History of the Lazarus Project

In May of 1993 a small group of Lutheran Pastors from South Florida went on a “pilgrimage”  to Haiti under the sponsorship of Food for the Poor (FFP).   Later that year they met at FFP to review their pilgrimage experience.  Their consensus was, “We can’t just sit here and do nothing.  We have to give our people an opportunity to be involved in serving Haiti’s wretched poor in Jesus’ name.”  One of the pastors offered this suggestion:  “Whatever we do, let’s call it ‘The Lazarus Project’ – based on Jesus’ parable of the rich man and the beggar, Lazarus, who lay daily at his doorstep, begging to be fed with the crumbs from the rich man’s table.”  (Luke 16:19-31)  This was the birth of the Lazarus Project – a special opportunity for Lutherans, within the ministry of Food for the Poor, to help be directly involved in serving Haiti’s poor. 

At the suggestion of Food for the Poor,  the first focus of The Lazarus Project was an abandoned orphanage in a remote suburb of Port au Prince.  This was at the height of the political and international embargo of Haiti.  It soon became apparent that trying to revitalize the orphanage was a next to impossible task.  At the time the most urgent need in Haiti was that of feeding its starving people.  So all of the  funds raised by the Lazarus Project in 1993 and 1994 were devoted to FFP’s feeding programs in Haiti, feeding 1000’s of starving people each day.

When the embargo ended, Food for the Poor suggested that Lazarus  Project representatives re-visit Haiti to determine a new focus for its ministry.  In January of 1995 this was done by a group of 11  pastors and lay people from churches in Florida and the Washington, D.C., area.  After visiting several  ministries, all desperately in need of assistance,  the group decided to recommend that the Lazarus Project focus on a ministry called The Village of Hope in the Ganthier region some distance east of Port au Prince.