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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Ordinary Hero Haiti!!


As we continue to recap our trip to Haiti, I wanted to share our featured new Ordinary Hero/Haiti video with you. Also, be sure to scroll back and read our blog posts while in Haiti to see what all we did. 
We have the best videographer who captured some amazing shots to show you the 
true beauty of the children that we served in Haiti.

We are super excited to start adding future Haiti trips to the calendar. 
Trip dates will be coming soon. 
In the mean time watch this brand new video to boost your excitement!
Thank you, Ryan, with 29Eleven Productions, for such an awesome video!  


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Beautiful Life of Ken Ken


You hear stories all the time about Aids, third world countries, and how they go hand in hand. 
I do think that most of us can possibly take in the reality of it unless our lives have been touched by it in some way. If you have never known anyone suffering from Aids then you simply feel sad when you hear the stories and don't know what else to do.

 If you are honest with yourself you could say, "Why would God allow a little baby to be born into the world with Aids, only to die and never know what it's like to truly live life?" We all ask ourselves some of these hard questions. We ask, "What significance does a life like that have?" 

Well, I am here to tell you that I met a little baby named Ken Ken, in Haiti, fighting for his life with Aids, who changed, and truly transformed the life of a young girl struggling to find her purpose in life. 
You may have read in my previous post from our Haiti trip about a young girl named Carley who's life completely changed when she stumbled upon this brave little baby in the hospital dying from Aids. He was 9 months old at the time and barely weighed 9 lbs. He was on death's door, and in walks Carley with the baggage of her American life that had been dragging her down for years. What do you do with what you think are your worst American problems in life when you see this little life staring back up at you, looking for any glimpse of hope he can find? 
You roll up your sleeves, take a long hard reality check, and begin to pray and nurse this little baby back to health...which is exactly what she did! 


 She nursed him back to health, prayed over him, and visited him every day. 
Miraculously he started gaining weight, his hair started growing, and his teeth began to grow in. It truly was a miracle!


While on our trip to Haiti, we met Carley who was working as an Intern for Chadasha Foundation. She told us her amazing story and what was so neat to watch was how God took this little baby's life and matched it with Carley's. As Ken Ken began to grow and heal, so did Carley. She was finding her purpose in this beautiful life that God set before her. She decided to take us to meet Ken Ken one day and we were so thrilled! We showed up just as he was finishing his bath.

What an amazing bond this young Mom, who is struggling with Aids, herself, has with Carley! She watched Carley come in and selflessly love on her baby boy and nurse him back to health when she had done all she could do with what she had and there was nothing else to do but watch him die. 

We all loved meeting Ken Ken! It truly was like holding a little miracle. 


Carley was scheduled to leave the next day to go back to the US. She had been there since November. It was a very bitter sweet moment as she had to tell them both goodbye. There were many tears and we all gathered around and prayed for Ken Ken and his beautiful mother. 


Carley knew that she would be back in the coming months to visit Ken Ken and watch his progress. What she didn't know was that this would be her very last goodbye. 
Within days of Carley returning home to the US, Ken Ken lost his brave battle with Aids and left this world to join God in a world free of pain or suffering. 
Ken Ken's life mattered. His little life brought more hope and purpose not only to Carley but to his mother, than anyone could ever know or understand. He was a gift from God and he was beautiful! 
We celebrate his life and what it meant to so many who knew him. 

Why do some have to be born into this world to suffer, only to die? It sounds like another familiar story we have all heard. The answer to this story and the other story of God's own son doesn't just end with death. It ends with hope and many lives being set free. None of us can control that we live in a fallen world, full of pain, sickness, and suffering. But we can control what we do to help others in the middle of it. Every single life on this earth has a purpose. Some live their entire life into old age without discovering it. Ken Ken was called home at an early age, but his purpose is one that many search a lifetime to find.  Carley's life was one that was set free as a result of seeing, holding, and touching, the life of Ken Ken, a baby that suffered, but was ultimately touched by love and touched by God. In the end, Ken Ken is set free from suffering and Carley gained new purpose, life and hope to live for greater things....to live for others....to live for God.

It's a beautiful story!

Pray for Ken Ken's beautiful mother as she strives to move on in her life. 
I will be featuring the Chadasha ministry soon as some of our featured Ordinary Heroes in Haiti. In the meantime you can visit their website to donate if you wish to help Ken Ken's mother. Click on donate and put "Ken Ken" in the memo. She lives in a tent city with no running water. She is still displaced from the earthquake two years ago. Her living conditions are very humbling to say the least, as you can imagine in a tent city. This is an amazing organization, doing awesome things to help those in need. 

We were blessed to be able to witness Carley's final 48 hours in Haiti. We had our awesome videographer with us who captured many of the special moments and then made this video for her to remember Haiti by. At the time we had no idea that Ken Ken would soon not be with us anymore. It makes the video that much more special. Thank you, Ryan, for putting this video together for them. 
Look for more Haiti videos to be coming soon over the next several days. 
You may also read Carley's blog in her own words by clicking here. 

Now grab your tissues!




Sunday, May 27, 2012

May OH Grant Contest Winners!!!!









ORDINARY HERO GRANTS


are being awarded again this month to our TOP 3 Sellers!!!


500$ TO BE APPLIED TOWARD YOUR


ADOPTION OR MISSION TRIP!! Yay!!

Each month we give our top 3 Selling Affiliates $500 toward their adoption or mission trip in which they are fundraising for. We love supporting adoptions and missions!! It is where our heart is. We, at OH, love helping you all reach your fundraising goals through our Affiliate Program!!


 We had some true go-getters who got the word out and had some amazing purchases on their behalf!! You guys have some AWESOME friends and family who love and support you in your passion to CHANGE THE WORLD FOR ONE!!


So.....our top three selling May Grant Affiliates, and winners of the $500 Grant, are......



#1 Marilee Davis!!

Marilee is from Orange County, CA and is a friend of Wendi Green, a local Nashville mama who adopted three kiddos from Ethiopia a little over a year ago! Her husband Brian told Marilee about OH Grant contest! Yay Brian- thanks for spreading the word! So they are adopting from ET with Bethany Christian Servives! Congrats to the Davis family on your  FIRST OH Grant win!! The Davis family had 21 purchases and raised $413 in Commissions and since they won a GRANT they now raised $913 in just 7 days!!!Ya hoo!



#2 Megyn Jefferson!!


!! Meg is fundraising for a mission tripto Ethiopia in June! And in just 7 days she earned $276 just from her 40% affiliate commission. THEN she earned the $500 grant which means in just 7 days she now has an extra $776 toward her misison trip! Congrats Megyn!

#3 Ladonna Powell!!

Girl, you did it AGAIN!!!
Ladonna is from Hopkinsville, KY and was a Grant Winner in March and also won several of our Honorable Mention awards (for affilaites selling over 1K!) She is going on a mission trip next month to Ethiopia. She earned $245 this grant contest plus with her $500 Grant that brings her total earned in 7 days to $745!!! If I have done my math correct Ladonna has raised a total of $1345 in commissions through the OH Store and she has won 2 $500 Grants!!! Her fundraising total with OH is a whopping $2345!!! Yowza girl! Congrats again! You have a lot of Ordinary Heros out there to thank!!!

Wow!! Congratulations to our top 3 OH Affiliates!!



GREAT JOB, EVERYBODY!!


I must send out a major THANK YOU to all of our Affiliates, and all of you who supported our Affiliates through your purchases!! They could not have done this without the support of family and friends who purchased on their behalf to support their cause.

Remember, Affiliates, YOU ARE ALL WINNERS!!

You all receive 40% of every purchase credited to your name.


We are thrilled to be able to offer this to you!!


We want to thank ALL of our families who have donated items toward helping these fundraising families. Next month we have some AWESOME Product Partners lined up! We are excited about our product partners!! We are now accepting PP's for July!


Who will it be in June?



If you are interested in partnering YOUR product with OH to benefit our fundraising families, please email Gina@OrdinaryHero.org for more information.



Again, CONGRATS to our May Grant Winners!!



Now, GO THANK ALL OF YOUR ORDINARY HEROES WHO SUPPORTED YOU!!



NEXT GRANT GIVEAWAY TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!

See how 7 days can make a drastic difference in YOUR fundraising!!


Check out our Affiliate Program and get signed up today :-)


AWESOME JOB, EVERYONE!!



































Sunday, May 20, 2012

Our May Grant contest of 2012 is underway! 

Who wants this??



Ordinary Hero will be giving away THREE $500 grants to our top sellers that sell product in the OH STORE over the next 7 days!

Our past winners have earned $1000 up to $2500 in a Grant contest!

The contest starts today and runs through this Saturday, May 26th and will close at midnight (Central time!) Good luck to all!!!

As an OH affilaite you earn 40% of ALL items purchased in our STORE on your behalf. If you are one of our TOP 3 sellers, you win an additonal $500! It's easy and its FAST! It's a super quick fundraiser that can earn you some cool cash and your friends and family get some really cool gear! If you would like to become an OH affilate or know someone who is fundraising for mission trips or adoptions please share our fundraising program with them! We would love to GRANT them an extra $500! Thanks for sharing this post with your friends and family!

Click here to find out how to become an affiliate-- Its FREE and takes 2 minutes to JOIN!
http://www.ordinaryhero.org/Ordinary_Hero/OH_Fundraising.html

We have added some NEW items in the OH STORE this month -- check out the Nike Dri Fit "OH" running gear and some cool spring tee's. Our marathon runners looked great in these as they were running the Music City Marathon last month! Buy yours and run in a local race in your hometown or to the gym! These are NIKE brand and they are rockin' the OH Logo! Get yours today!!!




We are excited and proud to partner with Ten Days Mission Experiences, a short-term missions program of Every Nation Ministries, a Christian organization dedicated to church planting, campus ministry, and world missions. Check out the new Ten Days merch in the OH store!



You can check these items out in the OH Store: http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/

As most of you know Kelly P just got back from HOT, HOT Haiti! OH wants to help sweet Megan with Respire Haiti and so many kids who have so little! OH is trying to help get kids signed up for school and we need your help.
 Affiliates: We have added CHILDRENS SCHOOL SPONORSHIPS as one of the "donation items" in the OH STORE that your friends and family can purchase on behalf of YOU this grant period!!. (The sheep and many other items are still there as well.) This is a great opportunity for you to offer another unique way to TRULY help someone in need in Haiti and raise money for your trip/adoption. Kelly will continue to PROCESS what all she saw in Haiti and think of other items that may be listed in the OH STORE in the future.


We have so many ideas that we are eager to share with all of you in the future months! So many great opportunites lie ahead. Thanks for being a part of our journey!


If you would like to  be an OH Product Partner or learn more about our Product Partner program contact Gina Payne at gina@ordinaryhero.org
We are now accepting Product Partners for June and July!



Good luck to everyone that is trying to win that Grant money! All affilaites should be getting emails from Gina, our fundraising coach with TIPS on how to fundraise using social media... IF you are not getting emails then we do not have your correct email address. Reach out to her (email is listed above) and she will add you to our list. Also, check out "OH Fundraising" on FB, and you can follow along ways to market to your FB friends and family.

Happy Sunday to all of our Ordinary Hero's!!!



Friday, May 18, 2012

Respire Haiti! Wow, What An Amazing Ministry!


Wow, Wow!!! Respire Haiti and Megan Boudreaux!! 
How do I put into words everything that God is doing in this ministry and for these kids? 
Megan, above in the red tank top, is a young, ambitious, 26 year old girl who acquired a heart for Haiti a couple of years ago. She packed her bags and moved to Haiti completely on her own with a vision and a dream to help the children in the Gressier community. 
Megan is one of the main reasons we traveled to Haiti. My daughter, Lauren (on the right), heard about Megan and her ministry and saw a need that Ordinary Hero could help with...SPONSORSHIPS. 
Megan has organized and built a new school on top of a beautiful mountain for the children of Gressier. It is truly amazing to see! BUT, she still needs folks to lock arms and sponsor a child for school in order to share the load of the expense to run the school. 
So we said "ABSOLUTELY! LET'S GO SEE THESE KIDS!"
So we traveled to Haiti and are bringing awareness to Megan and her ministry as one of our featured Ordinary Heroes! You can read the story of our visit in this post and also CLICK HERE TO SEE THE CHILDREN AVAILABLE FOR SPONSORSHIP. Email Deborah@ordinaryhero.org for the password.  
 We arrived and Megan started us out on the walk up the road to the school. She is amazing to watch. She is completely fluent in the Creole and everyone in the community knows her and loves her. As we walked she stopped at different homes to stop in and check on how they were doing. Kids were also knocking on her door constantly needing medical attention. I watched her stop what she was doing, jump up and wrap a terribly burned leg with ointment and bandages, along with other wounds of the kids. 

 We also stopped at a corner building that she took us in and shared her dream of turning it into a bakery/cafe which will help support her school. Above she is pictured, left to right, with Jessi, who lives with her and helps her during certain times of the year, Rita, who helps run Respire Haiti and helps us with the sponsorships, Megan, and Kyle the builder, who is helping with the school, cafe and also the building needs of her home and future clinic. She has a great team around her who all have their whole hearts in this ministry.

 Megan has more energy than all of us put together, and I quickly learned why. The land she owns with the school is literally up a mountain. She climbs that thing sometimes 4 and 5 times a day going back and forth from there to her home. She said it used to not even have the road but Samaritan's Purse came in and cleared the road to the top for her. 

 We got up early in order to meet some of the kids as they arrived for school. We met a couple of them on the walk up the mountain. They are adorable in their uniforms which Megan had made by some of the local Haitians. 

 And up to the top we went. Whew! It showed how out of shape and spoiled us Americans are. 
Oh, and did I mention the blazing heat! :-) 
But, man! Once on top of that mountain, the cool breeze hits you and you turn around and are surrounded by the most beautiful scenery! You have the ocean in the distance on one side and the beautiful mountains on the other. It truly is breathtaking, 
which is what Respire (pronounced Res-per-ae) means. 

 Once on top you see one school building on one side that the children meet in, and on the other side you see another one in progress. People are hard at work doing some very hard manual labor, laying each stone and placing each concrete block to complete this young girl's God-breathed vision for these kids. 


 We popped inside the classrooms to meet the children. 
It was a beautiful sight. I learned that most of these children weren't going to school at all, living in the mountainside, and were still displaced from the earthquake before Megan came along. 

Now here they are and here is your opportunity to sponsor them. There will be info below on how you can do that and make a huge difference in their lives while helping to relieve the financial burden for Megan and Respire Haiti. 

 They are soooo precious! 




 This class of older boys were such gentlemen! They stood to their feet to greet us when we walked in. 
Also, check out the view that the children have of the ocean in the distance through the school window. 
Kyle the builder thought of everything from the view to how the breeze would blow through
for these kids. It is really neat to see! 

 The school has 52 employees. These women are some of the cooks. They prepare a meal for over 300 kids every day during the school week and also have a feeding program every Saturday for the kids. 
The kids come to school and meet for a couple of hours and then have breakfast prepared for them every day. They take a break for breakfast and recess and then back to work. 

 It's always so neat to sponsor a child! Morgan had chosen her child to sponsor off of our list before we arrived. While at the school she spotted him and got to meet him. 
 I know from personal experience that when sponsoring a child they become like family to you. 
God chooses you to make a life changing impact in their lives and 
you gain a life long new friend. 

Our goal is to let every child there know that they have a sponsor and that they are loved and have someone praying for them. We don't want any of them feeling left out. 

This little guy captured my daughter's heart and she found her new child to sponsor. 
He had such a sweet spirit! 

 Deborah got to meet the little girl that she had chosen from the list to sponsor. 
She is a doll and now knows that someone out there loves her and is helping her. 

 There are still many, many kids in this school that need a sponsor. 

 I love the older kids! This young guy has been chosen for sponsorship by someone at home in the States and got his pic taken with me. 

 As far as I know, this young man has not been chosen yet. There are plenty of the older kids that I don't want to be forgotten. We don't even have a list of the kindergarteners because they all have sponsors. There are plenty of the older kids that still need sponsors. The older children are the ones that grab my heart because they totally understand the life that they live and understand that they need a sponsor to carry them through to their dreams. 



 Melodie met her little guy that she is sponsoring. So sweet! 

 We got to hang with the kids during their recess time. They are learning English and our team got to participate in an English class with them and help them learn. It was one of the highlights of the trip. 

 They made jump rope look so easy that Lauren thought she would give it a shot! Well...
Not so much! She couldn't quite get the hang of it. :-) 

 Ryan made lots of new friends on this trip.
 He was the cool guy carrying around the cool video recorder. 

 The kindergarten building is not complete yet so they are meeting underneath a big tent. 
 They are the cutest little things ever!! Their uniforms are bright yellow. Megan says that way it's easy to spot if a little bumble bee starts wandering off. 

These kids will melt your heart! 

 Another totally awesome program they offer for the kids is a SOCCER program. 
We got to pop in on the soccer tryouts that were going on. 


 Josh is an American that is there helping with the soccer program. 
Ryan got some awesome video of him telling about the program. 
We hope to get them all new soccer equipment donated. 
We noticed that several of the boys didn't even have soccer shoes. They were trying out for the team in their socks. They need uniforms, cleats, balls, and all that good stuff. 
They also need water for the boys to drink during practices and games. 
It's not easy to have water handy on top of that mountain. 
If you have soccer equipment you would like to donate or have money you would like to donate toward the soccer program you may contact Deborah@OrdinaryHero.org or CLICK HERE to donate toward the need. Just be sure to put 'Respire Haiti soccer program' in the memo line. 
 We were out there on top of that mountain as the sun was setting. 
I was watching these precious boys flying a homemade kite, made out of plastic and sticks
on top of that mountain, laughing and playing and finding new freedom and joy on this beautiful land. 
 These two above made friends quickly with Lauren and Alice. 
The kids are so full of love and simplicity. 
 This young boy came running across the lawn with his rubber piece of tire he was playing with. 
These kids find joy in the smallest things. It really puts things in perspective
coming from America where so many kids expect so much and yet still want more. 

 So let's continue to pray for Megan and her ministry. She is just one young girl making an extraordinary difference for kids in Haiti. She is truly an Ordinary Hero! 
One thing that is soooo important that I will touch on more in a future post is that a lot of the kids that she has brought into her school are Restaveks. Restaveks are child slaves. There is an estimated 
300,000 of them and it is something that is hardly ever discussed. These are children that are orphaned and they are taken into homes by the locals as their slaves and treated as such. 
Megan is on a quest to free the Restavek kids and this school and these sponsorships are the start of it. 
To read more about Restaveks and how Megan is helping, CLICK HERE to visit her blog. We hope to bring more light to this dark way of life for these kids living in Haiti. 
Megan has taken in two children into her home, herself. Here she is below with her friend who helps her around the house enjoying some of their new Blessing Bags. 
Thanks to all of you who donate the Blessing Bags. 
They are always so great for the kids in these third world countries and we will always take them on every trip we take no matter where we go. 


If you would like to see a list of the kids to sponsor in the Respire Haiti school and program, 
please CLICK HERE. 
You will need to email Deborah@ordinaryhero.org for the password. 
We are honored to partner alongside this amazing young girl and all the awesome things God is doing to bring her dream to life for these kids. We are hoping to have every kid in the program sponsored quickly. We are also planning a trip in the fall that you can join to meet your sponsored child as well. Exciting things to come. More info on that soon! 

There is also one last square of land on top of that mountain that is available for purchase. She has hopes to purchase it and put a church up there with a clinic. 
The cost is $55,000 for the land. She, and we, are believing that the money will come in for it. 
If you would like to donate toward the land purchase CLICK HERE and put 'Respire Haiti land purchase' in the memo line. 100% of your donation will go toward the purchase of the new land and is tax deductible. 

So there you have it! Lots of opportunities for you to get involved and help this awesome ministry. 
Child Sponsorship, Soccer Equipment, Land Purchase, Prayer, Support. 

We were totally blessed to see all the awesome things we saw in Haiti along with all the amazing Ordinary Heroes that run them on this trip. We look forward to returning with a team to offer more aid and support in the future. More info on that to come. 
Megan's story along with other featured Ordinary Heroes from this trip will be posting soon in a brand new video featuring all the awesome people we met on this trip! Get ready to be blessed! 

Thank you, Haiti, for blessing our team and opening our eyes as much as we could bless you!