08/08/2026
Hi friends, I've just learned that 60 Minutes will be re-airing its wonderful piece about Have Faith Haiti from earlier this year tomorrow, Sunday Aug 9. If you missed it the first time, please tune in!
Here's a little behind-the-scenes on how feature came together, and how our kids responded to it (full link to the newsletter at havefaithhaiti.org in the comments⬇️)
PORT-AU-PRINCE — There are many things you don’t expect to see in Haiti, and one of them is Anderson Cooper coming across the tarmac, waving. But there he was, along with five members of his 60 Minutes crew, all of us about to squeeze into a helicopter heading to our orphanage.
By now it appears that many of you have seen the 60 Minutes segment on Have Faith Haiti, which aired on CBS this past Sunday. I have been barraged with emails, texts and phone calls reacting to the 13-minute segment.
Many people didn’t know I even operated an orphanage. That’s fine. Many people didn’t realize the dangers involved in getting there every month. That’s fine, too. We don’t do this for attention or empathy. And certainly people are busy with their own lives and don’t need to know the details of mine.
But the shining light of that CBS piece — as it should be, and as it came across — was our kids. Their humility. Their maturity. Their courage. They blew away the producers and Anderson Cooper himself, who kept asking me what was the “aptitude test” that we gave kids before entering, because he figured there must be a reason they all seemed so smart and engaged.
When I told him the only “test” to admitting kids was how in need they were of a new home, he was stunned.
Come to think of it, there were a lot of stunned looks with the whole crew during that process.
Here are a few behind-the-scenes details of how that 60 Minutes piece all came together.
SIX DEGREES OF IMMERSION
Months ago I received a call from a woman, a friend of a friend, who said she was friends with a producer at the 60 Minutes program. She asked if it was OK to pass on the story of our orphanage. I said sure, but didn’t expect much. This sort of six-degrees-from-someone-who-might-help-you thing happens a lot in the charity world. It often goes nowhere.
So I was surprised when I quickly received a text from the CBS producer, asking for a conversation. Several conversations later, they said they were interested in doing the story, and tried to coordinate dates.
We wound up choosing the New Year’s break, because Anderson had a couple of free days. I believe he actually flew down to Florida after hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve show from Times Square, then flew into Haiti the following morning. How he managed to look so fresh and collected is beyond me, but then, he’s a pro.
We chatted during the helicopter ride (which they filmed) and when we landed in Port-au-Prince, our armored cars drove us to the orphanage. The security team for 60 Minutes insisted we wear bullet-proof vests, which is why you see me in one in the piece (looking like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.)
Finally, when we reached the orphanage, the kids were waiting. They gave us a roaring welcome, complete with a bullrush for hugs and kisses. Anderson asked if that’s the reception I usually get and I said, “Pretty much, yeah.”
And it is.
