In a time of global unrest, Bovet 1822 continues to support education in poor communities as a means of change. While Haiti remains the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere progress is being made. Thanks to the efforts of charity organizations such as Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ) and its dedicated partnership with Bovet 1822, access to middle and high school education for Haiti’s urban poor is becoming a reality.
Over 40 international APJ members and supporters traveled to Port-au-Prince to celebrate on June 19th. Along with APJ Founder and Academy Award® winning filmmaker Paul Haggis and Bovet owner and APJ supporter Pascal Raffy, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Susan Sarandon and Maria Bello were among those who made the trip to celebrate the Academy for Peace and Justice’s first graduating class and the opening of its newest building.
Pascal Raffy was an early supporter of the APJ cause. At the end of 2013, he was so moved by what he experienced working with APJ that he pledged an official, long-term partnership between his company and the charity. Bovet would contribute $1 million of support annually for at least five years to ensure that 100% of all public donations to APJ would go directly to their programs in Haiti.
APJ was created immediately following the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti when Paul Haggis gathered Hollywood friends in the backyard of his Santa Monica home and asked them to make five-year commitments to build a dignified middle and high school for the very poor of Port-au-Prince.
With overwhelming support, the Academy for Peace and Justice was built over the following years in partnership with The St. Luke Foundation of Haiti and Haggis’s own Artists for Peace and Justice foundation. It was in these early days that Bovet supported their first fundraiser with APJ in LA at the beginning of 2012. The Academy was then just beginning, but growing by 400 students per year, it reached capacity in 2015 and now serves 2,600 students on full scholarship. The Academy also provides its students with year-round access to free medical care through St. Luke’s hospital.
