Poverty, Inc. Follow-Up

Thanks to everyone who came out to support last weekend’s Poverty, Inc. event in Pittsburgh, PA, and special thanks to Northgate Church for hosting.  We were honored to have more than 115 attendees.

The night started with a quick introduction by Espwa VP, Chris Pfeiffer, and then got right into the movie.  What a life-changing perspective it offers!  Poverty, Inc. really illuminates some of the reasons why Espwa operates how it does.  Namely, that those in poverty are capable, worthy individuals who want to work and provide for their families, just like all of us.  They want to raise their families to be the best they can be and face struggles with faith along the way, just like all of us.  Many times, the “poverty” industry has intervened in ways that have ignored these facts and caused detriment to those it was trying to help.

At Espwa, we’ve tried to embrace a better approach, helping our Haitian friends realize their potential, empowering them to impact others.  We’ve always wanted to be a “hand up,” not a “handout.”  This documentary should cause each and every one of us to pause and consider how we think about the materially poor.

Following the movie, Mark Weber, one of the film’s co-producers, offered a lengthy Q&A session that drove home the movie’s content.  While still a young man, Mark has been to many places and seen what works and doesn’t work when it comes to poverty alleviation.  His added perspective was great to hear.  To hear more from Mark, check out a video of him speaking at this year’s Jubilee conference:


The evening ended with a sneak preview of the next phase of Espwa’s project, the Agrolide Farming Expansion.  We continue to support Jovenel in his vision of expanding to a new, 25 acre farm that will impact the surrounding community.  Look forward to the official release of the new video soon!

Thanks again to all who were involved in making this event happen.


Duquesne Speaking Event

On Monday, February 8th, the Espwa team presented our work and story to students and faculty at the Mylan School of Pharmacy, Duquesne University.

Espwa VP Chris Pfeiffer began with an overview of our work and current projects, followed by Gary Molinaro, Espwa Financial Director, who spoke about financial concerns when operating a non-profit in Haiti.  Espwa President Jen Schmidt video-conferenced into the event and provided a unique perspective on typical diseases and illnesses that medical professionals experience when practicing in Haiti.

We hope this event marks the beginning of a great partnership between Espwa and the Mylan School of Pharmacy.  The prospect of involving future classes of pharmacy students in our work is exciting, and motivates us to keep persevering in this great cause.

If you’re interested in making a donation that will pay for medications on our upcoming trip in March 2016, please click below.

Help Us Bring Meds in March!