Peter Fontana, the brother of Mario Fontana, and his wife Shay, who live in Florida, in 1999 started the Hope for Haiti Foundation. They built an orphanage at Kaliko Beach, Haiti and are developing many activities to provide a future for hundreds of children.

Their orphanage has eleven buildings and the necessary infrastructure such as water supply, electricity, internet access and transportation. They take in orphaned children as well as children from very poor, dysfunctional families. Their aim is to help these families stay together and, if possible, provide training and start-up help for businesses for the parents. Currently Holt International from the US coordinates the adoption of children by American families. Peter and Shay hope that someday a few of these children will return to Haiti to help alleviate the poverty and support their homeland to grow and prosper.

Fontana Foundation, while not directly involved in this initiative, supports the Hope for Haiti Foundation.

For more information, please visit www.fontanashopeforhaiti.org