A founding member of the Haiti Project’s Medical Advisory Board and an award-winning Haitian-American writer will be this year’s honorees at the organization’s annual Art and Soul Gala March 28 at the Vassar Alumnae House.

The work of Dr. Daniel Aronzon, former Chief Medical Officer of Vassar Brothers Medical Center, and writer Edwidge Danticat will be celebrated at the event. The gala, which starts at 5:30 p.m., is the Haiti Project’s major fundraiser for a medical clinic in the village of Fiervil that serves more than 3,000 residents in 50 communities in the mountains of northwest Haiti. A solar-powered laboratory, funded by members of the Haiti Project’s Medical Advisory Board and Rotary International, is in the final stages of completion.

Haitian art will be on display at the event, and live entertainment will be provided by the Vassar Student Jazz Club and Paul Pesco’s band, La Bonne Vie. Hors d’oeuvres, desserts and beverages catered by Twisted Soul will be served. For tickets, priced at $75, go to The Haiti Project website.

Isabella Sagman, Vassar College class of ’26 and Vice President of the Haiti Project’s student health committee, said funds raised at the event are critical to the organization’s mission. “The Gala is a night of celebration, remembrance, and looking forward. The money we raise supports our clinic in Fiervil, Haiti for another year and enables us to imagine new possibilities,” Sagman said.

In 2012, Dr. Aronzon became the founding Chair of the Medical Advisory Board, which oversees the operation of the clinic. He said every $100 raised at the Gala would pay for seven visits to the clinic. “No place on this planet will your dollar go further than supporting these patients in these villages,” he said. “For many, this is the first time in their lives that they are able to access medical care.”

Dr. Aronzon graduated from New York Medical College and completed his Pediatric Residency and 4th year Chief Residency at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine—Jacobi Medical Center. He then joined the faculty at the NYU School of Medicine while also serving as Director of the Pediatric Emergency Service at Bellevue Hospital Center. He later became founder of the Children’s Medical Group, one of the largest, most recognized practices in the Northeast and also served as Chief Medical Officer at Vassar Brothers Medical Center and Health Quest, its parent.

Edwidge Danticat is a prolific Haitian American writer, who was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and relocated to the United States at the age of 12. Among her works are the Oprah’s Book Club selection Breath, Eyes, Memory, the National Book Award finalist Krik? Krak!, and American Book Award winner The Farming of Bones. Danticat has received more than 30 prestigious awards. Her latest work, Everything Inside: Stories, won the 2020 Bocas Fiction Prize, the Story Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Prize.

About The Haiti Project

The Haiti Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is affiliated with the Vassar Haiti Project, a student organization that supports the group’s work in Haiti. Their work together is an experiential education program that teaches student volunteers the theory and practice of global citizenship. In addition to the purchase and sale of original Haitian art, contributions benefit five initiatives in the northwest mountains of Haiti: education, reforestation, clean water access, a women’s cooperative, and health care.

Contact Larry Hertz, lahertz@vassar.edu, (845) 518-3098, (845) 437-7938 (Vassar College)