The New York Yankees are proud to continue HOPE Week 2011 (Helping Others Persevere & Excel) on Wednesday by celebrating the Haitian refugees, aged 7 to 13, taken in by Ss. Joachim and Anne’s School in Queens, N.Y. following the country’s devastating January 2010 earthquake.

The Yankees will host the Haitian refugees for Wednesday’s 1:05 p.m. Yankees game, after which Yankees players CC Sabathia, Jorge Posada, Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon, along with Yankees coaches Mike Harkey and Tony Pena will join them for a Gray Line New York double-decker bus tour of Manhattan leaving directly from Yankee Stadium.

Stops will include the United Nations, where representatives of the body will greet the children, followed by the Empire State Building, where the children will participate in a ceremonial lighting of the building followed by a photo opportunity with the Yankees from the observation deck. The children and Yankees will then reboard the bus to visit Times Square.

The final stop will be at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where Archbishop Timothy Dolan will give a tour of the building and have dessert with the children in his private residence.

THE STORY OF THE HAITIAN REFUGEES OF SS. JOACHIM AND ANNE’S SCHOOL

For 15 child refugees who endured the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, it was the loving arms of Ss. Joachim and Anne’s School in Queens Village, N.Y., that took them in.

The children, now aged 7 to 13, arrived in New York with nothing, having lost loved ones and been witness to unspeakable horrors. All have taken to their new home and cherish their opportunity at an education. One child walks 45 minutes each way to school and another, who lost both of his parents, dreams of becoming president of his homeland so he can rebuild his nation. Even the school’s parochial vicar, Rev. Jean-Moise Delva, 34, was not spared tragedy as his Haitian elementary school collapsed, killing the parish priest who was his mentor.

Chad Jennings for Journal News