A Special Edition from Dave’s son, Max and his friends:

Over the past year, we have started and developed a non-profit, Empowering Africa Inc.

Empowering Africa Inc. was started by 4 high school students with the purpose to provide STEM scholarships for underprivileged students in Ghana. In Ghana, the government subsidizes education heavily to make quality education available to all its citizens, but even with subsidies, many brilliant students are still unable to pay for their schooling.

Working alongside the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, we have confirmed our pledge to provide full-tuition scholarships for five students throughout the 2020-21 school year as we have already raised over $3,000!

Our application went live in January of 2020 and has already received hundreds of downloads. We believe that with the help of any donations, we can change the lives of many more students for years to come.

Go to  www.empoweringafricainc.org to donate or for more information!

Haiti – Part Deux

Last July, Darrell and his youngest daughter, Lindsay, were within 15 minutes of boarding a flight from Miami to Cap Haitian, Haiti, before the trip had to postponed due to civil unrest (we would encourage you to go on-line to learn about the economic challenges that people in Haiti continue to face due to rapidly rising fuel and food costs).

Miraculously, the team was able to recoup almost all the trip costs and was able to reschedule for this July, with most of the team being able to make the trip again.

As before, they plan to visit the different Haitian Christian Ministries church campuses where they will hold Vacation Bible Schools, provide resources to the children and encourage the teachers and parents. As a bonus, the team will staying in the newly constructed dormitory that has been built on the Welcome Home Haiti property to house the various mission teams that continue to go to serve the people of northern Haiti.

One of DFS’s clients had a role in resourcing this project, so it will be such a blessing to see the impact of that commitment.

Please keep Darrell and Lindsay and the entire team in your thoughts and prayers as they make this journey, and go to https://hcmin.org/or https://welcomehomehaiti.com/ to find out more about the work that is being done in northern Haiti.

This past summer, I along with my oldest son, Max, and my parents, Sam and Jeanette, had the wonderful opportunity to travel to South America.

The primary purpose of our trip was to visit our dear missionary friends, Dr. Manuel and Nellie Avila, in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Our family has supported Dr. Manuel and his medical ministry for several years now and this was an opportunity for the four of us to show our support to Dr. Manuel and his family and their ministry, as well as see first-hand the marvelous hopes and dreams the Avila family has for the Ecuadorian people.

While there, we are also able to see and assist a bit with the construction of Manuel and Nellie’s new home. Their hope is that this new physical dwelling will not only be a place of rest for their family, but also a place where they can host many of the countless missionary partners from Canada and the U.S. that travel to Ecuador regularly to assist them in their ministry.

We were also able to visit some of the places and people in Cuenca who were an important part of my family’s six years of ministry there. Each time I have had the opportunity to return to the country of my birth I am blessed and enriched by the experience and I am sure that my traveling companions would say same.

We are all grateful that we have been given the time, resources and freedom to keep our connection to Ecuador and our friends there alive. ~Dave

With the recent passage last year of the new federal tax law (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017) we thought it would be useful to provide you with a couple links to articles and websites that we feel do a good job of summarizing some of the key components of the new law. 

• 2017 Tax Reform - https://waysandmeans.house.gov/taxreform 

• A review and analysis of key highlights from the Advanced Consulting Group of Nationwide® - http://www.thepresleygroup.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/2017-Tax-Reform.pdf 

• 6 things investors need to know about the new tax plan -https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2017/12/27/6-things-investors-need-to-know-about-the-new-tax-plan/108797098

When we talk about having freedom in our lives, we believe this includes having the freedom in our schedules to give our time, talents and resources, to the people, projects and organizations we care about.

Dave has taken on the role of mentoring a young man through Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Illinois.

According to BBBS, only one out of ten new volunteers that enroll as a “Big” is male, while the majority of children applying to be partnered with a mentor are boys being raised by a single female parent. These youngsters are ready and waiting for a man to step into this role. Being a big brother requires no special skills – just a desire to make a difference.

Call Dave to more about BBBS mentorship or visit www.bbbs.org.