Tired and Glad to be Home

Thanks Lauren Madden for posting our text messages from Haiti on our Facebook page. We got home late Sunday and are REALLY glad to be back to our home, family and the comforts of living in the USA. We'll get pictures posted as soon as we get settled in. Lots of typical Haiti stories including a 60 mile round trip, to arrange monthly food deliveries, to the school in Pignon, that took nine hours and included 4, count them, 4 blown tires! 


A very special note...Jean Ronel is so excited and thankful to everyone that contributed to his college scholarship. He takes off for school in St. Vincent August 28th and will not return to Haiti for two years. It just costs too much to travel back to Haiti for summer or holiday breaks. We will miss him dearly next trip.

Countdown Begins...

This month has been about planning for the future and getting ready to travel to Haiti.

Last week, we were honored to have a professional documentary filmmaker interview us while two talented young camera operators recorded.  Even the lighting was provided by a lighting technician in "the biz".  All four donated their services, providing rough footage that will be used to produce a professional quality short film documenting our efforts.  We’ll include footage from our time in Haiti and use the documentary to promote Be the Power of One.  We’re especially excited about this project and will share more information as it develops.

Next Friday, July 20, we’ll be starting our annual trek to Pignon, Haiti to spend a week with friends and lots of school kids.   This is about a month earlier than usual and maybe that’s why we both feel under-prepared.  There are still activities to organize, craft supplies to buy and bags to pack.  Airfare has increased dramatically in price and the itinerary is much longer and more complicated.  

Still, we are looking forward to arriving in Pignon, seeing our friends and a couple hundred smiling faces of the children.  

We are thrilled to be able to dedicate the well that was drilled by Haiti Outreach on the school grounds last October, thanks to the Oakhurst Sierra, Oakhurst Sierra Sunrise and Tracy Rotary Clubs.  We will have a small dedication ceremony and add the plaque that Art Signs is preparing for us.

Tim and I can’t thank everyone enough for your support, both financial and emotional.  As always, pictures and stories upon our return.

A Very Busy Month

This last month has been very busy for us with fundraising events, big decisions from the Board of Directors and making plans for this year's trip to Pignon.

Our May 4th "Wine and Art Event" at Cool Bean Cafe in Oakhurst, CA was a fun and tasty evening with 40-50 folks enjoying some award winning local wines and hearing the story of Be the Power of One. The main fundraising focus for the evening was to build support for our Higher Education Scholarship program that supports post high school educational programs for deserving students. In April the Board of Directors took a bold step and committed to raising an additional $1500 in support of this program. Within a week more than 20% of this goal was reached through private donors. Added to this, the success of the May 4th event gave the Board enough confidence to move forward and immediately award our first scholarship to Jean-Ronel Joseph. Beyond deserving this scholarship for his academics and determination, Jean deserves this award for his efforts in support of Be the Power of One. Jean has been in the classroom with us since day one in 2010. He has keep us informed and updated with ongoing school projects and the school well project. Jean-Ronel is the perfect person to receive our first scholarship and we look forward with excitement to seeing what he'll accomplish in the future.  Here is an email from Jean-Ronel thanking our Board.


May,29,2012


To:The Board of be the power of one.


Greetings in the name of the risen Lord,hope this letter finds all of you well.I would like to say thank you in advance for the money because it is going to be able to help me to materialize my dream which is to go to Saint Vincent to study Theology.With this money i will bay:The ticket which is around 900 to 1000 USD,The visa which is 200 USD ,A Lap top,Bus fair to go Santo Domingo,fee to stay at Hotel there for two days because there is no England Ambassy in Haiti so i have to go Santo Domingo first from Santo Domingo to Saint Vincent,personal items like: suitcase,clothes,brush,toothpaste,soap,shampoo etc.....


For now i count on you because i believe this goal is already achieved. my God richly bless you all now and forever.


sincerly, Jean-Ronel JOSEPH

Again this year Jean-Ronel will play a big part in the summer program at the Pignon school. He is currently lining up a number of friends that will help us in the classroom. Each year the number of students grows throughout the week to the point that by Friday we have upwards of 200 young students. I am reminded every year just how much energy young kids have. We will be taking more sports equipment this year in hopes of burning some of that energy off outside.

As the trip gets closer (we are still looking at July 21-29th) we'll continue to update plans. We have started a Rosetta Stone French program that should help in several different ways. Also, many readers have asked if there are certain items they can donate for the summer program. This will be one of the places to look for that information or you can find us on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/bethepowerofone

Thanks for all the continued support and encouragement!!

An Amazing Ride

When we started Be the Power of One it was an adventure that came from the heart. We didn't spend a lot of time thinking about what we were getting ourselves into. I'd guess this is how successful non-profits start. Now at times it feels like we are just hanging on for an amazing ride. The last 48hrs. have been wonderful with so many of you joining the Be the Power of One family through Facebook. We truely feel connected to you all. Our Facebook link:  https://www.facebook.com/bethepowerofone?ref=tn_tnmn 

Over the weekend Pastor Carsel sent us the tentative dates for this year's summer school program in Pignon, Haiti. Looks like we'll be making the trip the last week of July. For those of you who have wanted to join us, we'll get travel details later. On the schedule will be another trip to Cap Haitian for textbooks and fabric for more uniforms. You can see in this picture that Smepha, who lives with her Mom and two sisters, got all dressed up for school pictures. 

May 4th Wine and Art Event

Here is a link to a few pictures from our May 4th Wine and Art Event. It was a fun evening with 40-50 supporters stopping by Cool Bean Cafe in Oakhurst, CA to view photos from Haiti, enjoy some tasty treats (thanks to MaryAnn Ziegler), sample some fabulous Sierra foothill wines and hear our story. These events go a long way to support educational opportunities in Haiti. We will have to do more of these fun events!!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.262738287158892.54482.193491817416873&type=3

You just gotta smile....

Meet Wandley Elie, he is one of our students at the school in Pignon. He is sporting his new uniform that was made by a local seamstress with fabric that your donations to Be the Power of One purchased. Wandley and his five brothers keep his father, Jeremie (a farmer) and his mother, Josette (a saleswomen) very busy. Wandley's big smile is an indication of how much he enjoys school. Our programs, focused on improving education, continue to support school staffing, provide classroom supplies and help to insure that students get a healthy lunch each school day. It only takes $10 per month to provide schooling and lunches for these students. Thanks for your support and encouragement!!

Learning Patience, One of Life's Lessons

We have learned so many life lessons through Be the Power of One. One of the biggest things that Haiti has taught us is to be patient. Things in Haiti seldom run as smoothly or as efficiently as they do in the States. That being said we wanted to share some pictures Jean Ronal has sent us from Pignon. These are shots he took of the students with their Christmas packages. These beautiful bags were decorated by the Bradford and Van Wert families during our Thanksgiving holiday 2011. We shipped these off just a short time later to Pastor Carsel in Miami and he forwarded them on to Haiti. We'll know next year to send these off earlier, another life lesson, since the packages arrived only last month. Hope the contents of the cookie tins for the teachers stay fresh....

Prior to the Christmas packages we'd mailed off a couple of boxes of school supplies. These items were additional school supplies that we could not fit in the five suitcases we hand delivered in August. Like always, it is with a great sense of accomplishment that we share these photos with all of you. It is through your generosity that we are able to provide school supplies and contribute to financial support for the teaching staff. The school supplies, Christmas packages along with the new uniforms and school desks you see here are the results of your willingness to support Be the Power of One. Please take a moment to click the tabs above to find out "How You Can Help" and our "Send a Student to School" program. Thanks again, keep coming back for future updates...