Our Story...
About Us
Mission Statement
Empowering Partners is running hard toward urgent physical and spiritual need around the world; producing dignity in community and empowering individual lives through education and the creation of opportunity. All; while realizing man’s greatest need; to repent and understand the redemptive love and eternal satisfaction found only in Christ Jesus.
Empowering Partners... The Beginning...
In 2005 God began to tug on Dan’s heart. Dan had invested his life in the building trades, as a laborer, carpenter, project foreman, construction management, and eventually becoming a home builder and remodeler in upstate New York. In the early 2000’s, Dan felt an increasingly urgent desire to pursue something greater than monetary value. After stints serving with a homeless shelter, leading builds for Habitat for Humanity, and working with the immigrant population amongst many other things, Dan attended a cocktail party in Vermont that changed the trajectory of his life. The party’s host gave him an email address to a Haitian Pastor that had founded a mission twenty-six years prior. On his first trip to Haiti, Dan was at peace in many ways, this was a good fit. As the next few years progressed so did the frequency, duration, and depth of purpose of his service and mission.
Madel was born in the Philippine islands half way around the world from the US. Madel grew up and was educated in the Philippines becoming a Physical Education Instructor at the high school and university level. She also learned a trade as a seamstress from vocational school and her mother. Madel’s desire was always to become a US citizen paving the way for a more opportune life for her children and family. Madel was able to immigrate to the US in the mid-nineties. When her two children were older, Madel returned to the education field as a one on one aide for challenged children.
One evening as Dan sat with Pastor Pierre on a rooftop in Haiti...
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Empowering Partners... Today
Early in 2021 God sparked many “what if” conversations about forming a 501c3 nonprofit. Many people were consulted and sought for advisement. As the conversations continued the resolve came into focus for a group who would run after urgent spiritual and physical need around the world; wherever God would call us to go. Many meetings later we filed for incorporation, created our Board of Directors, elected our Officers, and Empowering Partners was created. We are a NYS incorporated, Tax Exempt 501c3 charitable organization.
Our Purpose...
“Empowering Partners is dedicated in its goal to create sustainable opportunity for those living in a world where dignity, justice, and mobility is not always present for all people. We believe the most pressing need for the world is the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ with its eternal impact and making disciples of all nations as Christ instructed us to do. Through Christ's love, mercy and grace, we extend opportunity, a true “hand up” in partnership with joint accountability so that individual lives, communities, and nations may be transformed."
We believe that those we serve must have a vested interest in the projects or the programs that create a greater quality life or add value to their community. As Jesus traveled and taught, he healed physical affliction and suffering as He offered the gift of salvation to all that would follow Him. These same teachings have guided us at Empowering Partners throughout our formation and will continue as we navigate the road ahead.
Meet Our Staff
Our Vision
We believe that education and opportunity can enable an individual or a community to thrive and to plot a course toward a future where shared goals become realities. Our faith calls us to form goals founded in partnership with the culture we strive to empower. The opportunity created must be important to, meaningful for, and sustainable by those we serve, true transformation. All too many failures occur when the opportunity is either not properly defined, the vision is not sustainable, and / or the community does not see the value in it. We require partnership with accountability; anything less is a disservice to those who provide and also to those who receive. Partnership is mutual love in action; accountability is the obedience to God’s plan. EmpoweringPartners strives for a future where all people feel empowered through opportunity to chart a course forward that includes dignity, justice and a shared sense of community.
Staff Photos
Daniel Beck
Executive Director
Dan contributes many years of construction and business experience to Empowering Partners as one of its Directors. “Action is the magic word”, one of Dan’s favorite mottos, it is hard for him stay out of the dirt and sit still for very long. One day in speaking to Madel, he realized that if we truly believe God is who He says He is… Why would we not be “all in” for Him?
Madel Beck
Executive Director
Madel was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the US in 1995. She taught Physical Education at the High School and University levels and continued in Education as a one on one aide for thirteen years. Her first two mission trips to Haiti were in 2016 and 2017 for two weeks at a time. She fell in love with the Haitian people. Madel says, "I thought I was poor growing up but I have never seen poor until I went to Haiti; God laid it on my heart to help them". She moved to Haiti in 2018 as a missionary and began the construction and administration of a Technical School at La Croix. Madel teaches classes in Sewing and Tailor.
Bonnie & Jim Miller
Treasurer / Assistant Treasurer
Bonnie & Jim Miller serve with Empowering Partners as the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer.
Matt Jenkins
Talk to one of our sales agents:
Laurie Adams
Vice President / Board Member
Laurie's first trip to Haiti was in 2006 where she fell in love with the people there. As a registered nurse, she has provided medical outreach to those Haitians who lived in remote areas. The people she met in Haiti, both mission workers and residents, have always inspired her by their heart and resilience.
Although now retired from nursing, she serves on two boards whose missions are to help Haitians and show them Christ’s love in action. She looks forward to seeing the mission work unfold and plans to return to Haiti soon.
Debra Beck-Servello
President / Board Member
Debbie Beck-Servello has more than 20 years of team building and project management experience at a pharmaceutical contract research organization. Debbie has enjoyed volunteer positions at a nursing facility where she worked to help the elderly use their talents in productive and rewarding ways, as well as working with children as a private tutor and as a leader in group activities. She has served on the board of directors for a 501c3 organization that sponsors education of impoverished children in Africa.
Just the Facts
1. 100% of donor dollars are invested in the Haitian communities, schools, clinics, projects and the individual lives of the Haitian people. If you partner financially with Empowering Partners you will always have the opportunity to come and see first-hand your donation at work. When you donate to Empowering Partners you are part of an effective effort that empowers people in the communities they serve to have access to life changing opportunities as well as an ever expanding understanding of what Christ says His followers should look like.
2. Empowering Partners is U.S. based 501c3. The founders have operated successfully in Haiti for over twelve (12) years. Several other Board Members have served in Haiti and many other places across the globe. This allows our staff and volunteers to intimately know the needs, culture, and customs of those it serves. An organization rooted in true partnership, and active in daily Haitian life is remarkably more effective than those that direct from afar. The people with whom we partner have come to trust that Empowering Partners will be a source of opportunity today and for the future.
3. Our funding partners come to us as individuals, small groups, organizations, and many churches across the U.S. The goal of Empowering Partners outreach is to be self-sustaining. Already our new “Training Center” is moving in that direction. Our Sewing, Tailor, and Screen Print Center will evolve into a Hybrid Cooperative Business center. Our 5 year plan leaves it self-supporting and as an income generator for the community. The management board will transition to Haitian members.
4. Many of God’s faithful feel drawn into His service to meet urgent spiritual and physical needs. Haiti and the mission of Empowering Partners is only seven hundred +/- miles off the coast of Florida in the Caribbean. The proximity of Haiti to the US makes it an opportune environment to explore or begin life as a “short term” missionary. Your church, group, or just yourself can schedule a trip with EmpoweringPartners to share in the ministry. Everyday life here offers almost endless opportunity to serve. Check out the “Get Involved / Volunteer” menu.
5. Empowering Partners knows and believes that God is always… always on time if we are within His purpose. Sponsoring an individual’s training, an education, or the project itself is crucial to empowering people as they prepare to embrace opportunity. It is equally important that they invest in themselves. This is not a quick process, it is time consuming. Relationship building is rewarding yet, arduous, and there will be struggle. Our God can do all things!
Haiti
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola, east of Cuba in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea. It has an area of 27,750 square km. Haiti occupies the smaller western three-eighths of the island that it shares with the Dominican Republic. Originally inhabited by the indigenous Taíno people, the island was first discovered by Christopher Columbus. Port-au-Prince is its capital and largest city. French and Haitian Creole are its official languages. Its official currency is Haitian gourde (HTG). Its only land border is with the Dominican Republic, which lies to the east of it. The Bahamas, Colombia, Cuba, and Jamaica have maritime borders with it.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and it is also the third-largest country in the Caribbean. Haiti has 14 airports, of which only four have paved runways. Haiti has 2,583 miles (4,160 km.) of highways. Only 628 miles (1,011km.) of those roads are paved. The United States is Haiti’s biggest trade partner. More than half of Haitian imports come from the United States, and more than 80% of its exports go to the United States.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the island and named it Hispaniola. A monument of Christopher Columbus stands on the central square of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, which is home to 20% of the country’s population. Columbus’ first sight of Haiti gave him the impression that he found India or Asia. Christopher Columbus is also buried in Haiti in the Cathedral of Santa Maria.
Haiti is also one of the most deforested nations of the world. Poor agricultural practices, overgrazing, intensive demand for charcoal and scarcity of land are the leading causes. The largest mountaintop fortress in the Western Hemisphere is also in northern Haiti – the Citadel. Haiti’s highest peak is the Pic la Selle at 8,793 feet (2,680 meters) above sea level. Haiti has the most mountains of any Caribbean nation. The 2010 earthquake caused devastation to such an extent that as per experts, it will take decades to rebuild the lost infrastructure to support: health, governance, agriculture, and security. It also claimed the lives of more than 200,000 Haitians.
*** Literacy: in Haiti; only 60.7% of its population can read and write. The majority of Haitians’ income is spent on food. Access to other life amenities is neither readily available, nor can they financially afford it. Rural areas in Haiti account for 79% of its population. Haitian children are prone to deaths, as more than 10% of them die before reaching the age of five. Half of its children are unvaccinated. Only 40% of its population has access to basic health care. It is also the most densely populated country in the Western Hemisphere, with 747 people per square mile. The average per capita income in Haiti is very low. It is $480 a year with 80% of nationals living below the poverty line. Sanitation and water supply are two major challenges for Haitians. Pollution from human and other waste is prevalent in most of the Haitian rivers. Diseases including typhoid and hookworm are common in the region. One in 50 people in Haiti is affected with HIV/AIDS. A cholera outbreak in the country in 2010 caused the death of more than 8,900 people, and affected 733,000 others, lasting until 2015.