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Vision Casting Into Reality

by American-Caribbean Experience | Nov 25, 2024 | Book A Trip, Community, Discipleship, Outreach

November started with some spectacular visits to Jamaica by our ACE friends and new leaders. If you recall from our October Newsletter, ACE is literally “back to the future” with our outreach efforts. For the first time in years, two vision trips were scheduled for interested leaders who wanted to see what 2025 was shaping up to be for St. Mary and ACE.

The participants got to see and hear from our school principals and how hopeful and grateful they are that ACE is getting back into their schools and assisting with the needs of their teachers and leadership. Sponsored students are on the rise as the needs continue to grow. Our senior adults in the community were met with love, rubbing lotion on their arms, hands, legs, and feet, food, and even haircuts by Gary, the owner of Travis Salon in Atlanta. It was his first time visiting ACE, and we are sure it won’t be his last.

Edgehill, the special needs school that ACE and Galina Breeze partner with, opened their doors for all of us to hear from the teachers what needs they have, as well as receive big hugs from our many students who love to sing, play, and learn. Laura, a pastor’s wife from Mississippi who happens to be an architect, met with the acting principal about designing a computer lab for the desktops they were given from E-learn, an NGO that focuses on teaching tools for the teachers to use.

At the end of the trip, everything was good. We dodged the rain from tropical storm Sara, and our spirits were warmed from meeting so many wonderful leaders who have a heart to grow with us. All of our staff at ACE, Galina Breeze, and Buccaneers smiled over the incredible generosity of these leaders. This is really encouraging and made a huge difference to all of us, considering how much we have grown since we were there last.

How do we move forward from here? The same way ACE has moved for years — from vision to reality. It all happens because of each of you who believe in the progress ACE has made over the decades. If you were not part of the vision trips this year, that’s okay. Call us and we will fit you into one of the 2025 trips we are preparing.

A vision is just a vision unless we have the hands and feet on the ground to make it a reality. Thank you, leaders, for your time and commitment with your teammates.

We are forever grateful.

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The Tiny House

by American-Caribbean Experience | Oct 28, 2024 | Book A Trip, Community, Outreach

ACE built its first tiny House this month in Water Valley, a place well known to ACE Volunteers from pre-covid days.

Clive, pictured below, had a stroke several years ago and was left alone, in a yard with an old home that was falling apart and leaked when it rained (swipe past Clive’s photo to view his home).

Clive during an ACE Mobile Infirmary Visit

Thanks to Clive’s generous neighbors, we were made aware of his situation and decided we had to do something quick. The Connor/Hembree Family, ACE friends from Gainesville, GA, flew in as a family of five and went to work with our ACE staff. Building an 8×8 tiny home out of treated lumber was the plan.

To make it easier to put the home together, we carefully measured and constructed everything under the farm pavilion and then transported everything to the site. The one-room home for Clive was completed quickly thanks to our ACE friends. After the family headed home, all the home needed was painting, and of course, Clive. That’s when our ACE Board of Directors showed up a few days later.

With some yellow and brown paint, along with the help of Clive’s neighbors, we were able to complete the job in one day. We were also able to gift Clive with a single bed, a mattress, and sheets as a housewarming gift.

While the board members were here, they also ran a mini walk-in clinic as we painted, led by Dr. Guy. The doctor gave Clive orders to have plenty of ensure, food, and water.

Tiny houses may not be for everyone, but Clive is a big fan. Today, he has working electricity, and he is now clean and warm. The only thing left to do for him is transplant his lemongrass, the best mosquito repellant in Jamaica.

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Marla’s Minute: Back to the Future

by American-Caribbean Experience | Oct 28, 2024 | Book A Trip, Community, Education, Outreach

Before COVID, ACE was rather successful in our community outreach in and around our four partner public primary schools. The model ACE created was based on “going deep and not wide.” First, we form a partnership with one of our rural primary schools in the area that lacks funds and opportunities for their students, unlike the city schools of Kingston, Montego Bay, Ochi, etc.

Second, ACE forms a 10-year minimum relationship with the principal and teachers at the school. ACE receives a list of all of the students in need of sponsorship, and the children get added to our Child Sponsorship Program. Through sponsorship, we dig even deeper into the students’ homelives, where relationships are formed with everyone living in the home. ACE can then also discover any medical, dental, or other healthcare needs of the student and their family members.

From that community, many elderly and special needs members are met by ACE volunteers and employees with a helpful and compassionate hand and heart.

All that and more came to a full stop almost four years ago with the COVID shutdown. Schools closed, infirmaries and hospitals closed their doors to visitors, and for the most part, ACE lost all progress we had spent decades building.

Then God did something fantastic! He opened a door to start creating businesses on a piece of property we now own call Green Life Farms.

For the past three years, volunteers have come to help us “work the farm.” Cutting bushes, discovering ruins, raising pigs and cows, picking fruit, and helping an old farm with history become a modern-day working property for our Jamaican community. With our food court, Buccaneers Jerk and Juice, Treasure Chest, and Cloud 9 Chocolate, we were able to survive the downturn in the economy.

During that time, many friends were probably wondering if we would ever “come off the farm” and get back to what we do best—“changing lives and transforming communities.” Even we wondered that at times. But the time has finally come.

Looking into the future and even starting right now, ACE is back in our communities with open arms from our teachers, neighbors, and infirmary patients. Unfortunately, the government-run infirmary still hasn’t opened to groups and has a strict policy of visitors. Interesting enough, we have found more “shut ins and disabled adults” living on their own and barely surviving right in our own community. So, we’ve started our own elderly ACE Mobile Infirmary (AMI) visits. That’s the silver lining behind the COVID closings of the infirmary.

ACE is now BACK to the FUTURE. We’re getting back into our schools and communities. Just this week, a family from Gainesville, GA, surprised us with a visit and built a homeless man a house, followed by our ACE Board of Directors finishing the home with paint and a single bed. If you are considering a trip down to Jamaica this coming winter or sometime in 2025, please prepare to go back to our communities, see old friends and meet new friends. We are thrilled. Yes, we like farm work, but ACE loves those relationships.

When you come down next, be sure to bring all the hugs and energy you can. We have three years to make up!

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Marla’s Minute: Paid In Full!

by American-Caribbean Experience | Sep 26, 2024 | Book A Trip, Community, Outreach

September was a month for the ACE record books. Because of the goodness of God and you, our partners, we can joyfully say that our Green Life Farm, where all the micro-businesses develop, has been PAID IN FULL!

That’s right, we no longer have a mortgage to pay on the land! For the past five years, Allen and I have been sharing our vision and heart with so many of you about the importance of having land to use as ministry outreach for the local community, like the Peace House and the ACE Office. A location where many micro-businesses can be incubated so that Jamaican families can earn a living and get out of the generation of poverty.

We are thrilled to reach this milestone, and we are so grateful to each of you that have given their treasure and prayers to this legacy campaign. We made it, and we did it together! ACE now has the foundation we needed to ensure the land is ours for generational building and demonstrating to the community just how active God still is among His people.

Please join us in celebrating these moments in ACE history as we now move forward with the Fosters at the helm of ACE. We are excited to see what else God will add to this property as a witness to His goodness. Plans are in the works to build a professional stage on the farm, where performers will be able to share the Gospel through music and talent. The greenhouse is being rebuilt to supply pure, clean food to the community, as well as hotels that have a large demand. And there’s also going to be a Green Life Learning Center for high school students who have come through our program but still need help getting up to par in reading, math, english, and the arts. This last phase of development is only possible now that the farm has been paid in full.

Thank you, friends! Truly, thank you for believing in the vision of hope and opportunity in St Mary, Jamaica through ACE. Now, let’s continue to pray for a pastor to come along at the Peace House and help guide our staff to reach the next level.

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Twists & Turns

by American-Caribbean Experience | Sep 26, 2024 | Book A Trip, Community

Jamaica does have a fall; it’s called hurricane season. The storms off of West Africa roll out into the ocean and forms sandstorms, which stay in the air over Jamaica and cause more heat than normal. Or the storms become hurricanes, which we pray for everything but the rain to stay away.

As you know, Jamaica got hit by Hurricane Beryl in June. It was a very early storm for the Caribbean. No one was hurt, but our property suffered intense damage as the roads were completely destroyed and our soon-to-be completed greenhouse was leveled to the ground.

We wondered if this was just a small picture of how the summer was going to be, one unexpected storm after another. Thankfully, we were wrong. Our volunteer teams that arrived just after Beryl barreled through were quick to help us with the cleanup. They cleared roads on the farm for the cattle, dismantled our poor greenhouse, and visited our many elderly and disabled neighbors who were without water and food.

Surprisingly, the theme for this summer’s VBS program was “twists and turns.” ACE touched over 300 students during our VBS outreach programs, and yet, the theme was very fitting for us as well. Our staff was reminded just before the hurricane that God always has a plan for our lives, regardless of the “twists and turns” that life brings.

Now, as more twists and turns come for the States by way of Hurricane Helene, we want to extend a heartfelt prayer to our ACE family. You were there for us in prayer and physcially to help restore ACE’s damaged property after Hurricane Beryl. We are here for you and praying for your safety. May God protect your family, your home, and your community.

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Marla’s Minute: A “Full Court Press”

by American-Caribbean Experience | Aug 27, 2024 | Book A Trip, Outreach

In high school, I was called “Roberta Rebound” by my basketball team. While I would have rather been called “Hanna Highpoint scorer” for my ability to put points on the board, I recognized I had a keen ability to retrieve the ball after a missed shot or a long-court steal…. and take our team all the way to state without scoring a single point for the team.

Being part of a group sport taught me many things in life. One of the biggest lessons I learned was that we all succeed when we have a team around us to pull for us, share with, and even contribute to our best so that others can do their part to score for the team. When our basketball team went to the playoffs at the end of a season almost every year, many times, the other teams were as good at the game as we were. In a close game where the last few points meant win or lose, our coach would call us to the bench on a time out, look us all in the eyes, and say… “Girls, it’s now time for a Full Court Press. Let’s get the job done and go home with the trophy.”

Next month, September 16th to be exact, is the beginning and the end of a big game for ACE in Jamaica. September marks the end of a five-year “Full Court Press” for purchasing the Legacy property for ACE called Green Life Farms.

God has allowed ACE to own an incredible 838 acres of prime farmland just outside of Port Maria for future micro-business and development focused on clean food and agriculture.

The final note on the property is due September 16th, and while we are still moving up the court, we could use your help to make the last point to win the game. We started with a sale price of $1.2m US and went 2 years without an income due to COVID. As we round the corner, ACE owes approximately $150,000 US. Only God can make this happen in this short of time.

Will you help us score here at the end of the game so next month we can say, “Paid in Full”? As a teammate and not the captain, I want to say thank you to all of ACE’s supporters and givers who have been a part of the team from the beginning. Thank you for the servers who have literally given physical and emotional power behind and within the game. And thank you in advance for some of you who are still waiting to get in the game in the last few minutes.

We need all of you to help us with a Full Court Press and celebrate what God has done with his little ACE team. Because we may be a little team, but we serve such a big God.

Much Love,
Roberta Rebound

Ready to join the Full Court Press and help us pay off the mortgage on the property?

Donate online through the link below. If you prefer wire transfer, please contact our Stateside Office at Office@acexperience.org or (770) 573-7024 for details.

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ACE is a 501c3 non-profit organization and all donations are 100% tax deductible. Annual giving statements are mailed out at the end of the year.