Many years have passed since my first trip to Haiti in 1985. It's with warm fondness and lasting satisfaction that I remember the handful of enthusiastic young students who organized efforts to help two dozen people suffering from leprosy in Gonaives, Haiti. I thank God for the wonderful, caring people that have joined with me to do something for this great world of ours - joining "hands together" and discovering the joy that comes from helping others.
Much has been accomplished since our incorporation in 1989 and I am extremely proud of all the dedicated people who have participated in Hands Together's efforts to build a more compassionate and human world. There seems to me to be an urgency now more than ever to offer challenges and give meaning to our young people's lives. We must be willing to teach that we are all linked together; our only lasting bond is the bond of love. We must be willing to join hands with the poorest of the poor and work together to overcome all kinds of bigotry and hatred. Our spirit should be one of continual joy and optimism - knowing that we are indeed loved by God and through grace and prayer are drawing closer to him as time passes. In the words of the prophet Micah we are required "to do justice, and to love kindness, and to talk humbly with your God."
Our mission, first and foremost is to be a loving teacher and humble student. We provide learning experiences whereby people discover beauty in every culture and truth in every human encounter so that bridges can be built and linkages among people strengthened. We should spiritualize our involvement with Hands Together. We dedicate ourselves to God and to serving the least of our brothers and sisters; we continually respect this great earth and all of its people.
May God bless you,
Father Tom Hagan, O.S.F. S.
In 1986 a handful of students from Lafayette College returned home from a Haiti trip led by Fr. Tom Hagan, OSFS, our Catholic Chaplain who ran the Newman Center (the Catholic Student Service Center) at Lafayette and Moravian Colleges. I was one of those students and I never could have guessed that the experience would impact my life so profoundly. From that point on my eyes were slowly opened to a world of service to others and a relationship with the Creator. Fr. Tom Hagan helped me (and many other young people at Lafayette) see more clearly my responsibility to help others and be of service. He often mentioned that true joy and real satisfaction come only when one has learned to give of himself. Often Fr. Tom would encourage me to "strive to see Jesus in every human face." Simply put, that was the beginning of Hands Together.
Hands Together is a program and a fellowship of people who strive to help this world -- who believe in a loving God and dedicate themselves to helping the poor. It's appropriate that our roots come from the Newman Center because our spirit, and the challenge for each one of us, cannot be better defined than by the words of Cardinal Newman himself: "God has created me to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission mission -- I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.. .I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it -- if I do but keep his commandments. Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away...He knows what he is about."
We of Hands Together trust God. Even though many of our projects in Haiti fail utterly, we try again. In God's hands, our efforts will bear fruit. We do not worry. If we are sincere in our desire to help those in anguish and suffering terribly, then we do what we can, secure in the fact that God is content with what little we can give. Let us join our hands together and do what we can to be useful in this world.
...is for members of Hands Together to optimistically and enthusiastically work to build a more compassionate and human world...is that every person involved with Hands Together will become a more compassionate person; ..is that people young and old will visit our projects and experience the beauty and goodness of the people they encounter....is that our volunteers will assess the needs of their own communities. With a renewed sense of compassion, they will search for ways to respond respectfully to help others....is that the mothers and fathers who live in Haiti's desert villages will be healthy, and that their children will be healthy; the people in the slums of Port-au-Prince will drink clean water, the people in the small towns will have access to education. .is that in the poorest communities, both rural and urban, Hands Together's efforts and commitment will be clearly evident and that our projects will help people use the resources available to them to become free and live dignified lives ...is that Haitians will be able to work to build a strong community and together with their friends from Hands Together, they will exchange ideas and ways to improve their quality of life.