Jamie and Ali McMutrie have a significant and well-documented connection to the children of Haiti. Since 2002 until the 2010 earthquake, they volunteered as operators of an orphanage in Port-au-Prince that housed approximately 130 children, ranging in age from birth to 12 years. In caring for the children, Jamie and Ali did everything from securing their daily well-being and caring for their medical needs to tending to their educational and social development and aiding in their adoptions. Over time, more than 500 of the children in their care were adopted by loving families in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

In the week after the earthquake, which rendered the orphanage building uninhabitable, the McMutrie sisters managed to keep all the children safe and well. At the same time, they conducted an aggressive social and national media campaign that influenced federal, state, and local government officials to bring 54 orphans, most of whom were already far along in the adoption process, to the United States.

Jamie and Ali returned to Haiti just months after the earthquake. Since their return, they have helped families still overcoming the devastation of their country to find employment, supply their loved ones’ most basic needs, and provide for their children’s educations.

Junia’s Story

Junia is just the kind of woman who has been touched by Jamie and Ali’s work. Raising two daughters on her own without the aid of their father, who was abusive to her, Junia lost her job as a cook at one of Haiti’s few beach resorts when the company unexpectedly downsized. With no one to help her, she thought she would have to place one of her daughters in an orphanage while she looked for work to support her other daughter. She thought she had no other choice. But thankfully, Jamie and Ali thought differently, and offered Junia a job working for their organization. Junia not only got to keep both daughters with her, she also got to fulfill a life-long dream: to work with children. Jamie and Ali also helped Junia raise the money she needed to send her daughters to school, something many women like Junia cannot afford to do. Although she a busy, hard-working, single mother, Junia recently took into her care another child, Jeremie, whose mother had died giving birth to him and whose father is unknown. Jeremie needed very special care—he weighed less than 2 pounds at birth—and Junia gave it to him. As she told Jamie and Ali, Junia plans to adopt Jeremie because they helped her, and now it’s her turn.