Gala to help Haitian children to be held in Belmont

Model and actor Brooklyn Decker will be the featured speaker when Gaston County Rotary clubs, Rotary International and the Belmont-based Promise for Haiti organization host a gala evening at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden raising funds to complete and equip a children's wing at a hospital in Haiti.

Impoverished children in one of the poorest regions of Haiti will be the beneficiaries of the event, which will kick off a campaign to raise $206,000 for the hospital project.

The date for the dinner and program is May 9, 2024, 7 - 9 p.m. Tickets are $100, and table sponsorships are $1,000. Donations also are being accepted.

Decker, who grew up in Matthews, is known for her modeling career and for her roles in films and on television. She also is an ardent supporter of projects to help the people of Haiti. She will be joined at the local event by Dr. Guy Theodore, who is the founder of Hospital Bienfaisance, where the children's wing is being built.

Hospital Bienfaisance is in the city of Pignon in Haiti's northern Central Plateau, far from where violence is being reported in the capital city of Port-Au-Prince.

Under the leadership of Past President Whitney Norton, Belmont Rotary Club formed an alliance with the Rotary Club of Pignon, Haiti, in 2022, when Norton began working to support the pediatric wing project at Hospital Bienfaisance.

The 65-bed hospital serves a region of more than 300,000 people. It has two operating rooms, a lab, endoscopy, X-ray and pharmacy, and it also trains doctors and nurses. The hospital provides care for all who walk in the door, whether or not one can pay. Now it is trying to complete construction of a special wing where children can receive treatment separated from adult patients.

"Since the inception of the hospital in 1981, there has been a need for the children to have a wing dedicated to their healthcare," said Promise for Haiti President Dr. Omer Shedd of Cramerton. "Currently, children are placed in wards with adults. With the pediatric wing and medical equipment, we will be able to provide dedicated and safe space for the children in the hospital."

For more information and to purchase tickets and sponsorships, or to make a donation, go to promiseforhaiti.org/gala.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gala to help Haitian children to be held in Belmont