January 9, 2015
Report to Board of Directors
Holy Spirit Foundation
Father Marek Bzinkowski
Follow-up from November 2013 Meeting (Minutes attached):
Since the last meeting in November 2013 the foundation leadership took the advice of board members and took back all
responsibility from JSIF for NEPA issues we were having. With continued support and guidance from Board members,
this allowed us to accomplish full certification from NEPA in September 2014. Thanks to Edgar Walter from the Diocesan
Office and his daughter Lise for their assistance in this matter which is more fully discussed under the Meat Processing
section of the Annual Report.
We also addressed a concern that perhaps we needed to be more conscious of displaying more publicly that the
Foundation is a Community Foundation and not exclusively a Catholic Service organization in order that it would be
viewed as being open to all. We did this by working with the schools on several occasions, which were all quite
successful (also further explained in Annual Report) and we believe our new internet café also helps to project this
image of inclusion as well.
Tax exempt status was pursued by Mr. Cousins.
Annual Report for 2014 Holy Spirit Foundation
Holy Spirit Catholic Church
The church continues to thrive and had 13 Baptisms, 9 First Communicates, 17 Confirmations, and 1 Funeral in 2014. It
has a large and active Youth Group which won the Diocesan Sport Competition with others from Saint Elizabeth and they
conducted a concert during the annual fundraising program for the church. The youth donated their fundraising toward
the food distribution program. The younger children produced a Christmas play December 28th. Biweekly prayer and
Bible study meetings at church members’ homes continue as well as all of the usual annual activities in the liturgical
calendar. These include our Crusade, Harvest Celebration and a privately sponsored meal served after Christmas in
celebration of the holidays donated by a sponsor from the US.
Holy Spirit Foundation
General/re all programs
 Community Advisory Committee: The Advisory Committee members continue to provide important feedback
about programs and decisions and daily issues on a regular yet informal basis.
 Visitors: Many visitors came to Maggotty.
o Group from Fresno California
o A team of Jamaican Gynecologists led by Dr Stevens
o A group from State College Pennsylvania
o A group from Louisville Kentucky-Saint Albert Parish
o A group from New York
o Helping Hands –on several occasions in 2014
o A group from Good Shepherd Parish- conducted Bible School for Children
o A youth group from Chicago Illinois
o Hosted a luncheon for the Bishops of the Antilles
o Saint Francis University Group– conducted micro lending program and rehabilitation services
o 3 day retreat for 70 from Saint Peter and Paul Church in Kingston
o Medicine Action Group visited twice conducting gynecological services
o Volunteer Health Care professionals from all over the world continue to staff the clinic
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Grants:
o
o
o
o
o
o
We were successfully funded by Adveniat for the purchase of a much needed new van and when
combined with funds from Saint Albert the Great, a Bishop in Poland, and the Polish Embassy, we
were able to finally purchase one.
We were successfully funded by the Universal Service Fund to replace the computers in the Computer
Centre and establish an Internet Café.
We received funds from Missionary Childhood for Education Program
We have submitted a grant request to Digicel for a tractor for the agricultural program
We hope to submit a grant for the building of the Training Centre this year. This would be the final
building structure conceived in the overall mission plan.
See Meat Processing Facility section for update on Jamaica Social Investment Fund disaster
Community Centre
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Food Distribution: In April about 300 food packages were distributed. In December, packages were distributed
to 350 of the neediest persons in the community. These persons included clinic visitors, parishioners and other
community members known to us and included rice, cooking oil, peas, a can of fish, powdered milk a pair of
shoes and a shirt.
Micro lending program: Conducted again this year by Saint Francis University students. 2015 will be their third
year.
FFP Farm program: Conducted in conjunction with Saint Albert the Great Church in Louisville KY, is planned to
continue to provide chickens and goats as well as support for selected families deemed likely to be successful.
Computer Centre: With improved internet (when it works) the Computer Centre can now utilize more standard
on line programs for teaching selected computer software programs as was suggested at the November
meeting. With the increasing availability of computers in various locations, the classes are now smaller which
allows for more personalized teaching for those needing special assistance. For those more familiar with the
basics of using computers, the standard programs can be used. The classes are under review in order that we
offer what is needed most by the poor in the community. Universal Service Fund has allowed us to not charge
fees and/or to charge reduced fees for our students in our program. The opening of the Internet Café was
attended by the Minister of Science Technology, Energy and Mining, Mr. Phillip Paulwell.
Use of the Community Centre by other groups: We hosted the interview process for the new principal for the
High School.
Use of the Church by other groups: We hosted a Christmas program for the Children’s primary school which
included a Christmas carol concert and was attended by over 500 children and many parents from the
community.
Other Community outreach efforts: When we received items we did not need on the various containers we
were sent, we shared the items with several local schools. These were very much appreciated by school officials.
Clinic/Sisters
The Sisters continue to staff the clinic and make arrangements for health care providers to serve on a volunteer
basis. Many volunteers– both local and international guests –are involved in this project. The chart below shows the
number of client visits for 2014.
Holy Spirit Clinic 2014
Month
Women
Men
Children
Total
January
444
240
225
909
February
527
224
221
972
March
610
264
230
1104
April
324
136
169
629
May
413
193
218
824
June
493
256
238
987
July
528
199
282
1009
August
251
127
123
501
September
462
215
208
885
October
629
273
303
1205
November
649
273
350
1272
December
394
189
186
769
Total
5724
2589
2753
11066
Dental
ECG
Ultrasound
Home Visit
Month
Total
January
30
20
4
February
30
17
3
March
39
25
2
April
35
17
2
May
22
66
3
June
31
30
3
July
20
33
9
August
32
8
September
37
4
20
October
34
12
16
10
November
36
13
9
December
34
25
11
Total
380
258
74
Total visits and procedures
11833
25
55
Education Program/ Agricultural Program
There are currently 200 children enrolled in the Education Program. This number goes up and down due to the fact
that they must comply with the stated expectations of the program which include having an adult contribute 5 hours
of work in the Agricultural Program every other month, show evidence of progress in school and consistent
attendance, and attend church on Sundays to collect their weekly allotment of funds for transportation and lunch.
We are currently growing pumpkin, peanuts, oranges and coconuts. We have requested funds for a tractor from
Digicel.
Meat Processing Facility
Saint Elizabeth Meat Processors (SEMP) continues to limp along but this project has proven to be the most
discouraging project of the mission. Since the last board meeting, we did take the board’s advice and take over the
NEPA required waste water treatment project from Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) who had assured us they
would and could handle this issue and would cover the cost as part of the proposal we submitted in January 2012.
With the assistance of Edgar Walter and Lise Walter, we were allowed by NEPA to get back into production in mid
September after the installation of the reed bed and other modifications was complete.
However, the expenses involved in paying for what JSIF did incorrectly and having to repeat those steps and then
incurring several other significant expenses left the “start up fund” depleted. In addition, due to our shut down for
such a prolonged and unknown period, we are now finding it difficult to obtain pork. The farmers stopped raising
pigs due to there being no market for them. The abattoir we had been in agreement with has both raised their price
and lowered their quality from what we originally discussed and there is no other local competitor.
We kept being assured by JSIF representatives that we would get the equipment we requested in January 2012. This
equipment request was based on the assessment done by a volunteer German Consultant who came for training
and consultation in the fall of 2011. The consultant recommended the precise equipment we needed to obtain in
order to increase production without increasing cost. We were assured early in 2012 that our project had been
deemed a good one and that it was only a matter of time and process before we would have the equipment. The
total investment from JSIF was to be $200,000.00 US. As of this date we have not received any equipment despite
the JSIF Annual Report for 2014 citing over $85,000.00 US being spent on our project.
We made the mistake of purchasing one of the items we had requested in 2012 (a smoker) last year because we
heard about its availability in Jamaica and it is very similar to the one we already had and can be maintained by the
same repair people. JSIF refuses to reimburse/buy that one which means our start –up fund is empty now.
We did move forward without JSIF on preparation of all of the written documents required by BSJ, and NEPA in
preparation for full production and began the process of preparing for HACCP certification in order to export.
However, without the equipment from JSIF, we will probably not be able to achieve production levels to warrant
seeking export permission.
We did maintain relationship with one distributor of the product while we were shut down but when we recently
saw it in the grocery in Montego Bay we realized sadly that we will probably never be able to rely on grocery market
sales to survive because they marked it up so much that we do not anticipate that they will be able to sell any. For
example, the Jerk sausage that we sold to them for 600 JA plus tax (about 100 which means about 700 JA) per pound
was being sold in Montego Bay for $2,105.14 per pound JA plus tax ($18.45 US plus tax per pound). We know it is
good, but really!!
So, our current strategy is to try to develop relationships with local tourist attractions, hotels and restaurants and to
make products tailored to their specific desires and needs in the hope that the mark-up will not be so great and that
the consumers might be more interested in locally sourced food.
Meanwhile, we still hope to find a manager/sales person to oversee the factory and will begin the process of getting
our own label approved. We have a potential person who might utilize the factory one day a week to produce
another product but this is only in initial negotiations and we do not know if it will be feasible and we will only
pursue it if it is at the very least a break even proposition.
We did attend EXPO in Kingston in February and the product was well received by those who tried it.