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what He has done, but I’m not<br />
surprised. As you read through<br />
the Scriptures it says over and<br />
over again to care for the orphaned,”<br />
Sheila said. “We have<br />
an amazing team of people and<br />
no one takes a salary. It’s all just<br />
volunteer.”<br />
In 2011, Katelyn’s Fund underwent<br />
another shift.<br />
“We’re going along giving<br />
grants purposefully and mindfully,<br />
but one of our board<br />
members started talking about<br />
what are we doing for the children<br />
left behind. The ones not<br />
adopted,” Sheila said. “In 2011,<br />
the Lord led us to a relationship<br />
in Haiti with the director of an<br />
orphanage.”<br />
They expanded their mission<br />
to walk alongside One Vision<br />
Orphanage in Haiti to help support<br />
them financially and then<br />
eventually they took over full<br />
financial support of the orphanage<br />
after another partner pulled<br />
out in 2014.<br />
The orphanage is Norman,<br />
Haiti, housing 63 children on its<br />
four-acre settlement. There are<br />
dormitories, a kitchen, a school<br />
and room for more. Katelyn’s<br />
Fund helps provide for the<br />
physical needs of the orphanage<br />
with building projects as well as<br />
everyday needs of the children,<br />
such as food and clothes.<br />
They are working on developing<br />
a network of sponsors for<br />
the children in the orphanage<br />
and take trips down to Haiti frequently<br />
to help out. Their most<br />
recent trip was from Dec. 27,<br />
2016-Jan. 2, 2017.<br />
Seeing the journey that the<br />
De Jong family has undergone<br />
from first just being inspired<br />
to adopt one child to starting<br />
24 SC | WINTER 2017<br />
Katelyn's Fund Orphan<br />
Ministry recently took a trip<br />
down to Haiti to help the<br />
school with some physical<br />
needs, such as painting a<br />
building, and to spend time<br />
with the children they sponsor.<br />
Katelyn’s Fund out of a place<br />
of brokenness to the many lives<br />
they are able to change both<br />
through the grants they give as<br />
well as walking alongside and<br />
supporting an orphanage in<br />
Haiti makes Sheila extremely<br />
humble.<br />
“The Lord has done so many<br />
things in the last 15 years. Sometimes<br />
I look back at what we’ve<br />
been able to accomplish and I<br />
choose to say that we have a big<br />
God and I hope we just continue<br />
to have teachable hearts and a<br />
willing spirit to go where he<br />
leads us,” Sheila said. <br />
The De Jong family of <strong>Sioux</strong> <strong>Center</strong> has helped inspire others to<br />
adopt and their inspiration continues through their founding and<br />
work with Katelyn's Fund Orphan Ministry.
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