Making a Difference
Join our Inspired Community
Where Love in Action Transforms Lives
Join our Inspired Community
Where Love in Action Transforms Lives
Exploring a path of discovery that is Soul directed and life enhancing connects you deeply with others on a similar journey. Together, you clear your limiting beliefs and awaken your potential to shine. Discovering how to transform into something more.
And then the magic happens.
You feel strongly inspired to help others. You realize that you, yes you, have something wonderful to offer this world. Your desire to share your time, skill, and heart prods you into action. To find that perfect space where your contribution, however large or small, matters deeply to the life of another person.
I believe the world will change when we do. So, let’s get busy
You’ll be amazed, delighted, and inspired when you listen to the women coming through Soul Sanctuary. They are using their big hearts, amazing brains, and generous actions to empower others to live better.
When a community sets the intention to love and serve, the Divine flows through all members to source innovative, interdependent, and empowered Soul-utions for the benefit of all. Enthusiastically embracing the opportunity to serve, we are reminded of a very simple truth.
Even though we live in very different worlds, we’re all part of one family. The human family.
I’m grateful the Soul Sanctuary community is involved with two projects dear to my heart.
You’ll be amazed, delighted, and inspired when you listen to the women coming through Soul Sanctuary. They are using their big hearts, amazing brains, and generous actions to empower others to live better.
When a community sets the intention to love and serve, the Divine flows through all members to source innovative, interdependent, and empowered Soul-utions for the benefit of all. Enthusiastically embracing the opportunity to serve, we are reminded of a very simple truth.
Even though we live in very different worlds, we’re all part of one family. The human family.
I’m grateful the Soul Sanctuary community is involved with two projects dear to my heart.
An earthquake in 2010 devastated the struggling country of Haiti. Crumbling its shaky infrastructure, killing its people, and leaving those most vulnerable to seek their own way to survive. So many children were orphaned or abandoned as the adults and society were overwhelmed and unable to care for them.
Spoiler alert:
I’m telling you a story of tragedy that leads in a heart bursting, jump for joy direction.
Gabriel Fedelu, a Haitian translator living in Florida, returned home after the earthquake to check on his family and friends. Overwhelmed by the plight of the orphaned children, he took a leap of faith. He began with a single donated room, a few blankets, his meager savings, and 5 traumatized, malnourished children. Gabriel’s heart is amazing and his belief in these children’s potential to live a vibrant future guides his every action.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll show you how his dream is working out.
This story doesn’t end here.
In some ways, it is just beginning.
This story doesn’t end here. In some ways, it is just beginning.
Follow along and you’ll meet a local woman, Ahaji Schreffler, who serendipitously met Gabriel and fell in love with these children and his vision. She founded We the Village as a nonprofit to support Love Orphanage and meet their living needs.
You’ll meet my daughter, Sami, who created the Be a Difference Maker program in order to send these kids to school and provide enriching activities at home. She believes education is the right of every child and, along with a loving home, is a way out of poverty.
And you’ll meet the Love O kids who have a way of teaching you the importance of love, life, and being together in this world.
With a lot of plot twists, weather villains, daily struggles, devastating losses, and so many triumphs. You’ll witness the kids growing up strong and healthy. See them going to school and mastering many challenges.
You’ll share their joy, gratitude, and tears as a solar suitcase provided electricity in their home. Their excitement when they meet their American and UK friends during summer Culture Camps. The wonder of first time experiences of seeing the ocean, taking field trips to museums, eating in a restaurant, and playing with new friends.
Field day. Art classes. Music and dancing. Yoga and energy psychology. Board games and books. Building a new home. The list goes on.
The Love O family taught us this. It changes you, being a part of something so meaningful, so grand, and so absolutely essential to the wellbeing of others.
The Be a Difference Maker funded 8 years of school, bought a van, created 4 years of Culture Camp, and funded the library-classroom in the new home. And we’re just getting warmed up! Soul Sanctuary continues to focus on the commitment to fund all the Love O kids through Grade 13 followed by technical school or college.
Photo credit: Meghan O’Neill Photography, Difference Maker volunteer.
Joy was a common occurrence during the 3 years I went to Culture Camp. So much hugging, smiling, dancing, and laughing. So many ways your heart melts when you see how precious, loving, and wise these kids really are. And how you’re inspired to be a better human just by watching the impressive adults who love and care for them.
You can join Soul Sanctuary’s intent to send these kids to school. $350 covers tuition, books, and uniforms for 1 child per year. Might not sound like much, but in a country with no public education system where the majority of Haitian families live on $2 per day, school is a dream out of reach. Together, we can keep the dream a reality for the Love O kids.
Explore the Be a Difference Maker story, read Sami’s blogs, meet the kids, and learn more about Love O on their website.
*All donations are handled directly by We the Village on the Love O website. You will be directed to this website if you choose to donate now. Your donation is private and 100% of the Be a Difference Maker funds are sent to Love Orphanage to empower education. While I am a Difference Maker Ambassador, I do not have access to financial information nor decision making as that is the responsibility of We the Village which is a 501C3 charity.
Closer to home, the Soul Sanctuary community has been caring for our neighbors in Burlington City. SisterHood, founded by Reverend Dr. Hilda Covington and served by a volunteer staff, seeks to improve the lives of those facing extreme economic, racial, and social disadvantage. Right in our own backyard.
I’ve been working with Rev Hilda and SisterHood for 25 years. Witnessing their genuine, heartfelt commitment to the people they serve is truly inspiring.
Simply put, SisterHood offers a life line to people who need it. Whatever the need is, the leaders and volunteers of SisterHood seek a creative solution that respects and empowers the person. They look beyond the ordinary circumstances of a marginalized society and help people discover the strengths and gifts within them. They connect them with the people, organizations, and material goods that will support a way out of desperation.
SisterHood is a grassroots organization that offers more services than I can remember. They aren’t well funded nor housed in a fancy office. They work in the heart of the hood and depend upon donations and volunteers in the neighborhood to keep the doors open and the people served.
The Soul Sanctuary community participates with varying projects throughout the year. Most exciting is the Holiday Gift Drive which provides quality new gifts for over 250 children. The intent is to bring financial relief to parents by providing them with gifts they can give to their children. And to honor a child’s right to celebrate the holiday in a way their school peers take for granted. We believe strongly that poor children should not get second hand gifts. And parents should not be made to feel uncomfortable receiving gifts from strangers. All giving is anonymous with SisterHood in charge of distribution.
Soul Sanctuary holds Sidewalk Food Drives supporting the food bank at SisterHood. You can read more about this in my WholeHearted Living Blog here.
Feeding the Families Food Drive
Back to School Supply Drive
Super Big Holiday Gift Drive
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