danspapers.com DAN’S PAPERS July 30, 2021 Page 51
the place for a while,” Glynn says of the three weeks
that dramatically altered the course of his life. “Everything
worked like clockwork—it was the strangest,
almost spiritual experience that I ever had I my
life,” he continues. “I wasn’t sure what I was doing,
and then, all of a sudden, everything came in place.
I hadn’t changed my shirt for 17 days, I didn’t know
where I was sleeping. I slept in the plane a lot. Food
always seemed to come, and water. Otherwise, it
was so devastating, your mind went on automatic
just to try to help out. … It changed my life completely.”
That was 11 years ago. In the decade that followed,
Glynn expanded his operation and sharpened his
focus toward educating and feeding the impoverished
and food-challenged children in the country’s
poorest and most remote regions. “I did it by myself,
but then, through Facebook, it got out there into the
Hampton community and the people started raising
money,” he says. “It’s a remarkable thing that
happened.”
With help from partners and donors, including
Port Jefferson middle school teacher Melissa Mc-
Mullen and Chad St. Louis, a Haitian-American
high school guidance counselor, Wings Over Haiti
opened their first fully sustainable school in Port au
Prince in 2010. Today it’s thriving with a 25-person
faculty and more than 215 students, from nursery
to 7th grade, who are now eating two meals per day
and getting opportunities that would be rare, if not
miraculous, without the program.
Hamptons Artists for Haiti will help fund Wings
Over Haiti’s (WOH) next step—a second school in
the mountains of Ranquitte. Magalie Theodore, a
Haitian who lives and works in New York City, was
so moved and encouraged by WOH’s first school,
she gave the organization a seven-acre plot of land
with the condition that they rebuild the dilapidated
school that once stood there and fill it with kids.
They’ve already completed one building with four
classrooms for 51 students, but there’s much more
to be done.
Glynn is the first to say that none of his organization’s
work would be possible today without his codirector
and “main man” Arthur Bijur, a former advertising
executive with a strong background in the
not-for-profit world. “I went to Haiti and I was in,”
Bijur says of how he came to join his friend Glynn
and WOH four years ago. “It’s an eye-opener,” he
adds, describing what he found in the still-ravaged
country more than seven years after the earthquake.
“It was amazing that there was still rubble in
the streets, there was still destruction visible everywhere
… it’s an intense place to visit, you just feel it.”
Both Bijur and Glynn explain that the people in
Ranquitte live in mud huts with tin roofs and dirt
floors. They will turn their mattresses sideways to
sleep five or six to a bed, if they’re lucky enough to
have a mattress. “They really, really are desperate,”
Bijur says, noting that the poverty is painfully visible.
And with rising political turmoil and gangs taking
advantage of the situation, things are only getting
worse. He cites a UN World Food Programme
study that says Haiti has one of the highest levels
of food insecurity in the world, with nearly half the
population—4.4 million Haitians—in need of immediate
food assistance. Among those people, 1.2
million suffer from severe hunger, and more than 1
million are classified as being in an emergency situation.
The UN also points out that two children out
of 10 do not attend primary school, and the literacy
level is just 61% for the population over 10 years of
age.
“It’s a mess, the people down there are really suffering
… it’s gone from bad to worse,” Glynn says.
“There are tens of thousands of disenfranchised
kids who hardly eat and have no education.” Wings
Over Haiti, however, is bringing something beautiful
to these struggling families in Ranquitte. “Our
goal in a short period of time is to feed, give medical
attention and to educate 400 kids in this particular
area, and we’re well on our way now,” he continues.
The fourth annual Hamptons Artists for Haiti
benefit, which will be held across three airplane
hangars at East Hampton Airport, hopes to significantly
advance WOH’s funds for the Ranquitte
project. The event will include a silent auction with
more than 40 works by local artists in all mediums.
Bijur’s wife and folioeast gallery founder and curator,
Coco Myers, gathered the selection from artists
she represents, along with donations from friends
of the cause. “They’re all Hamptons artists,” Myers
says. “There are some great pieces … I’m happy with
the mix.”
Alec Baldwin is this year’s honorary chair, and
the event’s honorary committee includes Donna
Karan, Patricia Arquette, Eric Fischl, Maria Bello,
Molly Channing and Emily Wickersham. “What’s
happening right now to the people of Haiti is tragic.
There is so much suffering, and the children there
can’t be forgotten,” Baldwin says. “When I learned
about the Wings Over Haiti school and their efforts
to feed and educate so many kids, and give them a
real shot at a better life, I jumped at the chance to
help in any way I could.”
Guests will enjoy an open bar, music by DJ Gian
Carlo (and possibly a Haitian band), hors d’oeuvres,
raffle prizes and more. The benefit will also debut a
new buddy program that allows donors to sponsor
individual students throughout their educational
journey at the WOH school.
“If you save a life, you save the world,” Glynn says,
noting that WOH’s goal isn’t to save Haiti, though he
imagines his students might one day effect change
there. “The goal is to give kids a chance.”
Visit wingsoverhaiti.net for tickets and info.
NEWS & VIEWS
WINGS OVER HAITI PORT AU PRINCE CLASSROOM. PHOTO: ARTHUR BIJUR
STUDENT AT WINGS OVER HAITI PORT AU PRINCE.
PHOTO: ARTHUR BIJUR
RANQUITTE HOME NEAR WINGS OVER HAITI SCHOOL,
ARTHUR BIJUR
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