This story from our friends at Hispaniola Mountain Ministries (HMM) highlights the difference a small act of kindness can make and the profound impact it can have on both recipient and giver.

For months, Madison Ford has been praying for a little boy in Haiti. She has his picture and basic information, but felt connected to him in an indescribable way. The anticipation of meeting him made her even more excited about serving in Haiti with her church’s mission team last month.

 Madison says she’s always enjoyed helping people, so when she was presented with the opportunity to be a part of a child’s life through an organization that her family and friends were already supporting, she knew she had to act.

She visited the HMM website to select her child and noticed a lot of the younger kids were already sponsored. She felt a little tug toward sponsoring an older child. Then, she spotted “Tiko” and says she just loved his nickname. Guy Clavens “Tiko” Jean is a 10-year-old boy who has just completed the 3rd grade at the Good Samaritan School (located on the Promised Land in Anse-A-Pitre, Haiti). He loves playing soccer with friends and hopes to one day become an engineer.

“It was really exciting getting to meet him,” Madison says. “With a lot of other sponsorship programs, you don’t have that opportunity. You just get the letters and pictures.”                                 

Madison, 23, recently began her career as an Emergency Room nurse for Baptist Memorial Hospital GTS in Columbus, Miss. She served as the triage nurse for her team’s medical mission – and she also found a few minutes to participate in some of the VBS activities for several afternoons.                     

Our heartfelt thanks to Madison, an inspirational nurse and individual who makes a tremendous difference not only in the lives she touches daily in the ER, but through her volunteerism and her dedication to supporting Tiko.
~Michael and Frida Donner