Two years ago our family fell in love with Haiti… it started when my son and I attended a meeting to go on our 1st mission trip together, serving at Haiti Teen Challenge.  My son, Tyler, has always had an incredible heart for the poor. When we visited Chicago and he saw the homeless for the 1st time, he stopped eating his dinners so that he would have food left over to give the hungry as we walked by. For years he begged us to adopt an orphan. I have watched him empty his own wallet to give more times than my heart can handle. And every time a missions trip was announced in church, he nudged me and asked if we could go. So when he nudged me during the announcement for the Haiti trip… we agreed to go to the info meeting that afternoon. My husband would maybe admit that he has never felt a desire or call to serve in that way. A little out of his comfort zone, comfort being the possibility of “weird” food and lack of air conditioning and pillow-top mattresses :). So he declined our invitation to attend the meeting with us. That afternoon we learned about the vision of Haiti Teen Challenge. They believe that it is Haitians that will heal their nation, that they will be the ones who rebuild the cities that have been devastated for generations. Their mission is to bring up Godly men to lead their homes and communities in an area with a rate of fatherless homes above 90%. Awesome stuff. We brought all the paperwork home and set it on my husband’s desk while we told him all about the trip. Two weeks passed and my husband brings the paperwork into the kitchen, slaps it down and says something really righteous like “crap, I am the one who is supposed to go”.

So he went. He ate weird food and slept without air conditioning on a crappy mattress. And loved it. He loved the men that he met. Young men that live in conditions and have experienced things we could not imagine, yet had hearts filled with a joy he had never seen here on US soil.  And we have supported them ever since.

That is one of the things I love the most about the blessing of this little growing business. The ability to give and be apart of what God is doing through people around the world.  I am always trying to come up with ways that we can do more through what we have been given. While sharing this desire with some girlfriends last winter on a girls’ weekend away it came to me through their amazing creativity :). An UrbanHalo subscription program that’s purpose is to give back. Allowing you, my awesome customers and supporters, to be UrbanHeroes. To love on people and make difference through your subscription. Each month, you receive an exclusive print (like Christmas in your mailbox!) with info on what your subscription is funding that particular month. And we have some awesome projects already in the works!

This month, we were able to help send a good friend (and UH team member) down to HTC for his 1st time. We asked if there was a project that we could bless them with while he was there as a kick off to our UrbanHero program. The first subscription won’t fund this project as it is already completed, but we wanted to give you an idea of what a project might look like.  These guys LOVE to play basketball. It is pretty much the one recreational activity they have to enjoy and their court was in rough shape. So they asked us to help give their court a facelift.  Paint, benches, new net, etc.  We just received these pics mid-project. Naturally, we had to send them some IronHalos as well (you know we have a line for the guys too, right??)… it is HOT in Haiti and surely they are sweating on that court!  Their smiles make my day.  So much more to come on the UrbanHero subscription program in the coming weeks!  Watch our facebook page for updates and announcements… sign ups for our September subscription should be coming in the next week!