The unconventional start to Val Marie Paper made it clear from the get-go to Val that this was God’s business and something to steward well. This wasn’t some lifelong business dream but something the Lord orchestrated. Pretty soon, Val started donating $.50 for each journal to charities. She’d choose a different one every month, but as the business grew, it became evident that finding one charity to partner with meant they could have a greater impact on one specific mission. After increasing to 10% off every dollar sold, Val soon felt called to increase to 15%. Reciprocal Ministries International (RMI) has been an organization Val has supported with her family and church for 30 years, so she chose to continue to support this ministry that she’s seen make such an impact on the lives of children in Haiti.
RMI began in 1988 and works with churches and individuals to provide a Christian education and daily hot meals for children in South Haiti. As an organization, RMI feeds 14,000 children in S. Haiti each day and is also working to provide better facilities for them to learn. There’s no electricity in S. Haiti, so RMI is creating solar systems so that the schools can have basic lighting and computer labs. Since 50% of kids don’t have funding to be able to go to school, RMI’s child sponsorship program, Hope for Kidz, provides the opportunity for kids to attend school who wouldn’t be able to afford it.
We had an initial goal to give $20,000 a year to RMI to feed 1,000 school children each day. But because of your orders and God’s provision, we’ve seen that number grow and we’ve also been able to help build and repair schools after earthquakes, as well as support the needs of RMI staff in Haiti! After talking with the coordinators for RMI, we learned just how impactful a daily meal is for the children’s ability to learn. We saw photos of visible improvement in their health after a year of the program and we were blown away to see what God could do through something that seems so simple.
RMI believes that providing a Christian education for kids is one of the greatest evangelistic tools they have in Haiti, and it could impact the entire country’s future. They currently have 35 churches in the U.S. that partner with local Haitian churches, but have a goal to partner with 100 churches throughout Haiti and other countries through their C3 Partnership Program. Their team is also working to raise up 40 Haitian leaders that can lead the ministry locally in Haiti. By partnering with RMI, churches, families and individuals have the ability to spread the gospel and meet basic needs of children in S. Haiti.
If you want to sponsor a child through RMI or are part of a church that might want to partner with RMI, you can learn more here.
Val says, “I wholeheartedly believe that VMP is a business I have been called to steward and not one that I am sole owner of. This is me physically taking action on that and trusting God with it.” Our hope from this blog post is to remind you how much God can do through our small steps of faith and obedience. We pray that you step away remembering that we each get the opportunity to partner with God in His plans for building His Kingdom, but the question is – will we say yes?
Let us fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18). Thank you for allowing us to give to RMI and other ministries for the last decade – we couldn’t do it without your orders and faithful support of this business!
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