ACE has a fresh new look!

ACE has a fresh new look!

We have enjoyed the multi-colored logo of ACE for many years. Like seasons that change, we thought it was time for a new leaner and simpler ACE look. Let us know what you think! We love it, especially with its nod to the wave from our previous logo!

We equate the new look to changing out of the same ol’ clothes into a fresh new pair of jeans! We’d love to hear what sort of logo merchandise you’d like to see in our gift shop!

Summer Surprise

Remember when someone in your class at school, a friend or a neighbor copied something you wore or did to your hair? And when you told your parents, their reply was, “Well, copying someone is just a form of a compliment because they liked what you did and want to do that, too”?

When our ACE staff came together to discuss agendas and programs we wanted to implement this summer with our communities and students, a neat request emerged. Our ACE and Galina Breeze employees expressed a desire to have their own children come to work with them and be exposed to “give back” as it’s called here in Jamaica, a term for volunteering.

It’s true – our staff has been so impressed with how American families and youth give back that they wanted their own children to be see it in action, people working for a cause outside of themselves. Wow, what a great unexpected surprise!

Beginning in July, we will have about 20 of our Jamaican students coming to work with their parents but dropped off at the ACE office four days a week for breakfast and preparation time. Then, depending on ages and needs, the Jamaican students will join the American volunteers each day to learn and copy their counter parts in how to give back to their communities… and each other.

We are thinking of calling it the FVT or Future Volunteers Club and would love to raise about $4,300 to cover the costs of t-shirts, tutors, food and transportation. Please consider helping us out to prepare the next generation of difference-makers! And get ready for some copy cats to follow you this summer! It’s really the highest form of a compliment — changing lives and transforming communities, one volunteer at a time.

Winter Has Reaped Rewards

Winter Has Reaped Rewards

While it is now officially spring, ACE had an incredible winter season in Jamaica. Our 10th annual Men and Women’s Conference turned out to be a huge success, even with many changes taking place.

For ten years, God has provided ACE with wonderful teachers, musicians, and volunteers to set the stage for our three-night conference, a conference that began years ago with only six attendees in a church in Trinity. While numbers are not a true sign of success, we must admit having more than six attend encourages us that we are moving in the right direction. With over a 150 attending this year’s conference, held at the beautiful Galina Breeze Hotel, our theme was “Be Doers, not just Hearers”.

And doers we were! Our regular worship leaders could not attend this year, so that left Allen and Marla to sing and lead worship – just kidding! Actually, as He always does, God came through and provided two worship leaders from the Atlanta area and a young couple already in Jamaica to come together for the first time and deliver three incredible nights of music and worship.

Our wonderful Pastor Helen showed up each evening to deliver a supernatural inspired message to all the women as we crowded into the Henry Morgan room to soak up the atmosphere. And what an atmosphere – very calming, peaceful, and yet energizing at the same time. The men crowded into to the Louise Bennet room downstairs, engaged in the ongoing conversation and teaching of Dave Duff and the other men on his team. Thank you to the long-standing work of Trinity on the Hill and the many individuals who gave up vacation days to volunteer their time and talent! Our 10th Annual Conference was once again a big success and a confirmation that little can be much when God is in it.