Margaret Penicaud continues a longstanding Island-to-Island connection with her Fish Farm for Haiti project. Her kayak raffle raises funds for the cause.

A 10-year-old Vineyard project to raise money for disadvantaged in Haiti reached a milestone this year. The locally funded Haiti Fish Farm Project has raised more than $100,000.

Haiti is the poorest country in this hemisphere. Margaret Penicaud of Vineyard Haven and her close friend Jeanne Staples of Edgartown have been working closely with others to bring changes to the lives of some residents of that distant Caribbean country.

Tuesday afternoon’s earthquake in Haiti measured seven on the Richter scale, but the tragedy it created is incalculable. Yet as cries of “Amwe! Amwe!” — ”Help me!” in Creole — were reported heard in the rubble of a primary school in a Port-au-Prince neighborhood, already Vineyarders of all ages were doing what they could to answer the call.

Give a person a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a person to fish, feed him for a lifetime. That’s the old motto that keeps the Fish Farm for Haiti Project working every day.

The project funds a tilapia fish farm and primary school in Lilavois, Haiti, about 30 minutes outside of Port-au-Prince. There, students learn cooking, sewing, academics and now aquaculture studies, thanks to the work of Margaret Penicaud, director of the project, and other volunteers.