Background
Hope, Support, and Love for All.
The story In Pastor Guerry’s own words:
In July 2006, we started a Bible study in our home. Many people came because they knew me as a singer, and many of them accepted Christ in our house. Once they accepted Christ, they became hungry for His Word, so we held more Bible studies. That is how the ministry started. We invited friends and people we met to our home to watch Christian movies, talk about them and get to know each other. Our little group grew to more than 100 regular members, and soon we used the whole house for church. By 2018, we had more than 295 members, with smaller churches in the mountains and in nearby communities.
We started a school for our friends’ children, and orphans began to arrive. Haiti is a very poor country, and our members had very little money to give, but they gave their time to help with the school and the orphanage. Soon we had almost 100 children in the orphanage and more than 200 in school. We were always struggling to feed the children. For many of the school children, the lunch we served was the only meal they would have that day.
The Lord works in mysterious ways. In 2010, a terrible earthquake struck Haiti and nearly destroyed our building. In the weeks that followed, my wife Gerda became very ill, and I had no dry place to care for her or for our four children. So we put ourselves in God’s hands and got on a plane. We arrived in the United States with nothing, and I contacted missionaries I knew, who reached out to others to help us. The Riggin family took us in and welcomed all six of us into their home.
The Lord worked through Dr. Mary Riggin to heal Gerda, and for the next year and a half, Jerry and Mary housed and cared for my family. Part of me longed to stay with my family in the comfort of the United States, but I could not leave all those children in Haiti. I traveled back and forth to Haiti to begin putting the pieces back together.
With the help of many friends, brothers and sisters, including members of the United Methodist Church, we were able to reopen parts of the school, the orphanage and the church. Many of those brothers and sisters became Zamar Ministries, Inc. in the United States, and my brother Jerry Riggin now leads it as President.
We had most of our work running again, although in badly damaged buildings, when the hurricane hit in 2016. It caused more damage, and our well went dry. We had to buy water for the children every day. Once again we were in great need, and once again the Lord provided. In 2017, Jerry and Zamar Ministries, Inc. drilled a new well for us with both manual and electric pumps. Jody and Jamie Johnston of One Ball Village added a water purification system, and neighbors began coming from all over for clean, fresh water. They also heard about the Lord, and the church kept growing.
There are so many hungry children here, far more than we can feed. Our first school is still in my old house in Croix-des-Bouquets, a town about 8 miles northeast of Port-au-Prince, and over the years we have built new kindergarten and primary classrooms in the back yard. We also continue to care for orphaned children in our orphanage. This school year, through our Feed Hope program, we serve a hot meal five days a week to 887 children in five schools: 285 in Garreau, 210 in Mirebalais, 167 in Croix-des-Bouquets, 115 in Cornillon and 110 in Maïssade.
Zamar is a community center where people come for clean water, food for their children, prayer and counsel for parents, and people who love and care for orphans and school children as their own. Medical teams from the United States used to hold clinics here, but those visits are on hold for now because of the security situation. Insecurity in parts of Haiti has made daily life, travel and supplies harder, but our pastors, teachers and cooks keep serving every day.
There is no way we can do this without the Lord’s help. Teachers, food, fuel for cooking, electricity and school supplies all cost money, and there is very little here. We know how to make a little go a very long way, and we are used to doing without many things. But the only way we can care for these children is that the Spirit of God moves hearts to help us. I know He will provide for all these children, and I pray He does it through you.
Pastor Guerry Lefranc
Zamar Ministries
Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti
Text Updated October 2026
Where Zamar Is Today
Twenty years on, the church, the school and the orphanage in Croix-des-Bouquets are still at the heart of Zamar. Here is what the ministry looks like this school year.
Feed Hope 2026-2027
887 children receive a hot meal at school five days a week, from October 2026 to June 2027. Food is bought in Haiti and cooked at each school by local cooks.
- Garreau285
- Mirebalais210
- Croix-des-Bouquets167
- Cornillon115
- Maïssade110
- Total887
Who leads the work
Pastor Guerry Lefranc leads the ministry in Haiti from Croix-des-Bouquets, with Haitian pastors, teachers and cooks in each community. In the United States, Jerry Riggin serves as President of Zamar Ministries, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Safety Harbor, Florida.
Church, school and orphanage
In Croix-des-Bouquets, the church still meets, the school still runs in the house where Zamar began, with new kindergarten and primary classrooms built in the back yard, and the orphanage continues to care for children. The well drilled in 2017 still provides clean water to the community.
Serving through hard times
Insecurity in parts of Haiti has made daily life, travel and supplies harder. Because the work is carried out by local leaders who live in these communities, the schools and kitchens keep serving the children. Visits from American medical teams are on hold for now because of the security situation.