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after a decade of gathering women together for prayer, we are inspired to bring our words of encouragement to you. This is, I refresh, welcome to Arrow fresh where we empower ordinary women to do extraordinary things for the power of prayer and encouragement. And I wanted to welcome back Tiffany's smiling. Thank you so much for having me. Well thank you. We, I wanted to ask too. One is talk about this amazing book of inspiration and you can get it on probably Amazon and Barnes and noble.
Lifeway, Christian, online and Amazon. Okay. So I couldn't put this book down. It was such a great inspirational story actually. Really kind of a couple stories in one and I wanted to highlight your book because your dream, God's plan. It's beginning where we talk about our other segment about how basically walking through cancer at a young age. What age would you say was that starting? I was diagnosed at 10 years old. 10 years old. Wow. And overcame cancer part when you were around 16 or 16.
During my last surgery. And then when cancer wasn't enough, then , uh , a stroke happened in the middle of her last, was it the last brain surgery, last brain surgery? The surgeon accidentally nicked a blood vessel that caused the stroke? Yes. Yeah. So unbelievable.
Um , and yet I am grateful too , cause I know all the family and I just think, you know, when bad things happen to good people, we can either choose love and forgiveness and looking at what God wants to do in the midst of it and through it. Um , and I see just the, the smiling family truly that their name is so appropriate because there was such joy in their lives. And I wanted to not only highlight that and you'll definitely want to listen to that podcast as well.
But one of the things that I've see is your passion things for the Lord, the wanting to make a difference in your life. I think when you're in a place where your life was on the edge of life and death is what God has put in you. And so tell me a little bit what, what, what birth out of you to start a foundation? I had graduated from OSU and I had opened a frozen yogurt store here in Tulsa. I loved that. And it's good, really good.
And I was running the business and it was great financially having a business, making money, seeing it grow successful. But it wasn't fulfilling the way I knew what if God had called me to do that. So I started to pray, God, this is wonderful and it's fascinating and I love the customers, but there's something more you called me to do.
And he started speaking to me about how he brought me through all my cancer journey and all the pain through that and how he starts thinking about the orphan children. And I had never gone to mission trip and I've never met, encountered a child because I was in the hospital growing up, you know, I overseas. Yeah. And um, so I started thinking, I started taking the next step. What does this look like? I started going on trips, started meeting children overseas. Uganda was my first trip, right ?
And it all clicks. When I got on the ground in Uganda and I started meeting children who were abandoned on the streets, have no parents, they're sick, they were ill, they were fighting for their life, but no one to fight for them because they didn't have any parents. Um, so when I started meeting children who had, you know, illnesses and they were six years old taking care of their two younger siblings cause they watched their parents get murdered.
Wow. I started just thinking someone has to do something about this. No kidding. Wow. Lord started showing me, okay that's you. You need to go rescue these children. So that had to be so overwhelming. Like even the idea of what, what you saw and like how can you make a difference? So then what were the steps that you began to take towards fulfilling like that need to help someone? For me, it never was, let's start an organization or a foundation. It was let's help this family.
Okay, let's help these children. I just met. So I started when I would go on a trip , I would meet children and I want to help those children. Okay. And then I wanted to build a home for children. So I wanted to give the, I had such a strong family structure growing up. Yes. I wanted to give them family cause giving them physical necessities is great, but they need the family bonding, the family unity a this see the body of Christ as the operates in a family. That's good.
Um , so I wanted to build a home with the next thing is , that's when I started my ambitious, for me at the time it really was, I was in debt. I had the yogurt store. Right. So I was in debt paying off that loan and then I didn't have any savings and have anything to work with. It was strictly getting the cars out, fundraising, telling people about the children and having them help any way they could. Wow. That's a lot of work. Did you have volunteers to help you?
Kind of, not, not too much, but I try to , I've tried to play most of roles at the time. Just to make sure we could do what we could help those children that I hadn't met. But see now I'm just a promo. Is there still no , like, because he's still , um, has much opportunity for volunteering, which, you know, when you think about how you can do a little bit, that could go a long way.
Even I refresh, got involved in , in the fall and bringing together resources and when , when you all do a little bit, it's amazing how it can make a bigger difference in these children's lives. So tell me, how did you, you were in Uganda, but how did you land in working in Haiti? I had gotten a call from a guy who was starting to orphanage in Haiti and I had an orphan care at this point for a few years. Okay . And I had a vowel to never go back to Haiti.
My first trip to Haiti, that bad was not great. I had gone on a make-a-wish cruise. Okay . When I, a cancer child growing up and when I stopped in Haiti that we , we went through the market on the cruise stop . We went through the marketplace and we picked up some trinkets. Okay. And , um , this little knickknacks, I mean, flip flops, purse just to live in new years. And when I had come home, I had relapsed the next day, but cancer.
So I had associated that whole memory with the whole Haiti experience. So I evolved that I would not , I would go anywhere for orphan care, but I wouldn't go to Haiti. So as , um , in the Lord works in those moments , um, I got a call from a guy to go to Haiti. He had started an orphanage and he needed help on creating the family style environment there. So I went down on a trip with him and I just fell in love with the culture. And I knew when I got there, that's where the Lord wanted me to be.
And the children there, and they're just so, they're so joyful. They're so happy. The need, I mean, they're the neediest country in this hemisphere and the need is outrageous. I never seen a need like it, and I'm just, me and physical needs. The food, this thickness is , I mean, they're hungry. They're starving, they need family, they need clothes. And so I was like, I have to come back here and do something for the children.
It's amazing because my son's first missions trip was in Haiti, my younger one. And now my oldest son has gotten involved in and working along with Tiffany through his business. And one of the things is I wanted to highlight with all my heart foundation is one to one of you, your first really of a fundraiser and what a beautiful night. I've just rejoice in what God's done, which I want us to highlight. But you know, I think sometimes we don't realize the needs of what , what will we can do.
And my oldest son , um , has thought like, I'm , uh , I'm just graduating, I'm working on my MBA, but what can I do? And I loved how God put in his heart is about creating a dream. How he can do that with his business background.
And as he was working in his own place of we're doing a business as he wants to link arms with some of the proceeds from his business to go towards with all my foundation to with all my heart because what we can he can do and working with people is um, changing a life and not just him. And it's not about him just making money, but it's everybody working together.
And I think that's the beauty of this is everybody can be a part in him even doing it where he wants people to know that when you buy a coffee, you're also helping the children of Haiti and , and some of the vision I would love us to highlight like some of the things you even spoke to Daniel about , um, what you're doing right now in Haiti that I think is so amazing to sustain itself even. Can you share some of that?
Yes. When after I went on that trip, I eventually met a lady who there who is phenomenal and she's the heartbeat of our work and she is a mama to the village where serve. So working with her husband, incredible. But we do missions differently. We take an approach, a longterm approach, and we want to make sure that everything that we're building is going to sustain itself. So poverty is the problem in Haiti.
You're seeing hunger, you see trapped human trafficking, you see orphans, you see slavery. But the main problem is poverty. So for us to end all these other issues, we have to end poverty. And so one of the ways to do that is by creating business and country. And we've got to create business. And that's a Haitian to Haitian cell . So we have this different, yes, yes , it's working with them.
Yes. Not, not like where we create jewelry and come back and Americans sell it, but that's still depending on the American dollar, which that's great because it helps bring in revenue. But we're , you need something that's going to make money in country by a Haitian, for a Haitian. And so we created a chicken farm. And so the chicken farm has done wonderful. It's created jobs, it's created revenue for us. And so all the chickens lay an egg every single day.
And then we take those eggs, half of them, we feed all the kids in our school, which there are a thousand the hell , that's a lot of eggs . A lot of chickens you have. And it's a job for the way it has to pilled them. There's a lady that, her job is the pilled thousand eggs a day. Oh, her poor fingers. Right? And she's so grateful for the feed her family with that job. But I'm so a thousand eggs go to the school, a thousand eggs. We sell on the marketplace or the distributor.
So we're the middle. We have middlemen there. Okay . So we make money selling it to the middle man. The middle man makes money selling it to the community for his family. Okay . And then we take the revenue from the profits at the end of the cycle, which is 18 months for our chickens. They lay an egg every day for 18 months. And then we sell those chickens when they're done laying eggs as chicken in the market and all the money we buy our next batch of chickens with.
Wow. And so that's sustainable solution. It. We're not constantly sending money over to feed children. We're constantly feeding children from that one time. That's brilliant. Yes, it's been amazing. And they're excited. They have jobs for people. They're getting fed the only school in the nation getting fed protein every single day other than just rice and the whole rice porridge I usually get.
So that's one thing I think is amazing too if for you is that it's not just about asking people to give money, but it's, you're allowing them to become independent in one area. But sometimes I know too that is the funds that you use help to build other programs. Like what else? What is the, some of the new things that you're working on? We have a rescue home opening this fall is to rescue more children into that home and they were also building a mission team base.
What we like to do is look at where other people are spending money when they come into to our compound. Okay. One way is mission teams. Um , we actually based them at a hotel close by and so when we based them at our place, it'll pay off the whole building in less than a year. Wow. And then all the money we'll make off of that we'll pay for the teachers will pay for the medical supplies that we use for the orphans. We'll pay for those other avenues.
So we're not using a fundraise dollars and just creating solutions around to help, you know, truly in poverty and not just aid it for the brand . So even you're saying to me is we could reach out to different organizations, whether it's through different colleges, whether they're Christian or secular. People enjoy a cause when they know that you're helping another, another person when you're helping so many children, not only your , you're feeding them, you're educating them.
And I believe too that they also do adopting at least the one you're talking about, they've adopted. The last time I remember it was like 26 kids. Our Mama and our health , our home has, we have 40 orphans at 40 orphans. And so those are her kids. Okay. And so they are not up for adoption. But there are many places that we work with because we also do feeding programs and other orphanages and there are many children over there for adopting.
Wow. There's so many incredible things that, that um, Tiffany has been working long and it's worked in the community. And I also know even you different, not just only my son's coffee business, but I know there's other organizations I've come and linked arms together and you know, you may even know of an organization that would really want to participate and be a part of creating solutions that are sustainable.
It's not just as writing a check, but these are literally, they're going towards something that reproduces in increases and allowing them to even do more and more feeding of kids, educating them, allowing them an opportunity to have a life to be in a, in a family environment.
And the other part that I think we haven't really hit on too is that you wanted to link arms though with the church so that they're also getting the word of God in them on the u s side or the, with all my heart foundation on the Haiti side, we are no named , we are the church. Okay. And so when we feed kids or when we care for children or we educate children, and when we love on children that way it's coming through the body of Christ.
Okay. And so we don't, we want the images to be lifted up that Jesus, it was him that clothed them, him that fed them, him that met their needs, not an organization. Good. And so we, at our planning, we had already planted a church there and we also do pastor training. So we have over 50 pastors that we train once a month on a weekend at our place as we're preparing to send them out into the unreached villages. So , um , right now they've been there for three years.
They still have a ways to go before they're ready. You want to make sure they're ready before we send them out . Yes. But so it, we definitely are the body of Christ on the ground. Yes. That's powerful. No , I think that there's a lot more that you can learn about. It's not just one program. There's multiple programs that are happening.
Tiffany, how can they connect with you and learn more and get maybe involved in knowing how to even invite maybe a boss or your organization that you could approach them and send a link to them. How would they get involved in and get into connected with you? Yeah, you can connect with us. Um , on our website it's w a m h four with all my heart foundation, but it's w a m h foundation.org or on Facebook or on Instagram. Just in us an email. We work with so many different businesses.
There's so many people behind our cause. We're just the unity factor for everyone else to be able to give back and do more and reach more people. So it's amazing to see businesses or individuals or just people come alongside wherever the Lord leads them.
Yeah , that's the great thing I've , I've been watching even if you follow her on the social media with their foundation and seeing all the fun things and there are some companies that literally they take some of their employees and they go down there and uh, whether that's a missions trip or just a trip for a cause, they're making it in a difference in their world.
And so I just want to encourage you is to perfectly consider maybe that, that, that that's a way that I can get involved or I know someone that that is so their heartbeat, but every one of us making a difference to get children off the streets fed and giving sustainability of people getting hired in the community and giving them jobs. So many incredible things that you are able to work alongside with them. And that's where I grew up is great. It's the body of Christ.
It's business, his Lincoln arm in arm with the people there that it's something that's not just a temporary fix but it's a longterm, which I I love that, that mission of longterm sustainable, making an impact there . People there are making the impact. Yes . It's not just us from the outside, but they're making the impact and that training, I think it's a powerful tool that when you have the word and the prayers and then just the visual, you notice thinking that we can have our hands there.
You could go on a trip, you can get a community within your own church even. Uh, but so many incredible ways that they can make a difference. Yes. So what would it be, what would you want to say? Just to highlight? Um, a lot of times people have in their mind they don't have certain things right now to make a difference. And that way , um , I always tell there's always room. I have bonded .
My teacher friends who are right now, they're , they're helping write curriculum for our school and they're making a massive impact because that's their gifting. That's great. And you have a gifting. Yes. And you are called to make a difference in some way? Not necessarily with our position , but stoneware . Right . Um , overseas here in Tulsa, or anywhere around the u s but we all have a gifting where we can use that resource to do greater for the kingdom. That's great.
Well, we're so glad that Tiffany can share just something that God's put on her heart and how it's was able to actually help so many people, but it's also engaging people around our own community and abroad. And we want to hear from you. Maybe there's something that you've done, some kind of creative idea that you have. You've done it, or you've a one black to do it. We want to encourage you to be able to walk out with what God's put in your heart.
So get in touch with us, subscribe to our podcast, follow us on Facebook. We love to hear from you about your story and how you're overcoming the things in your life and making a difference. Until then, go change your world.
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