Happy Sunday, friends! We hope that you've all enjoyed a good week and restful weekend. I hear that there's some kind of big football match on today in the US - is that the case? At any rate, I am sure my Facebook feed will keep me updated with how that all pans out!
Last week, we announced how excited we were to be hosting our first Florida-based group at Be Like Brit as Britsionarys from Jupiter First Church worked hard in Haiti and were able to build two homes for two families in need. Thanks to our Director of Florida Outreach, Deb Kaiser Cross, we're starting to make great contacts in South Florida and we're so eager to see those relationships develop over time! We were equally excited to have Father Tri from Holy Family Church in Port St. Lucie with us last week, traveling in to Haiti with one of Len's best friends of more than 30 years, Benny. Both Father Tri and Benny are passionate about service work and Haiti, and we were thrilled that while only here for two days, these two, along with our Haitian laborers, were able to complete a home for another family in need!
Father Tri and Benny ended a brief but productive stay with a visit to the Hotel Montana, the site where Britney and dozens more perished that fateful day in January, 2010. For Benny, this was an extremely powerful and emotional way to end his visit to Haiti, and we were so appreciative that Father Tri was on hand to say a few words at the memorial site.
Last week, we announced how excited we were to be hosting our first Florida-based group at Be Like Brit as Britsionarys from Jupiter First Church worked hard in Haiti and were able to build two homes for two families in need. Thanks to our Director of Florida Outreach, Deb Kaiser Cross, we're starting to make great contacts in South Florida and we're so eager to see those relationships develop over time! We were equally excited to have Father Tri from Holy Family Church in Port St. Lucie with us last week, traveling in to Haiti with one of Len's best friends of more than 30 years, Benny. Both Father Tri and Benny are passionate about service work and Haiti, and we were thrilled that while only here for two days, these two, along with our Haitian laborers, were able to complete a home for another family in need!
Father Tri and Benny ended a brief but productive stay with a visit to the Hotel Montana, the site where Britney and dozens more perished that fateful day in January, 2010. For Benny, this was an extremely powerful and emotional way to end his visit to Haiti, and we were so appreciative that Father Tri was on hand to say a few words at the memorial site.
How fortunate for Benny and Father Tri to have visited BLB during the rare time that Melissa would be here for a visit! As most of you know, Melissa, our USA Coordinator, is studying at King's College in London, working on her master's degree, and actually traveled back to Haiti to conduct some research with medical and healthcare providers in rural Haiti. While she was here, we were able to get some work done around our Britsionary program in general, and have exciting discussions about future possibilities for BLB moving forward. Melissa is a breath of fresh air, and her positive outlook on everything and her energy are in general a motivating force to be reckoned with!
Many of you may have seen on Facebook this past week that our own Peterson is in South Florida!!! Peterson is working alongside Papi Len as a part of our Professional Development and Training at our Delray Beach office! We believe that strong leaders build strong teams, and we know that Peterson will benefit greatly from the opportunity to learn alongside Len and Deb while visiting South Florida. This is a pilot program of sorts, and we're hopeful that with good results, we'll be able to send more of our leadership staff to the USA for training and workshops to help them better equip our children with the skills they need to become the next generation of leaders in Haiti!!!
As you can see, Madame Love is in the USA this weekend, too, and our employee Jameson is also visiting family in Florida this week! How great to have them all together at our BLB Delray Beach office!!!
Last night, a group of new friends from Pilgrim Congregational Church arrived at Brit's Home in Haiti, along with Cherylann and Bernie, our Director of Florida Outreach Deb, our friend Judy (who was here last year working on educational initiatives with our staff) and our returning Medical Britsionary Jeff from PA! We've got quite the week or two ahead of us with a full-house and lots of exciting new things on the horizon. Be sure to keep up with our social media this week to stay informed!!!
A good friend of ours, Lisa Birch, shared with me this past week one of the first blogs I ever wrote for Be Like Brit. This particular blog reflected on the changes that had occurred in just the first month of our operating as a home for children - and the feelings I had at that time. I thought I would link you to that blog today as a reminder of how far we've come, how much we've grown, and all of the incredible things that are happening at Brit's Home in Haiti because of the support of people like you. We are indeed changing lives every day, and we can't thank you enough for helping us help the children of Haiti at Be Like Brit!!!
"And Then There Were Seven" from February 2013.
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