Blog

When you can’t physically visit your Sister Church, how do you stay connected with them? HaitiConnect is RMI’s answer to this and one of our newest initiatives.  To keep C3 Partnership relationships alive, we have developed HaitiConnect, a program by which we connect our Sister Churches virtually, via the internet.  One way is by bringing church leaders to our Cayes office to speak directly (via live translation) with their counterparts in on a Video Call.  Another way is going to a Sister Church, setting up a portable StarLink system, and enabling various groups from the Haitian Sister Church to speak directly with the US church’s leadership or a group in the church. We anticipate connecting US Hope for Kidz child sponsors with their sponsored children via a school program broadcast live. We want to connect various groups (women’s and men’s groups and others) in the Haitian church to those groups

Grateful, Thankful, Blessed Looking back over the 2024 calendar year, our Hope for Kidz team can truly say that we are Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed!  We are Grateful for the opportunity to bring Hope to the children of Haiti with a biblically based education.  We are Thankful that our donors and sponsors understand the importance of education and providing a hot meal each school day.  And we are Blessed each time we hear of how the Lord has touched another life in His great plan.   We continue forward into this new year with humble hearts and the desire to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  Please join us as we pray for peace and safety within Haiti, as we pray for strong leadership that will restore order, and as we pray that the Lord will touch the hearts of men, because through Him all things are possible.

RMI’s first team to the Dominican Republic (DR) came from southern New Jersey. They were ready to be Jesus’ hands and feet. Our ministry in the DR will be different from that in Haiti. We have the opportunity to work with Dominicans and Haitians, and their needs are also different.  This first team’s goal was to visit both kinds of churches to experience their needs. On the first day, Saturday, the team visited a Haitian church and found they had a medical clinic in progress. They met Dr. Milton, a Dominican doctor who holds a free medical clinic every Saturday. He gives so much of himself and his time. He keeps track of all the patients and all the medicines for the people; all they need to do is show up. He does this for communities struggling and unable to find affordable medical care. His own family works so that he can provide this

The admissions process has begun for the inaugural class of the Ezra Institute.  One of RMI’s Impact Points is education.  For years we have had the Hope for Kidz Program to address that point.  And for years we have wanted to expand our educational footprint to include those Hope for Kids (HFKz) graduates who have gone on in their studies, finished high school, and are showing leadership potential in their homes, churches, workplaces, and communities.  We want to sow into these young people’s lives to enable them to have even greater capacities in their communities.  This is what and who the Ezra Institute School of Leadership is for. The current candidates came from the areas of Les Cayes, Ducis, Ti Biwon, Beaumont, Cance, and Les Angles. They were chosen by RMI HFKz staff, RMI Haiti staff, and their pastors. They came to the RMI Haiti Headquarters in Cayes for three days

Your opportunities to give a gift to your Sister Church pastor or your supported Hope for Kidz child are here.  You could mark the gift (s) unspecified, and the gift would go to a needy Haitian family. There are gifts for individuals or for families.  There are gifts for adults and kids.  You can’t go wrong with any of these gifts.  They will meet the needs of hurting families.   Remember Haiti as you do your holiday shopping! Scan the QR code or donate HERE.

Last week, we were very thankful to have representatives from Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) visit us in our Haiti office. FMSC is the organization that we partner with for our Hot Lunch Program and other food case gifts. Benjamin, Perguens, and Patrick had the pleasure of sitting with the Vice President, Junior Obrand, the Regional Director, Isaac Exalus, and Haiti agent, Maillard. They were here to touch base and check on long-term partners. While here, they visited our depot to see where we store the food and a local school where we provide food. Benjamin shares that it was a very successful visit. We have a positive relationship with FMSC and are grateful that we are partners. Feed My Starving Children Vice President Junior Obrand RMI Field Leader, Benjamin Altema and Perguens Hyppolite, an RMI senior Partnership Facilitator and Assistant Administrator. Inspecting the cases of food and the required

We do have food available! Despite the gangs’ stranglehold on Port-au-Prince, we have found a way to get our containers of food to our depot in Cayes. This involves shipping them on a barge to a closer port and trucking them the rest of the way. It increases our costs quite a bit, but it gets the food to us. We’ve supplied the Hot Lunch Program with the food it needs and have food available for our fall food fundraiser. Haiti’s food crisis is worse than it has ever been.  Your brothers and sisters need your help!  Please consider how you, your family, and your church can be involved. Here are the price breakdowns: Each case is $45 and comes with one bottle of cooking oil. Buy 25 cases,  get 1 case free. Buy 110 cases, get 10 free. Scan the QR code to be taken right to the donation

Three C3 partner churches from the Gainesville, FL, area visited Haiti last month.  The trip enabled 2 churches to check on major projects they are involved in.  The third church attended the dedication of their new church building and school, which was just finished – and the dedication of the new cistern under the sanctuary!  We shared about this in the August 2023 issue of the Ministry Highlights.  They built the church on top of a 13,000-gallon cistern.  The water would be accessed by a solar pump. RMI President, Dan Shoemaker, joined the team.  They met the RMI Haiti staff, several pastors from the district, and the president of MEBSH at the new sanctuary to cut the ribbon and for a service of dedication.   What a celebration! Many dignitaries delivered special messages and prayers, and different choirs sang special songs. After the service, they shared a meal together. The church

 Dominican Republic Update: The Starkey family has been in Santiago, Dominican Republic, for a month. They are officially all moved into their home except for one last shipment from their house in Haiti, which will arrive shortly. They have been working hard on moving in, getting all their accounts set up, phone numbers, and such there in the DR and starting to learn the area. They found a car and will be able to purchase it this week.  Now that they have moved into their home and are settled, Jim and April spend a few hours each day working on their language lessons. April has also started homeschooling the three oldest boys. Zeke’s school situation is still uncertain and a cause for much prayer. Please also pray for them as they focus on this part of the ministry now, learning the language to be more effective in ministry there.  In

It is our pleasure to announce that we have a new RMI Team Member. We want to welcome Rob Thompson! It’s great to welcome a new team member who already means so much to each of us and to RMI. As a bonus, he won’t need a lot of training. Rob is joining RMI as the Director of Ministry Development.  He will be working with our existing C3 partners to encourage them to stay engaged even with the issues in Haiti and will be encouraging them to continue with projects and even to begin planning team trips.  He’ll also be working on growing our C3 partnerships in Haiti and our new field, the Dominican Republic.  He will also be working on fundraising and possibly using his field knowledge to assist with development in both Haiti and the DR. He has his work cut out for him, but we know he is up for