SIDNEY — Ben Scott Sr., of Piqua, was the guest speaker at the Sidney Rotary weekly lunch at the Moose.

He spoke about recent mission trips to Haiti and his involvement with the Food for the Poor organization. His most recent trip was to see a village that has been built by donations locally and matched by others through Food for the Poor. Scott said that even six years after the devastating earthquake hit Haiti, killing 250,000 Haitians and leaving more than a million people homeless, there are still thousands of tents occupying any green space and even the local dump.

Scott said that Haiti is the poorest of the poor countries in the Western Hemisphere. Working with Food for the Poor, the largest and most well-known mission organization in Haiti, which feeds 100,000 people every day, Scott organized a committee to raise funds to build 40 homes. The committee raised $410,000 to build those homes, a vocational school and a water treatment plant and to provide a goat and a fruit tree to each family. The homes are 285 square feet, made with concrete block and a metal roof, with a concrete floor. The joy that each family showed to a group visiting to see what had been accomplished was overwhelming, Scott said.

The 40 homes were built in 2010, and 22 homes were added in 2011 after additional fund raising. In 2012, the goal was again to build a village of 40 homes, including a community center/church. Enough funds were raised in 2013 and 2014 to build 65 homes. Scott’s leadership and fundraising by the committee set a goal in 2015 to build 60 homes every two years. Thirty-three have been built in 2015 and 27 will be completed this year. Scott said that their fundraising efforts are being matched one for one by Food for the Poorm and that organization helps coordinate locations of the new villages. He emphasized how important it was to provide the goat and fruit tree to each family and to build a community center/church in each of the villages.

Scott concluded his remarks by stating how blessed and fortunate he and his family have been to be able to participate in building 227 homes in Haiti. He thanked God for all those that have been willing to donate to the fundraising efforts and looks forward to building more villages in future years in Haiti.