We are very excited to announced that you have helped us sponsor 24 children in Chauffard, Haiti. This sponsorship guarantees education and food for these wonderful children which, in turn, guarantees a more hopeful future.

For only $1 a day you can make a significant difference!

Sponsor a child today.

We just wanted to announce that we have had our 11th child sponsored!

Scherline Estime now has much needed worm medicine, a meal a day, and primary education for hope for a better tomorrow!

We still have yet to have our official launch party at Black & Brew on Saturday the 21st. Tell your friends and invite them to this awesome night.

Thank you all for partnering with us on behalf of Scherline, her family, and the wonderful community of Chauffard, Haiti.

Kenny and Grant

And all of The CPI Guys and Gals

We have 2 BIG announcements for you that we are extremely excited about!

1. CPI Child Sponsorship has launched
2. CPI Night at Black-N-Brew, Saturday, May 21st

1 – CPI Child Sponsorship Has Launched

CPI is THRILLED to announce that the child sponsorship program is ready for you!! We have 48 children waiting for a sponsor. Our school has 128 children and 2 teachers. As you know, that is not an environment conducive for learning. Education is the key to getting out of poverty in a country where the majority of the population is… illiterate.

For $30 a month you can begin to change this statistic. What would happen in the village of Chauffard if ALL of our students could read and write? GREAT things would happen. Please, please consider being a child sponsor. You can visit our website and begin the process today at: CPI Child Sponsorship

2 – CPI Night at Black-n-Brew, Saturday, May 21st

Come join us at Black-N-Brew on Saturday, May 21st to help us celebrate the launch of our Child Sponsorship Program. Nate Mundell will be displaying and selling photography created from his most recent trip to Haiti. A percentage of the delicious food and drink sales will go to CPI-Haiti. Drop in and show your support between 6:30 and 9:30!

Great people, great mission, great food and drink…don’t miss it!

Together, we are making a difference!

The CPI Team

We just wanted to let you know that we now have a “Title Sponsor” for the Hope for Haiti 5K:

This comes by way of Caylyn and Lisa Gilbert being willing to do the “ask” and following up. Way to go!

We know everyone is busy out there putting up flyers, talking it up on Facebook, spreading the word and hopefully talking to event sponsors. We have heard the buzz and been encouraged by how many people know what we are up to already. Keep it up!

If you have not approached a potential event sponsor yet…now is the time. We are thrilled with the news about Mid-Florida, but for us to reach our goal we have to have an additional 40 sponsors coming in at the $250 level (or some equivalent at other levels). December will be here and gone before we know it – so let’s do the “ask” and see what God does.

Have you been to the 5K page on our site? Check it out: http://cpihaiti.org/hope-5k/

Also coming up in the next 10 days:
Donate Your Christmas Campaign
Heroes of Hope Web Tools

Kudos again to Lisa and Caylyn! Go team! Have a great Thanksgiving!

All-Hands-On-Deck Meeting Summary

First of all, thanks for making last night a priority. I know our schedules are crazy and there are plenty of other things clamoring for your attention, but you will never regret an ounce of energy, time or resources invested in serving others for the reputation of Christ.

So, way to go for making room in your lives for our friends in Chauffard who are largely unknown or overlooked by most of the world. I would love to see their faces if they could see a picture of us, here in the U.S. meeting and planning on their behalf. Good stuff!

Second, last night was the beginning of something great! We all made mutual commitments to give some of our best focus and energy towards making our vision a reality. Here is a summary of the commitments that we made last night:

Commitment – #
Event Sponsors - 35
Host Dessert Social - 4
Race-Day Volunteers - 13
Speaking Opportunity - 2
Enlist Runners/Walkers - 107
Donate Your Christmas - 65

Third, keep in mind that our team is larger than those who attended the meeting last night. I know of several other people who will make similar commitments in the next week or so as we communicate the vision and the opportunities.

Fourth, we will be finalizing the Donate Your Christmas process in the coming weeks and will keep you posted once it is ready to go.

Here are some suggestions as we move forward together:

1. Take a few minutes and get very specific as to how you are going to follow through on your commitments. Get your calendar out and set the days and times that you will make that call, send the email, stop by the business, have the conversation, hand out the flyer, put up the poster, etc. As someone once said, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

2. As a general rule, don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. I would suggest we look at the time leading up to Thanksgiving as our prime window of opportunity for securing the Hope for Haiti 5K event sponsor commitments. Remember that our event sponsors can commit now and pay in January if necessary, but we would like to secure the commitment now if possible. Don’t forget that Grant and I are more than excited to come with you to talk with a potential event sponsor.

3. With the holidays fast approaching, those of you who committed to hosting a Dessert-Social will need to act now and get your event scheduled. If you don’t think you can pull it off prior to the holidays, you can always shoot for January.

I think that is all for now…let the fun begin!

Kenny Ellis
CPI-Haiti, www.cpihaiti.org

“Men anpil, chay pa lou.”
Many hands make the load lighter

A Success Adventure Building Homes In Chauffard, Haiti

As many of you know, we were unable to build new homes in the village in July because our materials were held up in the red tape of the port.

After returning to the States, our Haitian team worked diligently and finally got the materials out of the port in early September.  Meanwhile, we were assembling another team (aka, the Dream Team) to head back and finish the project.

Our team left for Haiti last Wednesday night.  Here is a picture of our team:

Kenny, Leah, John, Shawn, Bobby & JJ

It goes without saying that the choice to work among the people of Chauffard was a decision to accept and overcome extreme obstacles at every turn.  The remote location, the extremely poor road conditions, and the abundant rainfall all pose serious challenges to our teams.

This is why most organizations work in and around Port-au-Prince.  However, the forgotten people of this village have become our friends and partners, and their future is worth it all to us.

So, although it was an adventurous, trying few days, we were able to complete the new home late on Saturday night.

Oxyllian, his wife and their 4 children were overwhelmed with  gratitude and excitement.

As we packed up our tools and loaded  the trucks, we could still hear the people of the village talking and  the children laughing as they had surrounded the new home to  check it out.

Driving down the mountain, we realized that we and  all of our U.S. partners had touched a real family in ways that are  immeasurable.

We also realized that this is still only the beginning of a  life-time partnership with our friends who are working, day in and  day out for a better future.

One final highlight for us was to be able to train many of the locals how to use the various tools that we had used and the basic concept of a wood-frame house.  We left behind the materials for two other homes (Senles’ family and Willy’s father’s home) that will be built by the locals who helped us build this first house.

How compassionate are you?

Most of us subconsciously feel that we should be a bit more caring and sensitive, but at times it is hard to show concern or sympathy in certain life situation at best. However, we know that God is constantly showering His compassion on us.

The Lord is gracious and compassionate… and rich in love. ~Psalm 145:8

The dictionary defines compassion as “a deep awareness of and sympathy for another’s suffering”. Nevertheless, the meaning we will look at and seems to be closer to the context of demonstrating care and sensitivity in word and action, has to do with first being sensitive or rather ‘sense’ the feelings of others. This is done by picking up vibes from others by observing their behavior or body language. The things they say and the things they don’t. All these seemingly little things are picked up and used to develop a “sense” of the other person.

This leads us to being in tune with someone’s emotions/feelings and acting accordingly. In other words, we are taking the extra effort to say and do things which also take the other person’s views into consideration. All throughout the Bible we see God’s compassion woven through individual’s lives and if God is a God of great compassion than why aren’t we following in His footsteps.

Having and displaying a character of compassion is about being an extension of God here on earth towards others. Surely God’s love is infinite, and surely, He longs to use us as vessels that display his love through compassion.

God desires our involvement in others lives and we, as Christian believers, are the body of Christ in the world, working to do His will, which a part of that is showing compassion. For example, in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice a story of an upper-middle-class Englishwoman named Lizzy Bennet who is pursued by Mr. Darcy, a brooding and complex man of great wealth. Lizzy’s first impression of Mr. Darcy was that he was arrogant, introverted, and self-serving. So when he declares his love for her, she rejects him. Later, when she learns of his many secret acts of kindness (compassion) for others, Lizzy admits that she had been wrong about Mr. Darcy and agrees to marry him. We, as Christians, are far too often like Lizzy. We too often use our worldly eyes to focus on pettiness rather than seeing others with the eyes of God and showing compassion.

Compassion looks beyond our needs and seeks God’s heart, letting go of our own petty concerns and learning just to be vessels of true compassion-and that is what we seek to do here through CPI.

Kenny and Willie

What is trust?

The word “trust” means something slightly different to each of us.

Depending on the life experiences we have had and the beliefs we hold, trust can relate to a variety of qualities. Despite these variations, however, we know trust to be vitally important characteristic to have.

In the English language we have but one word for trust, which is “trust” and it leaves alot to be desired.

But, in the Hebrew language there are many versions to this one word trust.

In the Hebrew language there are several different meanings to trust and here are three of them:

1. Batah

2. Hasah

3. Aman

All three take on their own reality of trust, the one we will look at is Hasah.

In the New Testament the word for trust is to believe or have faith. It’s not just a religious term, it’s an action based upon believing in something to be true and trustworthy.

“In the Lord I put my (Hasah) trust.”  ~Psalm 11:1a

Try writing the word “trust” at the top of a piece of paper and then freely write down whatever words pop into your head associated with “trust.” Take a look at your list and highlight or circle the words that resonate the strongest, such as, truthfulness and honesty.

Trust is the belief and confidence in the integrity, reliability and fairness of a person; an essential human value that quantifies and defines our interdependance in relationships with others as well. Trust is a choice we make toward someone when we are inspired that they have either earned our confidence or are by some other means worthy of it.

Trust is difficult to acquire, and when fractured even harder to redeem, so perhaps the lessons of trust are not how to earn it, but what it takes to keep it. And perhaps the greatest value of trust is not the accomplishments we make with it, but rather what trust accomplishes in us on our quest to become people who are worthy of receiving it.

Do we in our actions and words show we have a character of trust?

Trust is something that is being cultivated between us and the people in Haiti, in the little village of Chauffard, and it is encouraging to see trust grow and to be apart of that as well!



What does it mean to mature as a Christian?

How would you answer that question?

Is it through tradition?

Is it having compassion for the poor, afflicted, and oppressed?

Is it sharing with others about God’s love in Christ?

And once you have settled on a definition of a mature Christian, how would you go about instructing, guiding, and strengthening yourself and others, to continually mature in Christ’s likeness?

What is a mature Christian, and how do we as the body love, call, encourage, and challenge one another to mature in Christ’s likeness?

When pondering these questions it is helpful to read the following passage—to gain a better perspective and understanding—in Philippians 3:12-14:

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

These verses are referring to us maturing into Christ-likeness and not in regards to our salvation as Christians—born again believers who are complete and whole upon believing. The journey towards Christ-likeness begins with a sense of honesty and dissatisfaction—hence the expression “press”. And the Greek word press was used of a sprinter, and refers to one who is aggressive and energetic action.

Now that we have established that pressing is not in about striving, but about aggressively and energetically walking the journey set before us, we can see that Paul lived in a state of actively pursing the things of God—what God was leading and placing before him to do and complete. As Paul walked the path laid before him, he was sensitive to the Holy Spirits directing within him, which was an inward and ultimately manifestation of Christ-likeness.

Going deeper into these verses we see the words “lay hold”, which in the Greek means “to make one’s own possession”. God chose Paul and equally Paul chose to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in laying hold of the things God was leading him in.

In order for us to live the sort of life that Paul lived, we need to see that we are complete and whole… forgetting those things that are behind, whatever—whether these things are past deeds and achievements or failures and sins—that maybe that we tend to let distract us from aggressively and energetically embracing the journey.

As Christians we are complete and whole, able to “press” forward on the path that is before us, especially as we chose to be sensitive to the direction of the Holy Spirit within us. Knowing that we are right where we should be flowing in the moment of the journey, pouring out ourselves in the things that God has before us—maturing in Christ-likeness along the way.

Now that this has been brought to your attention, take a moment to seek God and what He might be leading you in when it comes to being apart of an organization such as CPIHaiti. I encourage you to prayerfully consider what might be in store for you being apart of something that is beyond yourself-extend yourself and be the hands and feet to help those that are less fortunate than you.

The Twins

Many of us are used to comparing ourselves with others… we want someone else’s energy level but are unaware of our own strengths and potential. It does take time to reach a certain level and energy to see our potential skyrocket through the universe, but give yourself an opportunity to grow, become, and reach your full potential!

Does something inside keep telling you, I was meant for more than this?

Do you wonder if you’re accomplishing all that God has planned for you?

Many today settle for less than God’s best and never experience the joy and fulfillment that is available to them.

Don’t settle like so many around you, but take time to cultivate your strengths and address your weaknesses. We tend to procrastinate or try to rush through wanting to obtain the end result, instead of enjoying the in between times. The in between times are what is most crucial in developing our full potential.

For example, when you decide that you would like to participate in a marathon, you have to allow for time to train for it. You have to take the first step to begin training and continue to train until the day of the event arrives. It is the short and long runs, tempo and speed runs, the plyometric and weight bearing workouts, and nutrition that prepare you for that very moment-the in between stuff!

When we view ourselves as God does, we realize that He has gifted each of us with unique personalities, skill sets, abilities, talents, and dreams to achieve His specific will, plan and purpose for our life. As Ephesians 2:10 instructs, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” The exciting journey to reaching your full potential begins when you understand and accept this.

As our all-knowing, all-loving, eternal Father, God is willing to move heaven and earth to accomplish His will in our lives.

God sets us free from the bondage to sin and despair, and He reveals our wonderful identity as His child-full of hope, purpose, and potential. Our responsibility is to have a clean heart, a clear mind, a healthy body, right relationships, and a balanced schedule. We also need to use our God-given gifts and take God-approved risks to accomplish all He has called us to do in life.

But the path to reaching our full potential is littered with hurdles-issues we may deal with on a daily basis. A limited perspective, constantly comparing ourselves to others, self-imposed limitations, fear of disappointment, fear of failure, and even laziness can hinder us from becoming all God created us to be. These are obstacles that we generally cannot conquer on our own, but with God all things are possible.

And not only for you, but for the little community of Chauffard, Haiti… they need people like you and me to come along side and be a real live example to them as they seek to reach their full potential as well.

So, how about you do you want to reach your full potential?

Don’t just settle… reach for the stars!