60 graduates 2016
Can you remember the last time that you had a real sense of accomplishment? Maybe it was receiving a nice promotion or an award for going above and beyond what was expected of you. If you are like most of us, you might have had a sense of pride or immense joy and satisfaction. If so, you have an understanding of what 60 graduates of the Beyond Relief Trade School experienced on August 14, 2016 when they received their graduation certificates, having completed the work required to gain skills for a well-paying profession. But what the Beyond Relief board members that attended graduation heard most, was GRATITUDE; gratitude for the trade school being in Saint Louis du Nord and gratitude for having been given a fighting chance, a future through employment. But most of all, they had gratitude for all the supporters of the Beyond Relief Trade School that made it possible. To be honest, we lost track of the many joyful “thank you” messages bestowed upon us… upon you!
Shesline Joseph
There are so many stories that we can and will share in the future. But for now we start with Shesline Joseph. Shesline is 18 years old and the youngest of the 2016 Beyond Relief graduates. She attended her senior year of high school in the morning and took English classes at the trade school in the afternoon. It is quite an accomplishment
to finish high school by the age of 18 in Haiti, but it is exceptional to complete the trade school course at the same time! Shesline has now been hired to teach English at La Pointe Des Palmiste School in Port de Paix Haiti. We congratulate Shesline and are proud to call her a Beyond Relief Trade School graduate. We are SO proud of all the graduates!
Once again we want to thank all of you who support Beyond Relief through prayers and financial support. We wish each of you could be at graduation to see what YOU make possible.
It is always fun to celebrate the accomplishments at the end of the school year. But in a few short weeks it is back to work for the 2016-2017 classes. The number of people that want to take classes at Beyond Relief continues to grow. This is a great problem to have, and because of demand, we are adding a tiling class this year. How thankful we are to be able to help even more Haitians achieve their dream of having a profession! But with growth also comes an additional demand for resources.
Here is how you can help:
School building Aug 2016
– The most pressing need is to get the walls for the last section of the school up. The rebar has been up for several months and the weather is really wearing on the rebar. We need to get walls up soon and can do so for $5000. However, for $12,000 we can complete the walls and ceiling, which will give us 3 more classrooms. Please consider a one-time tax deductible donation toward this immediate need.
– Did you know that for $40,000 (US dollars) a year, Beyond Relief (a completely volunteer run organization) is able to not only employ 12 Haitian staff members, but also educate over 150 students each year? All of those lives are being transformed, futures shaped, and the cycle of poverty is being broken as they learn skills and find gainful employment to change their families and communities! Two thirds of those will complete their training in just 1 year. Coupled with affordable student tuition rates, our costs can be covered by just 100 people committing to $35 a month for a year. Having just launched this campaign and before going public, we already have 28 people who have committed to help for the 2016-2017 school year. Will you join us?
– The Beyond Relief board and the Haiti staff are all so excited about the lives that we are seeing changed. But we don’t want to keep it to ourselves. We want as many people as possible to hear about how lives are being changed in Haiti. Another way to help Beyond Relief International Ministries is to help connect us with people you know. If you haven’t already, “like” us on Facebook and then share our stories with your friends. If Twitter is more your thing, follow us on Twitter and retweet our stories. Help us share this awesome news of how we are transforming and redeeming lives through education and employment, giving people purpose, value, and a future!
– Above all we appreciate your prayers. God opens up many doors for the trade school to do His work through the prayers of many. So thank you for praying for our board, our staff, our students and our supporters. God is good all the time, all the time God is good!
To mail your support check to Beyond Relief, send to P.O. Box 156 Rossford, OH 43460 or donate online at GoBeyondRelief.org. If you would like to donate stock, call David Kuntz at 513-284-1053.
Striving to break the cycle of generational poverty