The after-school program at St. Paul’s includes tutoring, like Joyce Harvey (above) helping Brian Saint Val with his math, and a daily meal enjoyed by dozens of students, including Rachelle Poliard and Angie Cyril (below). Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Tim Pallesen
The poorest of the poor were right outside the church door.
A 12-year-old boy who brought his three sisters to St. Paul ’s Episcopal Church told Joyce Harvey, a retired schoolteacher in the congregation, that he needed help with his schoolwork.
That’s how Paul’s Place began 14 years ago, as a mission in the heart of Haitian immigrant neighborhood of southwest Delray Beach.
Harvey was alarmed when she realized the children had no food in their house across the street from the church.
The Rev. Chip Stokes arrived at St. Paul ’s in 1999 to discover that 70 percent of neighborhood children drop out of school.
Parents working several low-paying jobs aren’t home to help with schoolwork.
“We couldn’t ignore that,” Stokes said. “I believed we had a moral obligation to step up.”
Stokes had been ready at the time to rally his congregation to support foreign missions. “But I couldn’t do it because our mission was right in front of us,” he said.
Giving money to foreign missions might have been the easier alternative.
“When you live in the midst of people in serious need, you don’t see them,” Harvey said. “But you see the needs of those far away. It’s hard to come face to face with those in need.”
Yet the congregation did just that — hiring a full-time director and creating an after-school program called Paul’s Place in a house behind the church.
Volunteers jumped in to provide free after-school tutoring and a hot dinner meal for the children of Haitian immigrants who were working and unable to provide either.
The stated mission is “to provide a safe, welcoming and nurturing environment to enhance the emotional, intellectual, physical and spiritual lives” of the neighborhood children.
A Haitian-American social worker provides home visits to assist families with housing, employment, school issues and health.
Donations from inside and outside St. Paul ’s pay for salaries, food, field trips and office supplies.
The goal is to give students the tools and support they need to stay in school, graduate and go on to college.
Results in the first 12 years are astounding. To date, more than 90 percent have stayed in school. Of those in the program long enough to measure, 95 percent continued onto college or a good job.
“Paul’s Place is definitely a life saver,” said Kervins Germain-Philistin, a sophomore at Florida Atlantic University.
He was accepted into the after-school program at age 7. “I didn’t know the language and I was struggling in school,” he recalled.
Germain-Philistin excelled with the tutoring.
Patrons paid for his high school education, room and board at St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton.
Other students also are fulfilling dreams they never thought possible.
But Paul’s Place reached capacity last month, forcing director Kathy Fazio to turn away children for the first time.
“This is breaking my heart,” Fazio said. “I literally cried.”
St. Paul ’s lacks space to expand its school.
“We want to find other local churches who might help us do satellites of Paul’s Place,” Stokes said.
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