November 2014 Newsletter

Thanksgiving and Christmas are approaching quickly and many of us are already caught up in planning our Thanksgiving feast, shopping for Christmas and you may have even put up your Christmas decorations already. In the midst of all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, most of us do remember to take time to be thankful for all that we have. I don’t think there is ever a board meeting where all of the Beyond Relief board of directors don’t take a minute or two to say how blessed we are to have all that we personally have, but also very blessed to be able to work together to help the people of Haiti through Beyond Relief.

The last newsletter was an update of the end of the 2013-2014 school year and how graduation has gone. Time has flown by and now the 2014-2015 school year is well on its way and off to a great start. Classes started this year on September 16, with 140 students. This year there has been more interest than ever from people who would like to take classes at the Beyond Relief Trade school. Director Mackel Jean and the teachers developed a pre-test that every person interested in taking classes had to take. This allowed the staff to make sure that each student was at a learning level to make it more possible to be successful and also helped to decide who would be able to take the class when there was limited space. For example, there were over 50 people that were interested in taking the computer classes and there are only 30 spots. After the pre-test was given, the top 30 applicants were accepted into the computer classes. We are so excited to see so much interest from the community and to see the school continue to grow.

Beyond Relief was able to hire a new and much needed secretary to assist Mackel. Her name is Madam Bastien Marguerite Martine

. One exciting thing about Madam Martine is that she is a graduate of the Beyond Relief Trade School computer course. She already had secretarial skills, but added computer skills. We are excited to have her working with us.

Do you shop on Amazon.com?
If you do, you can contribute to Beyond Relief just by shopping. Go to http://smile.amazon.com/ch/27-3803469 to choose Beyond Relief as the charity that you would like Amazon to make the donation to. It does not cost you anything extra and Beyond Relief receives .5% of whatever you spend. This does not sound like much, but the more people that we get to participate the more it adds up.

As we approach the end of the year, please remember that Beyond Relief is a 501(c)3 and that all donations are tax deductible. Will you please consider making a year-end donation to help the Beyond Relief Trade School to continue to help Haitians to acquire the skills they need to support their families?

SAVE THE DATE
If you live in the Cincinnati area (or would like a road trip to Cinci) mark your calendar for Saturday, February 21. Beyond Relief will be hosting an art show featuring art from many of the art students at Beyond Relief Trade School past and present. This will be a chance to see how well these students are doing. There is no admission fee. The art will be available for purchase. More details will be provided at a later date.

Because the school continues to grow, we will have to find another location for the school in St. Louis du Nord no later than August 2015. This is especially a challenge for us because there is not a larger building available for the school to rent. It would be a long term cost saving if Beyond Relief could purchase land and build a building that truly suits the needs of the school. However, we are encountering challenges to purchasing land. Please pray that God will show us where the school should move and that we will see the doors that He opens.

Beyond Relief not only needs your prayers in regard to the building, but we appreciate all your prayers for this school so that God can change lives.

We are very thankful to announce that Mackel and his wife, Carline, welcomed their baby girl, Cara, in October.

Thank you for your support!