ULBC CasaBuilders
Building Hope for Mexico’s Impoverished
by Joanna Johnson
[Volume 3, Issue 2, Spring 2009]
Crippling poverty forced a widow to put her two girls in an orphanage while she and her 18-year-old son struggled to make money. The woman’s husband had died six years earlier. Though she owned a tiny piece of land, she didn’t have a home and, she lived meagerly on someone else’s property. Tragically, her son contracted gangrene from an injury to his arm and the infection ravaged his body. The widow prayed that he would die in a real home.
She got that home in May 2008, thanks to ULBC CasaBuilders. Although her son had already passed, she tearfully rejoiced knowing she would raise her daughters in a real home.
Ken LaPoint interacts with children from City of Angels orphanage while volunteers build house in background during May 2008 ALCF-sponsored trip to Tijuana. (photo: courtesy of CasaBuilders)
“Extreme Home Makeover”
ALCF Members Help Renovate Local Ministry Center
by Dominique Fong
[Volume 1, Issue 3, Fall 2007]
At the end of a court nested among yellowing fields, where the sounds of construction and friendly chatter mingle in the air, a one-story house is undergoing an extreme makeover.
New walls, new paint, new backyard, new furnishings—the house will be completely transformed. With no central heating system, lack of space, and 30 years of cobwebs and termites, the Young Life recreation building accommodating up to 200 kids each week, has long outgrown its youthful season.
Heather Starnes, Demetra Schoby, and Christina Thompson at 2nd Mile Reveal
The Bridge
From Addiction to Wholeness
by Ming-Huey Jeng
[Volume 1, Issue 2, Summer 2007]
Pastor Tobey Hall (Charls Fosterwhite)
Like many people struggling with addictions, Belinda has not found the road to recovery and wholeness to be particularly smooth. Molested by her father, she struggled with depression throughout her life. Feeling ashamed and suicidal, she looked to alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, medication, and men to take away the pain. With her son Erik as her primary motivation to get better, Belinda struggled to cope with life and her addictions. She joined Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), whose principles include recognizing and relying on a higher power for help. For Belinda, who was raised in a Baptist church, that higher power was Jesus. However, A.A. did not always provide a supportive environment for such a belief. “A lot of times in A.A. and the 12-Step Program, they don’t want you to talk about Jesus,” she says. “That is why I always rolled out because I got bashed for my Jesus-belief and was made fun of.” Read more 
Giving Much Out Of Little
How Tanisha Broadway Has Developed a Lifestyle of Giving and Service
Tanisha Broadway serves Bread of Life client (photo: Kurt Beiter)
by Lea Castro and Rosemary Preissler
[Volume 1, Issue 1, Spring 2007]
Single parents facing homelessness have a lot on their minds—from finding a homeless shelter to scraping up money for the next meal. This kind of uncertainty and stress can be draining and overwhelming. Approximately two years ago, ALCF member Tanisha Broadway, now 33, found herself in such a predicament. She and her daughter Asia moved into a homeless shelter and were struggling to survive. In that same month, in spite of her circumstances, Tanisha became a volunteer coordinator for Bread of Life (BOL) EPA, an East Palo Alto ministry that feeds the homeless and others in need. She also joined the Celebration Choir at ALCF and found that worshiping God through song with others “lifted my spirits and helped me to get through that depressing season.” Giving sacrificially, in spite of great need, is a recurring theme in Tanisha’s life. Read more
