What has come from the first trip to Haiti

Our Founder's Story

Our story begins in 1999 when Kim Waller, a Youth Director from Warren, MI., thought it might be an exciting adventure to join forces with 2 other churches and take 22 high school youth (including her 19 year old daughter and 15 year old son) and 8 adults to Port Au Prince, Haiti on a mission trip. Little did she know how much this trip would change her life, her friends, her family and the way she viewed everything around her.

This story continues with Keith, Kim's husband, who wasn't too keen on the idea of 3/5's of his family going to a country he only knew of as dangerous. Being the police officer he is, he decided to go on the trip with the sole purpose of protecting them. He would never have imagined how attached he would become to this country and it's people.

Kim and Keith had different experiences on this first trip...

• Kim enjoyed the excitement of the unknown and letting God lead every decision, while Keith was drawn to what he knew and the ways God could use him and the team to accomplish things for His Kingdom.
• Kim loved going to the hospitals and making connections with the sick and dying, while Keith found a sense of accomplishment from building walls for churches and painting a Christian school.
• Kim looked forward to holding, feeding and changing infants and playing with toddlers at the orphanage and school, and Keith used his God given gift of playing his trumpet for church services.
• Kim loved doing preparations for the trip back in the States while Keith was the enforcer (while) in Haiti.

... but they had the same outcome, an intense passion for wanting to help the people of Haiti, both physically and Spiritually!

They wondered what God had planned for their future and how they could make a difference when so much needed to be done!

Their decision was to return to Haiti regularly and to bring more volunteers,
... to pass on the excitement and blessing of helping others in great need,
... to educate the people in the States about the need in Haiti by speaking at churches and organizations,
... to fundraise and bring funds down for rice, beans and supplies for construction,
... to encourage our Brothers and Sisters in Haiti by helping where they needed it,
... to sponsor children (and encourage others to sponsor as well) so they could receive a Christian education, tools for the future and a meal each day.
... to stay in contact with our new Haitian friends so they would be more aware of what was needed.
... to be open to what God had planned for their time and gifts.

With all these intentions of being Jesus' Hands, Feet, Arms, and Voice to the Haitians Kim and Keith have never gotten used to how blessed they are by the Christian Haitians themselves!  Their pure Joy, ever-present Hope and Trust in our Savior, Jesus Christ has always been very inspiring and uplifting.

Kim and Keith feel at home in Haiti. They, along with the board members of "Hope for Haiti" and many other volunteers, have very close friends in this Third World country. They have had the privilege of having some of their Haitian friends in their homes and churches and Kim and Keith were also blessed to be able to attend a "family" wedding in Haiti. Yes, it is very much like home and family to them and they are excited to have shared a part of their journey with you in hopes you would come to love, encourage and support these special people living in conditions we are so unfamiliar with.

Over the past 13 years, Kim and Keith pray all their efforts, including the efforts of the many who have gone with them, have brought Glory and Honor to the King of Kings and that the Name of Jesus Christ has always been, and continues to be, uplifted and praised!!!

Encouraging Bible Verses

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
Luke 12: 48b

As we left the Children's Hospital the first year in 1999, with sounds of children crying in the background, we wondered... how can we leave? What can we do? ... and then we were given the above verse. We have been entrusted with MUCH and MUCH is asked of us!!! It is time to SHARE OUR ABUNDANCE! God Almighty has provided for the world, but some of us take more than we need! We can't do it all, but we can do something and together, with the guidance of our Lord, much more will be accomplished!

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
John 15: 3

Our greatest example, Jesus Christ, laid His life down for us!! We have HOPE for a better future. May we be God's Hands and Feet and bring that Good News and Encouragement to our Brothers and Sisters in Christ in Haiti!

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."
Hebrews 10: 24

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."
1John 3: 18

"All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor,
the very thing I was eager to do."
Galatians 2: 10

"Freely you have received, freely give."
Matthew 10: 8b

"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with
you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well."
1 Thessalonians 2: 8

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Ephesians 2: 10

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Acts 1:8

And most important:

"Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men."
Ephesians 6: 7

May all of our efforts bring GLORY to the KING OF KINGS!!
He has provided us with energy to carry out anything He needs done!

What has been accomplished since 1999?

• We help feed 3 orphanages (approximately 72 children) several months out of the year.
• We regularly take rice, beans, toiletries, and underwear into impoverished cities in the Port Au Prince area.
• These mission teams have built an orphanage, helped build 3 churches, a school, rebuilt a different school and helped rebuild homes after the earthquake, added classrooms on to a growing school, and 2 guesthouses.
• We continue to do crafts and play with the kids at 3 different orphanages!
• Hope for Haiti has also offered willing people in the United States to be Jesus' Hands, Feet, Arms, and Voice to His children in Haiti! People of many different ages (ranging from 16-80+ years of age) and from 10 different states have taken part over the past 20 years!

We Thank our Almighty God for giving us this opportunity to serve His children! We seem to come out of each trip more Blessed than what we went to do! To Him be the Glory in all we do!!!