has already filed to have THT’s tax exempt status reinstated, but that can take a few weeks to a few months.
EARTHQUAKE IN 2010
HURRICANE MATTHEW IN 2016
One Helping Hand Can Touch Many Lives!
A Charity with Mission
Update our Supporters
We will update our supporters with our status as we await the outcome of our application for reinstatement. In the meantime, please do not let that deter you from helping us provide this much needed support to these folks who need us urgently right now.
About
(Kreyol: Ti Rivyè de Nip) is a commune of the Miragoâne Arrondissement, located in the Nippes Department of Haiti. The population was 28,533 at the 2015 census. The town is located on the north coast of the Tiburon Peninsula. Its nearby cities are Miragoâne and Petit-Trou-de-Nippes and it also lies next to the Gulf of Gonâve shoreline.
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Culture
The Ministry of National Education of Youth and Sports is not represented in the municipality. Two kindergarten, several primary schools (preschool level included), four secondary schools and three literacy centers were counted in the commune. There are no universities or colleges. Health
The Ministry of Public Health and
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Economy
The Caribbean Shore offers rural fishing to the people of the village of Petite-Rivière-de-Nippes. This underprivileged village is about 120 kilometers from the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Agriculture is the main industry even though some farmers do some fishing on smaller scales such as for personal use or to supplement their farming.
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Petite-Rivière-de-Nippes
(Kreyol: Ti Rivyè de Nip) is a commune of the Miragoâne Arrondissement, located in the Nippes Department of Haiti. The population was 28,533 at the 2015 census. The town is located on the north coast of the Tiburon Peninsula. Its nearby cities are Miragoâne and Petit-Trou-de-Nippes and it also lies next to the Gulf of Gonâve shoreline.
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Geography
Petite-Rivière-de-Nippes is located at 18.4759° N, 73.2338° W. According to the IHSI, this commune has a total land area of 93.70 square kilometers (36.18 square miles), of which 48.98 km² (52%) is rural, 43.02 km² (46%) is suburban, and 1.70 km² (2%) is urban. It is bordered on the southeast by the city of Miragoâne, on the south by the town of Paillant, and on the west by the city of Anse-à-Veau. The commune of Petite-Rivière-de-Nippes is divided in four communal sections and a district: Silègue, Fonds des Lianes, Cholotte, Bézin, and the district of Charlier. Its topography consists of plains and its climate is considered tropical.
To the north of Petite-Rivière-de-Nippes lies an arm of La Gonâve Canal along the town's harbor. The coast where the bulk of the population lives.
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Neighborhoods
PRN | Petite-Rivière-de-Nippes | 28,553 | Localities | ||
Urban | 2,119 | ||||
1ère Section Fond des Lianes | Rural section | 7,581 | Lapaix, Marien, Rimasse, Salagnac. | ||
2ème Section Chaulette | Rural | 6,070 | Ca Comte, Cholet, Teinturier. | ||
3ème Section Silègue | Rural | 13,687 | Bellevue, Bizarre, Chanterelle, Dupuy, La Rate, Marbial, Nan Casse, Nan Saut, Saint-Marc, Sillegue, Trou Zombi. | ||
4ème Section Bézin | Rural Section | 7,703 | Bezin, Bon Dos, Boue, Ca Matisse, Corail, Magasin, Mapou, Reynolds Terminals. |
Meet Our Team
Founder and President
Final Touch
Director of Haitian Affairs
Francesca Laguerre
Director of Operations, Port-Au-Prince
Blemy Vesta
Director of Operations, Petite Riviere de Nippes
Johnny Louis
We are helping families with financial assistance & education,and we are helping the community restore and rebuild.
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