Dear friends,

While the world celebrates the New Year, Heart of God Haiti is dealing with painful news received from our team in Haiti on Wednesday. We are very saddened to inform you that Dr. Johnny, Pastor Dicksent’s close and dear friend who also served as the physician in charge of both the staff and the children at Helping For Christ Victory Center, has died.

Although the details are sketchy, we understand that he was going to his hometown during the holidays to visit his two children, Claudy (14) and Tamarra (11). The children live with their mother who is in Acapulco completing her studies and were visiting their family in Haiti over the holidays. As Dr. Johnny was traveling with a colleague in Saint Marc, he was apparently ambushed, robbed and shot 3 times and left for dead…his colleague was also killed. It will be impossible to know anything more due to the inadequate legal processes in Haiti.

Dicksent was contacted by Dr. Johnny’s uncle; he was requested to identify the body. Once it was confirmed that it was indeed Dr. Johnny, he had the job of informing his mother and family.

We spoke at length with Pastor Dicksent last night via Skype; these are his exact words: “I am in shock now, I am the one that was more close with him, he saved my life when I had the accident, he was there at DR when I had the intervention (heart surgery). He was there to recomfort me when I had the problem at the Ministere on November the 14th, he was the one who empty his bank account to help mission. How could I have the Heart to stay calm?” As you can imagine, he is very distraught especially since Dr. Johnny was a key team member, though mostly in the background, helping us through the myriad of challenges associated with the orphanage.

As you may remember from my last email, we are nearing the end of the official certification process to become a government-recognized orphanage. Dr. Johnny invested 100% of his life savings to help make these efforts a success – it was his dream to see our orphanage grow to become a model for other ministries throughout Haiti. Dicksent is determined that the work to complete the process will continue as a tribute to his dear friend’s life.

We have just wired the funds for the funeral to insure that Dr. Johnny receives a proper burial and the family is not burdened with raising funds for his final expenses during this time of grief and pain.

Our hearts are broken! I grew to love and respect Dr. Johnny and his heart for Dicksent and the children. It’s never easy to lose a long-time friend and colleague who shares your passion for God, for children and for your mission. We have included a few additional photos at the end of this post.

Scott Ingram, HGIM’s Minister of Evangelism, and I will be traveling to Haiti later this month; Scott will be staying at the compound for about 5 months. As always, God’s timing is perfect as Scott will be there to offer spiritual, emotional and administrative assistance during this time of transition.

We have a lot of work ahead of us to fill the gap left by this wonderful man. Please pray with us and for us during this difficult time as we find comfort in the Word of God:

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.  (Isa 40:29-31 NIV)

Thank you for your prayers and your constant encouragement. The last thing Dr. Johnny said to me via email will help us through our grief as we continue the tasks at hand:  “Let’s work together in the way that God had chosen us to follow.”

We will keep you up to date in the weeks ahead as the work Dr. Johnny poured his life into is completed and God is glorified by the combined efforts of our team in Haiti and YOU!

God bless,

David Young
Executive Director
Heart of God Haiti

Note:  If you have not done so yet, please take a few moments to listen to the Heart of God Haiti podcast of an interview conducted by Bill Heid, Solutions From Science, on Off The Grid Radio. We have included a link HERE for your convenience. 

Dear Friends:

It has been another action-packed year in Haiti.   We have had abundant obstacles placed in front of us yet God has continually established that He is in control, bringing us through them all.

January to February 2011 – Gangs controlled the road system in and around our compound due to the civil unrest caused by the pending elections. The sound of gunfire was the daily norm and gang members attempted to breach the compound’s walls to steal our provisions. We sent out our team to get supplies and they were ambushed. Pastor Dicksent and two other pastors were beaten during the ambush; we made the decision that moving move out of the PaP area was necessary for the safety of the children.

March to April 2011 – The final round of presidential elections were held and  Michel Martelly was elected president. We sent teams out to the find a new location. With the generous and timely gift from Solutions From Science (SFS) we were able to find a new location in early March 2011 and begin to prepare the location for our people to move in. At the end of April we set up a deception plan to slip through the gang-controlled streets and made our way to our new location in the Kenscoff area of Haiti.  I have to thank the Army for the bit of deception training they gave me-it came in handy.

May to August 2011 – We used the solar generator from Solutions From Science to connect to an inverter that in part, powers our center. This was a key factor for having a power source to filter our water supply. Again, this simple gift continues to pay dividends giving us the ability to live off the grid. We spent time making new connections in our new area. We set up and held regular church services and waited for a new prime minister to be appointed to get our official orphanage certification. Unfortunately, the lawyer our team in Haiti worked with was unable to successfully secure the official documentation for us.

September to October 2011 – We received a gift from a generous donor that allowed us to dig a well and install two water cisterns. This project was a huge success. The well is now producing water which saved us $150 per week to have water brought to our location. Not to mention that it gives us the ability to survive if our supply lines get cut again in the future. Also, we can use the water for farming projects. The gift of clean water is the gift of life as the quality of life is drastically improved and the chances of survival increased in a very difficult environment. We also moved 17 of our older children out of the orphanage and found them jobs; this brings us down to a total of 60 children (48 girls and 12 boys) under our care at Helping For Christ Victory Center.

November to December 2011 -The team in Haiti worked directly with the Ministry of Social Affairs and were given a detailed checklist that must be completed prior to the final certification being granted.   As of this writing most of the items are completed and we are hoping to have everything finalized by mid-January 2012.

Additional Highlights in 2011 – We are sending our first full time American missionary, Anthony “Scott” Ingram, to Haiti with an arrival date of late January 2012. He will be ministering in Haiti for five months; a trip is planned to go with him to get him started on his mission.

Our staff in Haiti has worked for no wages for the past year and has given above and beyond what we could expect. Dr. Johnny, our center doctor, has spent his life savings on supporting the mission in Haiti. Many others have risked their lives to care for the children and to spread the Gospel.

We have a new website (see http://heartofgodhaiti.org ) which covers more of the work we’re doing in Haiti. We also now have a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Heart-of-God-Haiti/169157866499469 ) and we’re posting updates on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/heartofgodhaiti ).  Please help us out by sharing this newsletter on your Facebook and/or Twitter pages (the links can be found at the top of this email).

We fully realize that times are tough but folks like you often ask what are our needs are. We have an immediate need to raise funds for our missionary. The cost of travel to get him to Haiti is about $1,000 and we are budgeting about $800 per month for his expenses while in Haiti so our total costs for the missionary will be about $5,000.

We have other costs that we could use help with as well. For example, we are working on a program to make our team more self-sufficient. We can purchase small motorcycles for about $1,500 and we can make about $100 per week using the motor cycles to taxi people up and down the mountain near our center.

One of Mr. Ingram’s objectives while he is in Haiti is to find other projects that make our people in Haiti more self-sufficient. I am sure he will report back to us with specific project opportunities.

We, of course, have our recurring monthly costs with which we always need your support. Feeding everyone at least one time per day costs us approximately $2,500 per month. (Note:  When the older children moved out of the orphanage, our monthly budget was reduced significantly from $3,500 to $2,500.)  We also have three people with glaucoma; the medicine costs about $300 per month. The internet costs $110 per month and phone costs about $150 per month. These costs are mandatory as communication is key to this mission’s success.

These are just the bare bones costs. Again, we fully realize that times are difficult but even just a small recurring contribution made monthly can make a major difference and have an eternal impact on a child’s life.

Thank you again for all of your support over the past year; please don’t forget about the mission in your year-end giving. We are going to need your support this year as well.

God bless,

David Young, Executive Director
Heart of God Haiti

PS … here is a link to a recent video that was made for Heart of God Ministries International . I hope you enjoy it.

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We are excited to announce that Dave Young (Executive Director), along with Jan Ross (President of  Heart of God International Ministries), will be interviewed by Bill Heid on “Off The Grid Radio” (OTG) this next week; the podcast will be aired on Friday, December 30th. Dave will be talking about what God has done throughout this past year in Haiti and how friends and partners like Bill Heid and OTG and, of course YOU, have made it possible to continue to impact the lives of children with the love of Jesus Christ–children who have been orphaned by the devastating earthquake in January 2010.

In order to introduce you to Bill Heid, Co-Host of OTG Radio and President/Founder of Solutions From Science, we’re honored to share an insightful article he wrote and distributed to his constituents this Christmas. We pray you will be inspired and challenged as you read, Troubled? Or Faithful Like The Wise Men by Bill Heid. And, don’t neglect to click the link at the end as Bill shares from his heart this Christmas in his article, Comfort and Joy.

Don’t Forget!  Join us on Friday, December 30th, for the Heart of God Haiti podcast with Off The Grid Radio‘s Bill Heid…mark your calendar now!

* * * * *

Troubled? Or Faithful Like The Wise Men

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2:1-3 KJV)

The Bible doesn’t tell us a lot about the Wise Men. We know that they traveled a great distance, brought gifts of faith, and intended to worship the new born “King of the Jews.” Interestingly, of the Christmas cards my wife and I have received this year, the Wise Men show up more than any other Christmas theme. I love the story and appreciate the fact that these travelers from the East are a part of our culture.

But I’ve always been puzzled at the third verse in Mathew’s account. The word “troubled” here also gets translated as “agitated” by more than a few scholars. What’s odd here is that Herod assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people for a big ole prophecy conference, basically calling together the religious and political control-grid in Jerusalem at that time. Interestingly, they all had one thing in common: They all understood that the announcement of a new star, a rival power, was going to be a direct threat to their power, control, and way of life.

This threat seemed to trump any thoughts about the coming Messiah which was supposed to be so much a part of the hope of Jewish history. Think about it. You would expect this kind of troubled behavior from a knucklehead like Herod. Yet even before Christ’s birth, the phrase : “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14) was the operative thought pattern from the majority of “religious” people then as it was at the end of Christ’s life.

This is also the predominant attitude today by both Christians and non-Christians alike who echo the basic beliefs of the rulers and elders of Jerusalem in Herod’s day. It’s one thing to have the head knowledge of where the Messiah was to be born, as they seemed to have. It’s quite another to get on the first train to Bethlehem to worship him.

So enter three wise off-the-grid travelers from the East. I say off the grid because the wise men in question, as the text shows, were true believers like so many other “hidden ones,” who are often found in places we would least expect them to be. The Bible tells us that there are many such off-the-gridders (folks like Melchizedek), living in God’s grace way off the religious control grid.

But we learn further in this story that the faith of the Wise Men was great. They saw no miracles, heard no great teachings, saw no outward forms of power, yet traveled a great distance and worshiped a helpless baby born in a barn. You can read the Bible from one end to the other and not find greater faith than this. Mark this well. The faith formula for the Wise Men was simple yet profound: Walk in faith, confess him in hope, and be not ashamed of worshiping the Christ Child.

This is the kind of faith we’ll all need as America prepares to reap the results of the apostasy and unbelief we’ve sown. And yet we continually act more like the rulers and elders in Jerusalem than the faithful Wise Men. Even worse, much of America seems to have a vested interest in our current control grid and would be “greatly troubled” for similar reasons if the Messiah was born in a barn in Iowa today.

Yet a quick glance around reveals America is not only in decline, but headed for an outright collapse. So as we get ready to bring in 2012 with all its uncertainties, it’s important to remember that we’re not in this alone. The best news ever delivered under that new star is that the birth of our Lord provides our great assurance that we have help. He is now here. He is Immanuel, God with us, and in His grace, in faithfulness to His commandments, we can move confidently through the hard times ahead.

That’s the good news of this most blessed season.

Merry Christmas,

Bill Heid

P.S. For more on the “Comfort and Joy” that our current control-grid seems to hate so much click here.

The past nine months have been an incredibly turbulent and violent time for Haiti and our mission has not been unaffected by any means.

Let me share just a few things our Haitian team has faced during this trying time.  All our supply lines were cut; the organizations with whom we had arrangements to feed our people stopped their feeding programs due to the risk of violence where we were located.

Our Pastoral Team was ambushed while trying to feed our people. We had gang members attempt to breach our compound walls. Our Haitian team witnessed people being kidnapped and/or murdered just out front of our location. And, we even have had “bad guys” in the Port-Au-Prince area use our website and newsletter to gain information to exploit our team on the ground in Haiti.

To give you an idea of the state of affairs in Haiti, here is a quote from The Department of State’s website about travel to Haiti:

“The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of traveling to Haiti and recommends against non-essential travel.  The Department of State strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Haiti.  The level of violent crime in Port-au-Prince, including murder and kidnapping, remains high, and Haitian authorities have limited capacity to deter or investigate such acts or prosecute perpetrators.  While most kidnappings are financially motivated, some kidnapping victims have been physically abused, sexually assaulted, shot and even killed.  No one is immune from kidnapping, regardless of one’s occupation, nationality, race, gender, or age.

Due to the significant risk to our children and staff, and at the request of our team in Haiti, we postponed the publishing of our newsletter during this tumultuous time until we could successfully move our 77 children (48 girls and 29 boys) and 22 staff safely to the mountains of Haiti to an area called Kenscoff. This move was completed on April 30, 2011 and it represents a new chapter in our mission in Haiti.

During this time, we have formally reapplied for our educational and orphanage certificate.  The certificates were set to be finalized on August 30, 2011 however it needs to be signed off by the Prime Minister.  As of this writing the Haitian government can’t agree on a Prime Minister and we are in a waiting game for the certificate.  The NGOs are requiring us to have the certificate in order to support the mission.  We are specifically looking for support to feed the children and without the certificates that will be difficult.  We ask for your prayers that soon a Prime Minister will be agreed upon and that road block can be removed.

Once we were established in our new location, we immediately became aware that our center represented the only church within that area and the Pastoral Team used this opportunity to begin spreading the Gospel and opening up the center for regular church services to the community.

We have begun the process of arranging to have a well dug for our center.  We are currently getting bids and doing our due diligence on the project.  It will be our intent to use the well to bring clean water toassist those in our surrounding community. The well will also save us at least $150 per week in water costs. We are extremely grateful for the generous donor whohas offered to cover the cost of installing the well.

Due to the generosity of family and friends like you, we have come through a lot over the past couple of years. But now that we have turned the page and begun a new chapter toward a more promising future, we need your help to insure our ability to continue to fulfill our mission and purpose.

Heart of God Haiti has recently been burdened with unexpected and unbudgeted expenses drawing from ministry resources which include:

• Food, water, and supplies for each month since December at $4,000 per month.
• Improving the security at our old location, a cost of $1,500.
• The cost of the physical move totaling $1,200.
• Prepaying for two years of the long-term lease purchase agreement at our new location cost us $10,000.  The lease comes with an option to buy ; we have the lease for ten years.
• Capital improvements at our new location costing nearly $1,500.
• School uniforms and replacement of clothing for 77 children totaled $1,100.
• Medical bills for the pastors that were ambushed was another $500.

Heart of God Haiti’s mission continues to focus on creating and maintaining a safe sanctuary for children which provides for their physical, spiritual, educational, and emotional care so that they will become responsible Christians and productive citizens of Haiti.

Some folks have asked for a detailed list of our needs at this time.  Although this isn’t an exhaustive list, some of our most pressing needs at this time include:

• Food for each month requires an investment of $3,500 … monthly.
• Water for the compound costs $600 … monthly until the well is operational.
• Internet connection $110 … monthly.
• Cell phone service for the key leadership costs $150 … monthly.
• Salary per staff member is $75  … monthly.
• Fuel for our vehicle to get supplies and food totals $250 … monthly.

Additionally, there are other pressing needs which require either an annual or one-time investment but are considered immediate needs:

• Uniforms for the new school year $14.28 x 77 kids or about $1,100 … annually.
• Books and school supplies for the new school year add up to $1,500 … annually.
• We currently have only one toilet and two out houses for 99 people; we need to install additional toilets to accommodate our large group which will cost about $1,500 … one time.

We are asking that you prayerfully consider making a donation for one of the items listed above.  Or, perhaps you would prefer to support Heart of God Haiti with a monthly donation in any amount.

We currently plan to take a small team down to Haiti in November 2011 to check on our mission; we are also planning on take a larger team to Haiti in May 2012.  If you are interested in more information regarding the May 2012 trip, please let us know.  We are also excited to be in the process of coordinating with an American missionary to live full time at the center for several months beginning in January 2012.

Thank you again for your faithful and prayerful support.

Dave & Julie Young
Heart of God Haiti

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me”.
Philippians 4:13

Nothing better could happen to us,after all that we’re being through,God had given us the chance to share this x-mas to you.We want to thank every body,specially:david and his wife Julie,Jan Ross and a special thank you from all the children to ALL the donors,without everyone,we would not be exist.

God bless you all,
Pastor Dicksent

Please continue to keep Pastor Dicksent and all the children in your prayers.

God bless you!
Dave & Julie

We are more than happy to tell you how happy we are for all the good you have done for us and also HFC Victory Center, we want you to know., With your donations, you help remove children in the street, … and Take affected many people in the world of God. We are a Haiti example, we help many people to change their lives and also know that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have life eternal, we also learned several people that satan can not do anything for them and that Satan is the cause of everything that happens bad in the world

With your donations, in addition to helping our 77 children besides our staffs, it also helps more than 80 other children in Jimani, not to mention adults, with your donations, you help save several lives, including my own life , you had help in surgery to replace a defective valve, you’d also help buy disinfectant to protect us against the cholera, without your help, our children will have contact cholera.

Our priority problem, we have completely change our orphans children that we have at HFC Victory Center, before they were street kids, and now ,they are son of God,the problem is ,in our neigheborhood, there’s always gunfire and kidnapping,when we first get there it was not like that ,it was a little calm but now,since the election period ,it getting worse,and also we are to close to sun city(cite soleil)even some other NGOs (Food For The Poor and world vison) are getting scare to come ,they even ask us to move cause they will not be able to take that risk for long.

our donors,we can not thank you for all that you have being doing and do for us at HFC Victory center,the only things that we can do ,it’s continue to pray for you ,always ask God to give you health ,protect you and reserve a place for you in His Kingdom

God bless you all
Pastor Dicksent

It has been an eventful past several weeks in Haiti.   We have faced many obstacles yet God has continued to prove that He is in control, bringing us through them all.

Pastor Dicksent’s heart surgery saved his life and a follow-up visit to his doctor last week showed that he is in good health and fully recovered.  The surgery has enabled him to continue to take care of the kids at Helping For Christ Victory Center (HFC).  The fact that he is there with our kids means they have a much better chance of survival.  He is using every breath he has to spread the Gospel and care for the kids.

We were able to get word to HFC and warn them about Hurricane Tomas and how to prepare for the storm. We had to do this because, while the hurricane was heading toward Haiti, Pastor Dicksent was in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic for his heart surgery.

After just a few days of recovery from his surgery on October 30, Pastor Dicksent traveled across the Dominican Republic border to make it back to HFC just as the hurricane hit. We had over four feet of water inside the compound and our children and staff had to retreat to the second floor and the roof to stay safe.  They also took in 50 people from the neighborhood that were getting washed away in a torrent of water and had them huddled on roof of the compound with the rest of our team.  Thankfully there were no injuries and very little damage to the Center.

Our 77 kids at HFC have been spared any deaths or sickness from the recent cholera outbreak, mainly due to the water filtration system at the Center.  We unfortunately lost two children who were staying at the Bethel Baptist Mission in Jimini in the Dominican Republic. We had to leave a number of children with the Bethel Baptist Mission when we moved from the camp to our current location due to limits on space and food supplies.  There are currently 80 kids that are at the Bethel Baptist Mission that were originally part of our school before the earthquake.

The elections were held on November 28 and predictably they did not go well which has resulted in much violence. The neighborhood where HFC is located has had ten murders and two kidnappings since the elections.  The supply lines for food and water have been cut off due to the violence.  We anticipated this would happen so we made plans to have about a week of extra food and water at the compound.

Now that it’s a little over a week since the election it appears that both World Vision and Food for the Poor will temporary discontinue operations until the security situation improves.  This puts us in a position to have to ration food so we won’t find ourselves in a position of running out and being unable to leave the Center to purchase our supplies.  We are very grateful to our staff at the Center for their willingness to donate their salaries this month to insure the continued supply of necessities during this critical time.  Although food is being carefully rationed, there is enough for everyone through the end of the month thanks to the generosity of our staff.  They also agreed to use the $5 per child we sent to purchase Christmas gifts for the same reason.

When we last communicated with Pastor Dicksent, he and his staff were staying inside the compound to remain safe.  They are without electricity; however, they have the solar generator which was donated by Solutions From Science just after the earthquake.  Without the solar generator, there would be no way of filtering water or communicating with them.  The solar generator continues to be a blessing in so many ways … the generator makes it possible to operate the water filtration system, computers, satellite (internet), and cell phones.  Although we’ve said it before, we continue to be extremely grateful for the generosity of Bill Heid and Solutions From Science!

Despite all that has happened over the past several weeks-Pastor Dicksent’s heart problems and surgery, the hurricane, cholera outbreak, the increased violence after the elections, and finally the breakdown of the supply chain of food-the people and children at the Helping For Christ Victory Center are exceedingly grateful for all they have been able to do as a result of your generous support of this ministry.

Below is an email from Pastor Dicksent (with only minor editing) expressing his sincere appreciation for each of you, your prayers and support you have shown him.

Please keep the safety of everyone at the Center in your prayers.

Thank you for all you do for our people in Haiti!

Dave & Julie Young
Heart of God Haiti

First, we want to thank each of you for your prayerful concern shown toward Pastor Dicksent and his health situation.  Your response has been overwhelming; we are eternally grateful for you!

We wanted to bring you up to date with what we know so far.

• Pastor Dicksent had surgery on Saturday, October 30, to replace the pulmonary valve in his heart.  We praise God for a successful surgery.
• While in the Dominican Republic, Pastor Dicksent and those with him have endured unexpected challenges due to the cholera outbreak in Haiti.  Apparently the patients in the original hospital were fearful of contracting cholera and demanded that Pastor Dicksent and his team be removed from the facility.  Thankfully, the doctor had friends who were able to arrange the relocation and follow through with the scheduled surgery.
•  Pastor Dicksent has been recuperating in the Dominical Republic since the surgery.
• A vehicle is being sent today from Helping for Christ Victory Center in Haiti to pick up Pastor Dicksent, bringing him and his team back from the Dominican Republic to the compound.
• Everyone should be back at the compound by the end of this week where Pastor Dicksent will continue his recuperation.

Once everyone is back in Haiti, communication will be much easier and we will learn more details about the surgery and Pastor Dicksent’s prognosis.  His wife, Johanna, said there was much joy at the compound after receiving word that the surgery was a great success. Also, the staff and, most importantly, the children are incredibly grateful to have Pastor Dicksent coming back in good health.

Thank you again for your continued prayers for our Team Leader in Haiti.  Pastor Dicksent, through God’s hand, has been the key to everything that has been accomplished in Haiti.  We are very grateful for God’s providential care of our friend and co-laborer in the Kingdom of God.

God bless,

Dave & Julie Young
Heart of God Haiti

This past month has been another month of advances and a couple of smaller setbacks for our team in Haiti.  The Helping for Christ orphanage is now known as the Helping for Christ Victory Center and is reaching out to the local community to spread the gospel by holding weekly church services at the Center.

During August Pastor Dicksent and his team were able to get their passports and visas that will now allow them to travel to the Dominican Republic without having to be subject to the shake downs that Haitians without passports and visas must face. The team is traveling to the Dominican Republic to coordinate with the Non Government Originations (NGOs) there and to visit the remainder of the people from Camp Victory who were not able to move into the Helping for Christ Victory Center.  Coordination with other NGOs is very important for obtaining some of the items needed for the school that we don’t have the funding to purchase and that we are unable to ship.  We have shipped items on another NGOs 40 foot shipping container but at this point the container is stuck in customs. We are hoping at some point the items will clear customs but we don’t know how long that will take.  Therefore, our team’s ability to travel to the Dominican Republic will significantly help to meet the needs of the children at the Center.

Earlier this month, we had over 30 of our children plus several of our staff members become severally ill due to a contaminated water shipment. We purchase water on a weekly basis and it is brought to us by a water truck that fills our cistern.  Ideally this water gets filtered but that is not always the case.  At this juncture, we are working to raise the funds needed to purchase an adequate water filtration system.  This will ensure all the water received is filtered at the Center so it is known to be safe for the children to drink.

We are very grateful to Courtney Morphet, her dad Dan Morphet, the Leroy Rotary and many others for holding a pasta dinner fundraiser to benefit the children of Helping for Christ Victory Center.  This fundraiser has allowed us to purchase additional bunk beds so all our children have their own bed to sleep on each night. For many of these kids, it is the first time in their life that they have slept in their own bed.  We are also going to use some of the monies to improve the security of the Center and repair Pastor Dicksent’s vehicle which is currently their only mode of transportation.

Our children have been through a lot in the last seven months.  God has done amazing things during this period of time and has placed these children in our care. Overall things are very much getting into a rhythm and at this point we are looking for monthly sponsors to ensure we can continue to support this group of children and teachers. We have broken down the cost to support one child to about $1.50 per day or $45 per month. We are trying to get 74 monthly sponsors of $45 each, enough for each child at the Center. If you or anyone you know might be willing to become a monthly sponsor, please contact Julie at Heart of God Haiti.

Thank you to all of you for your continued support!  Without you, none of this would be possible.

David & Julie Young
Heart of God Haiti