A dinner fundraiser to support mission work in Haiti will take place on Friday, April 16, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the New Covenant Mennonite Fellowship, 529 E. Farmersville Road, New Holland. Takeout and dine-in options will be available. A Haitian meal, including rice and beans and a dessert, will be served. The event is open to the public.

The event is an offshoot of a dinner fundraiser launched eight years ago by Lenord and Trish Bonnegre in Sugarcreek, Ohio. Two hundred eighty people attended the first event, and this number has grown. Lenord's twin brother, Genord Bonnegre, and his wife, Angela, and their family, of New Holland, decided to host their own fundraiser dinner in Pennsylvania.

Trish was raised in the larger Holmes County area of Ohio and met Lenord Bonnegre in Haiti over 21 years ago. They married in 2010. Together they launched Restoring Lives Ministry to serve the Haitian people through church activities, pastoral training, and providing education to youths and children. The ministry's goal is to bring freedom, deliverance, and hope to the people of Haiti.

Lenord felt he was being called to ministry in his late teens. Although the call to the ministry was clear, he was unsure how he should go about following it. Eventually, he began exploring how he could serve people in the United States and use these efforts as an avenue to raise funds to help his own people in the village of Passe boi d'ormes (pronounced "paws-bwadom") in Haiti.

Most of the food for the upcoming fundraiser will be prepared in the same style that Lenord grew up with. Donations will be accepted to benefit the ministry.

For more information, contact Angela Peachey Bonnegre at 717-330-6219.