Serving Hope to Haiti: 5th Annual “Hit for Haiti” Success
The 5th annual “Hit for Haiti” tournament and fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 4 was a giant success! Once again, they were blessed with beautiful weather and strong community participation for the pickleball, tennis, and platform tennis tournament benefiting the Higgins Brothers Surgicenter for Hope in Fonds Parisien, Haiti. This event, hosted at Homestead Country Club in Prairie Village, Kansas, has been popular for its different levels of play for men, women, single, double, and mixed-double teams. They saw more than 150 players, volunteers, and spectators at this year’s event.
This year, the Hit for Haiti event raised $400,000.
Dr. Ted Higgins (above, right), founder of the Surgicenter and Village Church member, shares, “This funding will carry us through to the new year for our security costs, medical supplies, and payroll for 82 staff members. What they are providing for their people goes beyond healthcare. They are providing hope for the future of Haiti.”
About the Surgicenter
Located in rural Haiti, the facility is the only 24/7 trauma, surgical, and obstetric care clinic in the area. The Higgins Brothers Surgicenter for Hope’s mission is to address the critical shortage of surgical facilities and trained surgeons in Haiti through the volunteer efforts of surgeons and others—and by raising monetary resources to develop long-term solutions in this impoverished, war-torn country. The clinic was officially opened and dedicated in December 2016, but the origins of Dr. Higgins’ work in Haiti date back to 1981. The facility‘s name honors Ted’s father, Edward, and uncle, Paul, who were both surgeons also. The Surgicenter is now fully run by Haitian doctors and staff, which is critical to their goal of reducing foreign dependence and promoting sustainable healthcare in Haiti. Learn more about the history behind their efforts and the Surgicenter complex HERE.
Support from Village Church
The Mission Committee of Village Presbyterian Church has been providing financial assistance by way of grant money each year to the Surgicenter since 2016. In 2024, Presbyterian Women of Village Church voted to use their “Thank Offering” donations to help purchase an ambulance for the Surgicenter. Dr. Higgins wrote an article in the summer issue of Horizons magazine sharing how those monies helped buy a much-needed vehicle for transporting rural patients to the clinic in Fonds Parisien for life-saving emergency care and to safely move stabilized patients to larger medical centers. Practitioners also use it to treat patients with chronic conditions in distant villages.
Gratitude from Dr. Ted Higgins: “I would like to thank the “Hit for Haiti“ event coordinator, Kerry Hartnett, development director Rozanne Prather, Village Presbyterian Church for their generosity and encouragement, the hospitality of Homestead Country Club, and all who attend or help each year to make this fundraiser the success that it is! Together, we can save lives.”
Learn more about the work of the Surgicenter at their website.
Learn more about how Village Church is involved in international missions.