Maison Fortune Orphange Foundation Inc

Maison Fortuné Orphanage History

When the orphanage opened at the turn of the new millennium, four children lived in a single dwelling house in the center of Hinche.  Lefort Jean-Louis, the founder and director, recognized the vital needs of the young people for a roof over their heads, a stable social environment, nutritious food, and academic growth.  Lacking the resources to open a school, he hired a teacher and used the dining room as a classroom.  Within two months, the orphanage served 30 children, most of whom lacked any formal education. 

In 2002 the DiRenzo family from Virginia Beach heard of the orphanage through Brother Cosmas Rubencamp CFX, the Haitian Ministry Coordinator for the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia. After meeting Bro. Cos, Joseph DiRenzo decided that he wanted to become involved with the orphanage as the focus of his Eagle Scout project.  In 2002 he and his mother visited the orphanage and saw how great the needs were upon their return they united with their wider community in Hampton Roads Virginia to share their interest in supporting the mission of the Maison Fortuné Orphanage (MFO). Fortunately for the MFO, the DiRenzo family and friends formed into the Maison Fortuné Orphanage Foundation, Inc. and garnered enough funding for the orphanage to rent and occupy the space which now provides it a permanent home on Rue Veronique, in the Sheepa section of the city of Hinche in Haiti.

As the MFO grew, so did the need for a larger school. When the MFO first moved to the Rue Veronique site, the residents served grew to 60 and were at home in the three small dorm buildings and a kitchen/dining hall. Classes were held under mango trees, weather permitting.  In 2005 with the generous outpouring of gifts, the orphanage was able to able to construct a ten-room, two-story classroom building that is one of the finest structures for education in the Central Plateau. 

Currently the school serves pre-school to grade six students from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., providing education to residents and day school children from the Hinche community, all children who otherwise would not be able to access schooling.  The MFO provides secondary education, grades 7 to 13, to its residents by sending them to 5 high schools in the local area. 

The addition of an administration building followed in 2006 and supplements and enhances the main school building. The administration building consists of 13 rooms which serve as administrative offices and guest quarters for visitors to stay at MFO. 

With the continued generous support of the MFO Foundation’s network of donors, in 2009 the MFO bought a second campus in Village Creole, Hinche, almost equal in size to the current one on Rue Veronique. Construction soon began on a two-story dorm and a kitchen-cafeteria building to expand the MFO’s services to include girls. In 2010, after the catastrophic earthquake in Port-au-Prince and surrounding vicinity, MFO rented another facility adjacent to the Rue Veronique campus to provide for a hundred boys from Port-au-Prince who were orphaned and homeless from the 2010 earthquake, bringing its total number of residents to almost 250.  At present, MFO is in the process of eliminating the rental of the building next to the Rue Veronique property and our girls are safely accommodated at the property at Village Creole.