Positives in the Midst of Crisis 1

Over the next couple of weeks, I want to highlight a few things that have been going on at All Things New that have been positive even in the midst of all of the turmoil in the country. I do not want to lessen the struggles that Haiti has gone through over the past year, but I do want to share with you, during the Christmas season, how incredible your continued support has been for our kids, our employees, and the ministry of All Things New. 

Some of the “positives” that will be mentioned are simply things that we were able to keep going during difficult times. Other positives will be ways that we have been striving to move forward as an organization even when we could not get things done in-country.

This is especially important during a time of the year when we celebrate our Savior being born into the world. We celebrate this season through worship, in song, by giving gifts, and by spending time with family. These are wonderful ways to celebrate Jesus. The truth is, many of you have been wonderful gifts given by God to ATN and to our kids and we want to celebrate with you the things that GOD continues to do in the midst of crisis and difficulty. 

The first huge “Positive” I want to mention is that we have been able to pay our employees every month, on time, without exception. With all of the problems that were going on in September and leading into October, we could not figure out how to get our employees payments to them. Without getting bogged down in the details, this is the scene that Lener (one of our trusted employees) described to me over the phone:

“When I drove up on my moto with the pay in hand, many of the employees had showed up because they heard it was coming. They all stood up and clapped their hands in appreciation that the money would be there in time and that they could take care of their families.”

In a joint effort between our employees in Haiti and our work up here, we have figured out a way to pay our employees on time every single month. If you run a business or have ever been involved in running or managing one, then you know this can be a difficult task. Sometimes it does not look like the money is going to be there and sometimes it is a challenge just to get the money to the employees, but this consistency from our organization and for our employees has been amazing.

I know this seems small to many of us. Many of us have been receiving paychecks since we were teenagers and we expect them to be there on time. Even if they are not, we know that whatever issues occurred would be rectified quickly. For our employees, this can be (almost literally) an issue of life and death. They do not have money saved for emergencies, and they rely on it being there when it is supposed to be. Us being late one time could have negative consequences in terms of trust and with our employees struggling to not receive what they needed to live.

The bottom line is this…Thank You!

It is not lost on us that we would not be able to do this without you, and we are so appreciative that one of the biggest positives that we have seen over the past year is that our employees have not missed even a day of pay!