HAMMOND | Mike Fedele, the Hammond resident who founded a Haitian orphanage, wants to raise $2 million to resurrect the earthquake-damaged facility and expand its mission.

Fedele spoke last week at the second annual "Thank You" dinner for supporters of Life For the World, the nonprofit he established to support the Maranatha Orphanage and School. The facility and two other Haitian properties owned by the organization were nearly destroyed during the earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas in Jan. 12.

Fedele spoke of how the earthquake and its consequences expanded his vision.

Life For the World is committed to providing housing, medical clinics, education, food and water at the orphanage, he said. Plans call for a new school building, medical facilities, dormitories, trade school, playground, restaurant and bakery. The project includes job creation for Haitian adults, he said.

Since the earthquake, Northwest Indiana has embraced Fedele's mission.

More than 70 people attended Friday's dinner, more than three times the attendance last year.

Among them was Tom Gryzbek, president of St. Margaret Mercy Hospitals and a longtime supporter of the orphanage. Gryzbek has traveled to Haiti and helped buy 50 goats for the goat farm Fedele started to help the orphanage become self-supporting.

Fedele credited high school freshman Abbie Sawczak for donating about $200 from door-to-door sales of her hand-made bracelets and fifth-grader Elyse Dunham for coordinating bake sales, car washes and garage sales.

He commended Wadsworth Elementary School of Griffith and Daniel Webster Elementary School of Gary, which together raised $3,000, and Compagnia della Bellezza Chicago, an upscale Italian salon, which also raised $3,000 at the behest of a Cedar Lake resident.

"I thank God every day for everyone that has been a support for Life For the World," Fedele said.