“God… if You can use me, I am available.”
Some organizations are born from a business plan. Breath of Life Foundation was born from a prayer whispered through tears.
I never planned to start a nonprofit.
I couldn't ignore the pain.
In January 2010, I sat in silence as heartbreaking images of the devastating earthquake in Haiti filled my television screen. Buildings that had stood for generations had become piles of concrete. Parents searched desperately for their children. Children searched desperately for their parents. Entire neighborhoods had disappeared in a matter of moments.
For millions around the world, it was another breaking news story.
For me, it was home.
Every collapsed building reminded me of streets where I had played as a child. Every frightened child reminded me of the little boy I once was. Every grieving mother reminded me of my own mother, whom I lost when I was only thirteen years old.
I wasn't watching strangers suffer.
I was watching my people.
The distance between Oklahoma and Haiti suddenly felt unbearable.
I wanted to be there. To pull people from the rubble. To comfort grieving families. To tell frightened children they were not alone. To do something, anything, that might bring hope in the middle of unimaginable loss.
Instead, I found myself doing the only thing I could do. I fell to my knees. With tears running down my face, I prayed one of the simplest and most life-changing prayers I have ever prayed.
"God... if You can use me, I am available."
I had no nonprofit. No strategic plan. No fundraising campaign. No roadmap.
Only a heart that refused to look away.
Looking back today, I realize that Breath of Life Foundation wasn't born because I had everything figured out. It was born because I was willing to say yes.
Although Breath of Life Foundation officially began in 2010, its story started many years earlier. I was born and raised in Haiti, a country of extraordinary beauty, resilience, faith, and hope.
Every summer, my grandmother quietly shaped my character. She taught me responsibility, humility, kindness, integrity, and the joy of serving others. Looking back, I believe she wasn’t simply raising a grandson. She was preparing the heart of a servant leader.
As a young boy, my father left for the United States in search of a better future for our family. For years, I knew him more through cassette tapes and occasional phone calls than through his physical presence. Then, at just thirteen years old, my world changed forever. My mother died unexpectedly. No child is prepared for that kind of loss. Her death left an emptiness that words cannot fully describe.
But it also planted something unexpected within me: compassion. I learned what it felt like to carry invisible pain, and years later, I would recognize that same pain in the eyes of children, families, and people who needed someone to believe in them.
When I was eighteen years old, my life nearly ended. On March 12, 1998, I was struck by a car before being run over by a ten-wheeled concrete truck.
Doctors believed I would not survive. At one point, they thought the battle was over.
By God’s grace, it wasn’t.
That experience forever changed how I viewed life. I no longer believed I had survived by chance. I believed I had been preserved for a purpose.
Years later, God opened an extraordinary door for me to come to the United States. America became the place where many of my dreams began to grow. But Haiti never stopped being home.
One country gave me my roots. The other gave me opportunities to serve. Together, they gave me a calling.
As my calling toward Haiti grew clearer, I made an early decision: I didn’t want to build this mission by constantly asking others for money.
I wanted a way to help people back home without having to beg or fundraise for every dollar. So, I started a car dealership not simply as a career, but as a strategy. If I could build something of my own, it could fund the mission on its own terms.
I didn’t want generosity to depend only on fundraising. I wanted it to grow from the work of my own hands.
For a season, that is exactly what it did. But life doesn’t always unfold according to our plans. Eventually, I lost the business, one of the most painful seasons of my life.
Yet even in that loss, God taught me something I have never forgotten. A mission should never depend on perfect circumstances.
Businesses may come and go. Opportunities may change. But God’s calling remains.
The business was never the mission.
People were. And they still are.
People often ask why Breath of Life Foundation serves communities in Haiti while also walking alongside people experiencing homelessness and hardship in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
My answer is always the same.
Because pain does not recognize borders, neither does compassion.
For years, I believed my mission would always focus on Haiti. Then, in 2024, while walking through the streets of Tulsa, I saw men and women asking for food and money. It broke my heart. In that moment, I felt the same compassion I had experienced years earlier while watching Haiti after the earthquake.
Different city. Different circumstances. The same human need.
Whether we are helping a child receive an education, providing humanitarian relief after a disaster, supporting families in crisis, encouraging young leaders, or serving someone who has lost everything, we believe every person deserves to be treated with dignity.
We empower communities through sustainable, locally driven initiatives focused on four core pillars:
• Education
• Health
• Housing
• Economic Empowerment
Whether in Haiti or the United States, our goal is not simply to meet today’s needs. It is to help create stronger communities for generations to come.
We don’t see statistics. We see names.
We don’t see problems. We see possibilities.
Because every life has value, every person has purpose.
That is why we don’t simply assist.
We restore dignity.
We build relationships.
We create opportunity.
And above all, we restore hope.
Since 2010, Breath of Life Foundation has impacted thousands of lives through education, humanitarian outreach, community development, and compassionate care.
But our greatest measure of success has never been numbers alone.
It has always been people.
A child who returns to school. A family finding stability. A young person discovering purpose. A community rebuilding after hardship.
Every transformed life reminds us why this mission matters.
Over the years, I have learned that hope is one of the most powerful gifts we can ever give another human being.
A meal feeds someone for today. Encouragement can help someone believe in tomorrow. An education can change a generation. An act of compassion can change the direction of an entire life.
That is the mission of Breath of Life Foundation: To restore dignity. To empower communities. To transform generations.
The prayer I prayed in 2010 is still the prayer that guides my life today:
“Lord… if You can use me, I am still available.”
Every child we serve. Every family we strengthen. Every community we invest in. Every life we encourage. All trace back to that simple prayer.
Today, I invite you to become part of this story.
Whether you choose to give, volunteer, pray, or partner with us, you are helping write a new chapter in someone else’s life.
A chapter filled with hope instead of despair.
Opportunity instead of limitation.
Dignity instead of shame.
Because I have learned something, my own journey continues to prove.
Hope grows wherever someone decides another person’s story is worth fighting for.
And sometimes, the prayer whispered by one willing heart becomes the miracle experienced by thousands.
The next chapter of that miracle may begin with you.
Every great movement begins with one person willing to say yes. Thank you for considering becoming part of ours.
