Chestnut Hill family honored for project in Haiti

By Cindy Cantrell, Globe Correspondent

Rebecca and Jean-Paul Valette of Chestnut Hill were thrilled to be surrounded by their children and grandchildren when they were honored recently for their humanitarian work with an award from the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation. After all, philanthropy has become a family affair.

Inspired by a sermon given by a Boston College Law School associate professor and foundation board member, the Rev. Francis Herrmann, who told of his service trips to Haiti, the Valettes traveled to the troubled Caribbean island nation with their then 14-year-old granddaughter, Zoe, in 2007. During their weeklong stay, they witnessed the difference that the foundation’s educational, medical, and social programs have made in the impoverished rural area of Fond des Blancs.

‘‘We realized that whatever financial contributions we could make would go very far,’’ said Rebecca Valette, a professor emeritus in Boston College’s Romance languages and literatures department.

This spring, Zoe and her sister, Esme — both of whom have raised money at school for the Haitian people — traveled to Haiti with their father, Pierre Valette, and aunt, Nathalie Valette, to produce a video.

‘‘I’m so proud our charitable values have been transmitted to the next generation,’’ said Rebecca Valette. ‘‘That is the greatest award.’’

For more information about the foundation, go here.