“We are unashamedly Christian and enthusiastically ecumenical, believing God’s love extends to everyone.” In response, we enrich lives by building community.
Our mission is to serve in faithful partnership with the landless poor to build housing and communities that adequately address the diverse needs of families–such as access to clean water, health care, and education–in order to build sustainable, independent communities and promote economic opportunity.
Ronnie McBrayer’s Blog
Ronnie McBrayer
“Never tell a child that something is impossible,” G.M. Trevelyan said. “For God may be waiting for someone ignorant enough to do what others say can’t be done.”
Read more of Ronnie McBrayer’s latest blog here…
The Miracles of Working with Others
On Tuesday December 13th, 2011 Homes from the Heart’s Directors Michael Bonderer and Rick Dye arrived in Haiti with a team of students from the University of Cincinnati. They shortly met up with Jacob Battle, a former board member of the Fuller center and longtime friend of Millard Fuller. Jacob suggested to Michael that all of them visit a piece of land in Bellatan where he thought that a house could be built.
After visiting the site it was decided that a concrete block triplex could be built there to house three families. The Fuller Center team led by Michael Bonderer immediately began work tearing down the run down hovels made of plastic, cardboard, and tin which were occupying the site and dug a foundation for the triplex. Three days after starting construction on the site the stone foundation and structural steel had been put into place for the earthquake resistant triplex. Just as the team’s time in Haiti was coming to an end a roving band of five Mennonites came to the site and offered to help. After the team had left, the Mennonites picked up where they left off and started laying block, in two and a half weeks the triplex was finished.
This story illustrates how a group of likeminded folks with a servant’s heart can make anything happen when the Holy Spirit is involved. Be it The University of Cincinnati, a roving band of Mennonites, or a community in need of shelter with a willingness to help but limited funds, an overwhelming sense of volunteerism can make anything happen.
For more information please see The Americus Times Recorder’s storyabout the coming together of these diverse people for a common goal in Haiti at:
Just Show Up
Nicaragua December 7, 2011. This is not the beginning of the story or the end. It is but one day, part of a story so big it has no beginning and no end. Just show up. Participate. Let God have control.
A 64 year old women stands in the street talking to a man; she is very small but there is strength in her that cannot be denied. They don’t speak the same language yet he knows what she wants from him.
She lives across the street in a house made of sticks, covered with plastic, old wood, and rusty sheet metal. There are no doors to separate the outside from the inside. The house has no windows yet the light finds its way inside to her reality; a place she shares with her family.
5 Teams, 4 Countries, 3 Languages, 2 Universities, 1 Mission
Homes from the Heart, with the University of Cincinnati and the University of California Los Angeles, just wrapped up a building initiative unlike anything we’ve done before. We had over 60 volunteers on teams in El Salvador, Haiti, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Stay tuned for stories from our student volunteers!
