Kendall Moss joins Alex's House - Director of School Partnerships!

Alex’s House is excited to announce Kendall Moss will be joining our team as our volunteer Director of School Partnerships. Kendall will provide leadership and vision to our school partnership program, which will partner US schools with Haitian schools for multifaceted communication exchange.  In addition, she will be serving as a House Parent when she arrives on the ground in Haiti mid-July!

Kendall is an Arkansas native who was born and raised in Jonesboro, AK. She graduated from Arkansas State University with a degree in Public Relations, which she put to good use as the Director of Public Relations for Families Outreach, an Alex’s House Partnering organization that provides resources and grants to families wishing to adopt locally and/or internationally.  As the Director of PR at Families Outreach, Kendall’s responsibilities included planning and leading mission teams to various orphanages, maintaining the website, producing communication pieces and organizing community outreach events.  As you can expect, Kendall will be a great asset and tremendous blessing to our ministry. 

Kendall is the proud aunt of 3 nieces and 2 nephews, and enjoys cooking, cross fit, and Disney World.  When asked what sold her on Alex’s House, she responded, “the selling point for me was during my trip over  Spring Break when I saw that Alex’s House is dedicated to creating passionate disciples of Jesus Christ. We go beyond providing a place to live, food, and an education and go deeper to the heart!” 

Kendall, welcome on board!  If you are interested in the Director of School Partnership or sponsoring Kendall, you may contact Kendall at kendall@alexshouseorphanage.org!

New Water Filtration System Installed!!!

Fact:  1.8 million children DIE every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.  This amounts to 5000 deaths a day, one every 20 seconds!

On April 20, 2013, on behalf of Water Missions International, Cedar Creek Church (Aiken, SC) and TrueNorth (North Augusta, SC), a team of six traveled down to Haiti to install a new water filtration system.  

This installation had been in the works for months as Cedar Creek and TrueNorth Church raised the necessary $18,000.00 to provide for this system through TrueNorth's partnership with Water Missions International in Charleston, SC!  In God's faithfulness, the April departure date arrived, and the system was fully installed and working properly within 3 days!!! Proper training was provided to our Alex's House staff to ensure proper procedures where followed to ensure the system was maintained and used properly.  

Our new water system will provide long-lasting safe water for our children, our teams and our Kalico community!  What a blessing and source of life this will be for Alex's House -- we can't even comprehend the ministry doors that clean water will open in the community while also quenching the thirst of our Alex's House children. When asked how this system will positively impact Alex's House, Mike Fielder (TrueNorth's Missions Pastor) remarked: "While the obvious one is the financial burden that has been lifted off of Alex’s house, the exciting one is the impact that this can have on the entire community. What I love most about Bill Howard is his understanding that Mercy Ministries and Humanitarian Aid alone have been ineffective in Haiti. I believe very strongly that his vision for creating disciples combined with his vision for community development are the perfect formula for what the country needs. This system will allow Bill unprecedented access for relationship building in the Kalico community." 

We stand in awe of God's continued faithfulness as we trust Him to meet our needs hour after hour, day after day! There is no greater feeling to be in His will following His call while He provides every step of the way while opening the doors and softening the hearts of the community.  God is good! 

On behalf of Alex's House, we are forever grateful for all the generous supporters and prayer warriors that God used to make this possible! 

Alex's House welcomes a new Financial Director to our staff!

I’m so excited to announce that Cammie Hayes has officially joined our staff at Alex’s House as our new Financial Director.  She brings a sweet personality and disposition and is always ready to help. She currently resides in North Augusta, South Carolina with her husband Kevin. She is an Accountant for the City of Aiken, South Carolina, and brings years of accounting experience and great expertise to the Alex’s House family.

Cammie also demonstrated her wonderful leadership skills as she recently served as our Race Director for our very first Alex's House 5K Walk/Run, where she and her team raised over $5,000.00 for our children.  We are already looking forward to next year's 5K in North Augusta, S.C. under Cammie's leadership!

In her spare time, Cammie enjoys spending time with her family and friends, along with her two dogs - Mackie and Jasper. She and her husband attend TrueNorth Church in North Augusta, SC, were she faithfully serves in the infant room weekly along with leading one of the biggest "small groups" at TrueNorth! When asked "what sold you on Alex's House," Cammie responded: "The passion of its leadership to reach the least of  these.  After being apart of what God was doing through Alex's House in Haiti, how could you not be sold?? The smiles and laughter from the children tell a pretty good story."

In His faithfulness, God continues to bring us just the right person at just the right time.  Cammie is a great addition to our team, and we give thanks to the Lord for her willingness to serve alongside of us.    Cammie will be replacing Jennifer Howard, who has faithfully served as our interim Financial Director over the past 3 years until the Lord provided a permanent person for the position.  Thank you, Jennifer, for all the great work and service -- words can not adequately express our gratitude. 

Like all of our stateside staff, Cammie is volunteering her time - serving the ministry of Alex's House out of the goodness of her heart. What a blessing she will be to our ministry, and we look forward to many years together! God is good!

Seeds planted!

"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow!" 1 Corin. 3:6

Our children recently started their first garden by planting seeds for tomatoes, watermelons, cucumbers and carrots!  Dominique challenged our children to think abstractly by guessing what seed would make a seedling first, second, third and fourth, and how many days they expected it to take before the seedlings appeared.  Our children then made a list of names according to their guesses.  

The next day, our children were asked to make a chart of the number of children that guessed a certain way.  Dominique then encouraged them to graph the information, which was a new concept for all the children. The "best" graph would be displayed as the children waited for the first seed to grow into a seedling! 

Our children were then taught to count the number of days until the first seedling appeared by using tally marks for counting.  Another new concept for our children!

On the sixth day, the cucumber seedling appeared!!!  And, this sweet smile says it alll!

Pray for Alex's House and the areas we serve . . . the fields are ripe for harvest!

Girls just wanna have fun!

"Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith and your purity!" 1 Timothy 4:12

Many times it has been said that we learn life lessons from children!  Boy, is this true!  Observe children for a day, and you will definitely learn! Over the past year, we have learned a few lessons from local girls stepping up in their peer groups and schools across the United States to take a stand for orphans! 

We have learned that these girls definitely just wanna have fun, and they know how to throw a good party to benefit Alex's House! We have been blown away by their generosity and willing to sacrifice at such a young age. It has warmed our hearts as story after story has come our way! While we have had support among many children of various ages and places, here are few of examples of "cheerful givers" the Lord has blessed us with in recent months! We hope it encourages your heart as much as it has ours at Alex's House!

Matéa (Yellow Shirt)

WOOD-TV8 Interview

Matéa recently celebrated her 11th birthday with sweet friends. She asked her friends to refrain from bringing her a gift, and asked them to consider donating money for our Alex's House kids.  Together, these sweet girls raised $125.00 for Alex's House! Then, the media got a hold of the story, and invited Matea to the local TV station for an interview on WOOD-TV8, where she got to share her passion for the Lord's work at Alex's House publicly.

Mary Michael

Mary Michael rose to the occasion on two of her birthdays - 7th and 8th - to benefit Haiti orphans!   Collectively, she raised over $500.00 plus kitchen utensils for our "Stock the Kitchen Fundraiser"!  

Ansley

Last year, Ansley approached her school principal at Springdale Elementary School in Macon, Georgia to ask if her school could do a "Hats for Haiti Day."  For every child who brought a $1.00 to school for Alex's House, they could wear their favorite hat! Two "Hats for Haiti" later, Springdale raised $544.00! Thanks, Ansley, for your boldness and leadership!

Ashlyn

New Shoes for Haiti

For Ashlyn's 7th Birthday, she asked her birthday party goers to bring shoes for the children at Alex's House to her party! What a sweet blessing from a sweet little girl!

Savannah and Ansley's sweet 13 party!

It only takes a spark to get a fire going!  Savannah and Ansley shared their 13th birthday party and invited their entire 7th grade class from First Presbyterian Day School in Macon, Georgia. In lieu of gifts, the kids were asked to donate money to Alex's House! They raised about $800.00 for our children! Happy 13 to Savannah and Ansley!

Lessons learned:   Girls just wanna have fun!! Girls really know how to throw a good party!!!  

Alex's House is gratefully blessed! If you have a cool story to share about your kids helping Alex's House, please send to amyshobbs@me.com!

Freedom Fellowship partners with Alex's House!

Alex's House welcomes Freedom Fellowship of Greer, South Carolina as a new partnering church!

"Helping others discover the true freedom that only Christ can give" has been Freedom Fellowship's mission from its church plant beginnings in March of 2005! Freedom Fellowship continues to meet in a local high school in Greer, South Carolina, and is actively involved in church planting with a local focus in its home state of South Carolina. Since 2005, Freedom Fellowship has financially supported 7 church plants in SC, 1 in Brooklyn, New York, and 1 in Botswana.  

Freedom Fellowship's pastor, Cliff Marshall,  has been following Alex's House for quite some time through his friendship with Bill Howard, our Founder.  In the Lord's timing, Freedom Fellowship's partnership with the church plant in Botswana ended in 2012, which opened the door to begin a new partnership with an international ministry. Marshall explained, "[t]he ability to be more involved than just sending a check every month, as well as the organization of the ministry were two things that attracted us to Alex's House."

Alex's House is greatly blessed by Freedom Fellowship and its desire to partner alongside of us to rescue and raise the children God has called us to in Haiti!

Grateful for Chores!

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Psalm 32:8

God has richly blessed us with a remarkable Life Skills Director, Dominique Levy!  Two weeks ago, she implemented a new weekend chore schedule for our children.  The schedule is written in English and French, which are the languages they are learning to read and write in school.  At first, the children were assigned daily chores, but the children were taking their chore responsibilities too seriously and allowing it to interfere with their school preparations. So, the daily chore schedule was revised to a weekend chore schedule for now! And, we will slowly progress to a daily choir schedule in His timing.

They started with their assigned chores two Saturdays ago and will have the same chores for a month on the weekends. This will give them ownership of their home. Interestingly, our boys seem to be more diligent than our girls in doing their assigned chores. 

Their weekday begins at 6:00 a.m. with daily devotions, then breakfast, school, playtime, homework, and dinner.  And, of course, a daily nap time for the little ones not yet in school! What a difference this has made! Before bedtime, our children gather together and fully engage in "unhindered worship," where "they truly praise our Father," Dominique shared.

Join us in giving thanks to the Lord for this new chore implementation and for Dominique's leadership!

Our 2 new boys . . . Warens and Dawrns!

Please join us in welcoming our newest family members -- brothers Warens (age 4) and Dawrns (age 8)! Welcome to Alex's House!  It is amazing to see them light up when they have food, shelter, security and a loving family. Thank you, God!

Be watching for Bill Howard's story of how Warens and Dawrns came to our family.

Alex's House welcomes Dominique Levy!

Alex's House welcomes Dominique Levy as our new Life Skills Director of Alex's House! In 4 short days, Dominique will pack her belongings and say goodbye to family and loved ones as she heads Haiti to reside at Alex's House.  She will be responsible for overseeing the implementation, instruction and coordination of the Life Skills Program for Alex's House. As a native of Haiti, Dominique is familiar with the Haitian culture and language as she grew up in Haiti until age 13, then moved to the States where she has raised her family of 4 children and 3 grandchildren.  Haiti was once a part of her past; however, the Lord called her back to Haiti this past summer when she and her daughter spent a week serving with Alex's House on a short-term mission trip.  During that week, the Lord impressed on her heart to return to her native land to assist in the Lord's work at Alex's House among our children and staff. She leaves behind her leadership position at the Head Start program of Aiken, South Carolina and carries with her a wealth of knowledge from her former career that will be a valuable asset to our ministry.

Dominique will help empower our children and the communities in which we serve and give them a brighter future, by providing and building life skills through early childhood development activities starting now and continuing until they leave Alex's House.  In doing so, she will work closely with our children to identify their strengths and weaknesses while mentoring and challenging them to be the best they can be. Our current ministry vision will be strengthened and enhanced significantly. Dominique will also implement and oversee quality control policies and practices for the day-to-day operations of Alex's House, where her on-site presence and leadership will be a great blessing and asset to our Haiti staff and children.  

Dominique is raising her own support through her church family and friends, and we ask you to consider supporting her financially and in prayer.  Please visit our "Staff" page at www.alexshouseorphanage.org and follow the donation links under Dominique's picture. Please join us in covering her with prayer as she adjusts to her new home at Alex's House  . . . what a gift she is to our ministry!  "And, I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns!" Philippians 1:6 

Alex's House is thankful for Dominique's willingness to answer His calling!

A gift of a baby girl!

Alex's House is excited to announce our newest addition, Widena! As you can see, she is a beautiful little girl who will be dearly loved and cherished at Alex's House! We praise God for this precious gift of a baby girl! 

This 7 month beauty has been in our care for a week now and adjusting very well. However, she's not officially ours until the governmental waiting period expires, which is why we have not previously announced her arrival. Please join us in praying for God's will and favor over Widena!

If you are interested in investing in our children's lives through sponsorship, please contact our Sponsorship Director, Monica Langdale, for more information and to be placed on our waiting list! Monica's e-mail address is sponsorship@alexshouse-haiti.org!

A "Partnership" Leap of Faith . . . The Gathering!

On October 21, 2012, a new church plant was started in the small town of Coulterville, IL by a young pastor, Tim Bauersachs, and his worship leader, Jeff Wagner. Tim and Jeff heard the call of God to reach out to a community just down the road that had very little evangelical witness.  After much prayer and affirmation, they stepped out in faith and "The Gathering" was started.  

The motto at The Gathering is "Following Jesus and leading others to do the same!" The Gathering seeks "to intentionally establish relationships with people God brings to them with the goal of showing them who Christ is and how to follow Him as He changes their hearts and speaks into their lives." The Gathering looks to Acts 1:8 as their guide for everything they do. It is not only a "mission statement" for them, but "it also guides their time, finances, efforts, and lives."  

Soon after they launched, Jeff returned to Haiti to lead a vision team on behalf of his former church and The Gathering to Alex's House on December 1-8th. However, his first introduction to Alex's House came a year earlier when Tim and Jeff went to Haiti to work with IMB/BGR missionaries Sam and Delores York in September 2011. Through that trip, God laid an enormous burden on their hearts for the nations and, specifically, the people of Haiti. Since BGR was pulling out of Haiti, Wagner had "to find another organization through which to make his next trip down there.  That organization was Alex's House."

It was during Jeff's recent December trip that God "truly opened the eyes and hearts of those who went to the needs of the children in Haiti and the fact that God was using Alex's House to meet those needs. Through this experience, God laid a burden on the hearts of those at The Gathering to partner with Alex's House in rescuing the children of Haiti and teaching them about our wonderful Savior." As a result, The Gathering took another leap of faith in becoming an Alex's House partner.  

The Gathering has stepped up and made a commitment to continually pray for Alex's house -- the leaders, the children, and the work that they are doing. A commitment to help through the sending of teams to work in doing whatever is needed. And, a commitment to support Alex's House financially on a regular basis. What a blessing!

Alex's House welcomes The Gathering as a 2013 Partnering Church, and looks forward to what God will accomplish through this partnership! We give thanks to the Lord for sending others to help us carry out His will for Alex's House!

Worship Leader, Jeff Wagner, sharing Christ w/ the Evangecube
during recent December trip!

Christmas Joy!

Alex's House Christmas 2012

December was full of unspeakable Christmas joy for our Alex's House children and staff as we celebrated the greatest gift ever given -- the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ! Our children enjoyed a few new Christmas traditions at their new home in Kalico, which began with a serving of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies with hot chocolate while a team member shared the Nativity story of Christ's birth!

Nativity story being shared with our children

A universal treat -- chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate!

Then, our children were excited to trim their first Christmas tree with handmade, personalized ornaments made by our children and hung with great pride. I am not sure I have ever experienced such excitement and joy while putting up a Christmas tree -- their smiles lit up the place! Each child stepped forward to tell what gift they were most thankful for this Christmas season as they hung their ornaments on the tree.  An overwhelming majority of them said the opportunity to go to school was one of the best gifts they had ever received!  What a fun way to give thanks during our Christmas celebration!

Wilkens searching for the perfect spot!

The staff was just as excited as the children!

The children making ornaments with their photos to hang on the tree!

Giving is just as much fun as receiving, so our Sponsorship team along with our Alex's House children and staff invited some community children to Alex's House to make hand-made toys and ornaments for Christmas, and distributed rice and beans to families in need of a Christmas meal! What a blessing beyond!  

Alex's House and community kids making toy cars and trucks!

Community friends with their new hand-made toy cars!

Alex's House and Community kids making ornaments together!

Each of our children then received a special gift from Papa Bill and Mama Jennifer -- new pajamas!  Their smiles spoke of gratefulness and excitement as they sported their new sleeping attire! Super cute!

Last but not least, our children were OVERJOYED to open their Christmas gifts from their Daily Bread Sponsors!  The excitement was contagious and words can not express how much fun they had! What a merry Christmas was had by all! 

Jenny

Our Sponsorship Director, Monica Langdale, enjoying the fun!

Guitarist Willie was a big hit!

Sweet Carline and her new favorite doll!

Ephesian excited over his new walkie talkies!

From our Alex's House family to yours, we pray you had a joy-filled Christmas celebrating our Savior's birth, and we wish you the best Christ has to offer for 2013! We have been blessed beyond words by your support, love, prayers and partnership -- each of you are gift from above to us! 

With love,
Amy (on behalf of our entire Alex's House staff and children)

Rescue & Raise '13

We are wrapping up an incredible year at Alex's House and are praying that we can go into 2013 with a strong financial base.

God has provided vision to our leadership and has given us wonderful goals for next year.  To mention a few -- we hope to rescue 20 more children from the cruel streets of Haiti, continue to raise our current 27 children in love of Jesus and begin renovations on our second orphanage (Port au Prince site) to provide a nursery campus for our younger children.  

The only way we can reach this goal is through the faithful  support of friends like you.  Please join us in praying God's favor and blessings over this Rescue & Raise Offering. Click the graphic above to see our new video and learn more about our Rescue & Raise offering.  Then, please make your end of the year donation today! All donations are tax deductible!

ORPHAN SUNDAY is this Sunday - 11.4.12! Join us!

One Day. One Voice. One Purpose. Please join Alex's House and the Christian Alliance for Orphans in praying for the orphans around the world this Sunday. There is great power in a collaborative, international prayer effort. WE, as the body of Christ, are called to "defend the cause of the fatherless!" Isaiah 1:17. Kneel before our King, the FATHER OF THE FATHERLESS, and plead the orphan's case!

As we take a stand on Sunday for the orphan, please consider wearing your Alex's House Orphanage t-shirt to church and in the communities you live on Sunday to raise awareness! We are grateful for YOU and your partnership!