History

In summer of 2006, brothers Luke and Matt Wilkerson traveled to Haiti on what they deemed a “scouting mission”. Armed with a video camera, they went to experience first hand the poverty and violence of what the CIA factbook calls “the poorest country in the western hemisphere.”  Moved by the plight of the street children encountered on the trip, they quickly put out a short film, a first step in the move to become what is now Mercy League Haiti.

A board of directors formed in Luke Wilkerson’s hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee began to put structure around what was now his vision and passion, an agricultural school for boys.  As head of an infant organization, Wilkerson sought counsel from many directions, one of which was Shane Mattenly, director of Mercy League International. Mattenly had been a missionary in Haiti for several years, and as director of an organization with interests in three continents, was a valuable resource to Luke in these beginning stages. The result of this friendship is that Luke’s vision is taking shape in the form of Mercy League Haiti, the Haitian arm of Mattenly’s MLI.

MLH came under the official guidance of the larger non-profit  in summer of 2007. Wilkerson’s focus on issues such as sustainability, economic development, and care for the very most impoverished peoples so closely aligned with MLI’s vision that the relationship grew organically between the two organizations.  Evidenced by Mercy League International’s mission blurb,  “An  International faith-based humanitarian organization specializing in small-scale, grass-roots, sustainable solutions for disenfranchised, abandoned, and exploited people,” this C3, non-profit organization now provides the perfect structure, accountability, and support that Mercy League Haiti needs as it grows in vision and results.

Mercy League Haiti now functions as a non-profit in the U.S. under the status of MLI, and is near to achieving a separate Foundation status on its own in Haiti.