12 Ways of Christmas Giving
Give a gift that gives all year long!
Please consider giving this Christmas to CCM’s Annual Expenses, and make your gift count throughout the coming year.
Your Generosity Making It Happen! Thank You!
The gift you give today will directly impact our daily lives in the coming 2024 year, allowing us to continue to grow as a family and minister to our community. Some of our budget categories are similar to a North American family’s needs, and others are unique to calling Haiti home. Please take a look at the various ways your partnership gift will impact our family and further serve the community God has called us to. Your donation will bless us all throughout the year 2024, and without you, we could not be! Thank you so much for your support.
Your Generous Support Goes Towards
Vehicle
Extra
Help
Propane
Community outreach
Groceries
Community relief
Security
Power & Energy
Water
Mom's Mental health
Family Night
Communication
Vehicle
Our trusted CCM family vehicle is used for everything that comes to and goes from the CCM home including drinking water, groceries and generator fuel. It has also served as the community ambulance in a number of healthcare emergencies transporting the critically injured to one of Haiti’s few functioning hospitals many miles away. Roads are rough and our aging vehicle needs regular preventative maintenance, annual brake, tire, and clutch replacements, registration, and of course fuel to keep it serving well.
Propane
Propane is used at CCM on a daily basis. Its primary purpose is to fuel the kitchen stove and oven, which makes 3 meals a day, feeding all of the family as well as the security staff and more often than not a few extra hungry bellies who may not have had a warm meal in days. Propane also runs the clothes dryer on rainy season days.
Groceries
Keeping up with groceries for a family of this size could be a full-time job. Mealtime is one of fellowship and bonding, especially for kids who experienced food deprivation for the first several years of their early lives. We buy all our produce locally, supporting the community & farming families. We buy other staples in bulk from locally owned “depots” investing in the local businesses and economy.
Security
Being a foreign based ministry in Haiti can increase the likelihood of home invaders for both robbery and kidnapping. Unfortunately, we know this firsthand from a 90-minute armed invasion that took place at our previous home. Being a single mom with a houseful of kids adds to that vulnerability. We contract 24 hour security with guards who have become like family. On top of offering armed protection and peace of mind, they lend a helping hand and help maintain the functional operations of the house.
Water
In the rural mountains there is no such thing as city supplied water. CCM has to be completely self-sufficient. We have a large water storage cistern under our home to collect and hold rainwater for use. However, during non-rainy seasons it is never enough. We then purchase well water from lower altitudes and pay for it to be delivered by truck and pumped into our cistern. This water is used for bathing, cleaning, cooking, and laundry, but is not palatable for drinking. Purified water must be purchased separately.
Family Night
Saturday evenings we set aside time to intentionally pause from the burdens of the week and participate in a fun activity. We may take all the kids out to get pizza, or order local street food and settle in for a Netflix movie. Lately Family Night has looked a lot more like gathering a few special grocery items to make a special meal together using a new recipe. The activities vary but the people do not.
Extra Help
Running a house is time consuming, but running a house in Haiti is even more so. We (Joyce and Winzor) are constantly dealing with busted pipes, shorted electrical, and other minor maintenance issues. Thankfully, our neighbor, affectionately known as “Boss”, is well acquainted with repairs. If Boss can’t fix it, he knows who to call that can, and what a fair price is. Mme Y. also comes by CCM to help with the endless cleaning and cooking. This help is such a blessing!
Community Outreach
CCM provides a safe space and Christ centered environment to kids in the community. We open our doors to those who are from disengaged or struggling families, where parents may be absent or abusive, and sadly the safest place to be is away. On these afternoons kids can come to play sports, engage in conversation, read books from our library, learn conversational English, help with a project around the house, and just be kids. At the end of the day before they leave, we serve a hot meal, likely their only meal from two days prior and they won’t eat again for another two.
Community relief
In addition to our Community Outreach efforts we also move outside our walls to reach out to those in the neighborhood and beyond. Gang violence, a lack of government, inflation, cholera, covid, and a complete breakdown of the market economy have led to severe suffering for the people of Haiti. We cannot fix the underlying problems, but we can provide some small relief to families in need in our area. This may look like a gift of dried goods or fresh protein. It may look like medication for a severe infection. Or it may look like money for transportation to see a dying loved one when otherwise it would be an impossible transit.
Power & Energy
There is no local electricity in the CCM area. We rely on a generator, solar energy, and a battery storage system for our energy needs. The batteries charge when the generator is on, or the sun is high in the sky. The batteries help cut fuel costs and provide lasting power for essentials such as frozen perishables and lights, but our mountain location also brings with it many cloudy days. The generator burns a gallon of fuel per hour, and both generator and batteries require preventative maintenance.
Communication
Being in an isolated area of Haiti, internet and phone communication is essential to the daily functions of CCM. The kids rely on the internet for their online schoolwork. Joyce uses the internet to keep supporters up to date, to stay connected to friends and family, to keep herself informed of developing research and resources that her kids with various challenges can benefit from, and to have constant awareness of what is transpiring in the country to make choices that keep the family safe.
Mom's Mental health
Parenting can be exhausting, especially when raising children who have a history of trauma. It’s a beautiful kind of love, and it comes with its own rewards, but in order to be able to give well the parent needs to have enough to give. This budget item encourages Joyce to take care of her physical and mental health so that she can take care of those in her care.
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Chosen and Cherished Ministries
17 Potter Hill Road Port Crane,
NY 13833 USA
