M.A.D.E.'s 2014 in 500 words

As we entered 2014, we remembered the words of Isaiah 43:19 “For I am about to do something new. See I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” God was calling us into a new season and all He needed was a leap of faith on our behalf. We started the journey with nothing but passionate youth ready to make a difference in their society and that, along with God’s confirmation, was enough for us. Every door on the way began to open and on February 27, 2014 MADE became a legal non-profit corporation in the state of Florida.

This lead to our first MADE Activity of the year at Feed My Starving Children in March where 43 people attended; during our shift, we were able to pack 40,130 servings of food. Despite the attack we had just faced with Emilia (one of our young MADE members) who had suffered a cardiac arrest a couple of days before this event, we knew that it was going to be for God’s glory. Following Emilia’s recovery, our next event was a fellowship outing to watch “Heaven is for Real”; a movie that had a tremendous meaning after Emilia’s trip to heaven and back. In June, we visited our friends at RCMA (Redland’s Christian Migrant Association) for the second year in a row. We were able to spend almost a full school day with kids from low income families, taught them about sharing, took dance lessons with Yolhect Rivas (Hearts Akademy Director), and helped cleaned their campus. Also in June, we took a 3 day trip back and forth to South Beach to take our youth members to “The VOUS Conference” which was a blessing to all of us. Later, in August, God allowed us to begin a project that was deeply rooted in our hearts which was our MADE Capacitation classes for middle and high-school students. There is nothing like pouring out to this generation through discipleship and seeing them engaged in learning about God’s word. We wanted to end the year by having our long-awaited retreat. God clearly did His will throughout the entire planning and execution of the retreat, which was called: Made for More, where 29 people attended. “Fall into Giving” was the theme for our Thanksgiving events which took place at various places as we provided pasta to local Homestead residents as well as a local church- ministry, and ended by helping at the Homestead Food Pantry where we distributed groceries to almost 600 families in one day. Finally, our year concluded with a toy drive in which God exceeded our expectations by allowing us to collect 200 toys, surpassing our goal of 100. We delivered one half to children of low income families at Chapman Partnership, where we also threw them a Christmas party, and the other half was given to “Torre Fuerte Ministries”.

This was our 2014 in 500 words. We want to thank God for an incredible year as His promises remain true in our life. We also want to thank each and every person who was part of MADE in 2014, you have all made a difference in our lives. We cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in this New Year which will be the continuation of this wonderful journey. To God be the glory.

                                                                                             Blessings,

                                                                                             Ester Avero and Alejandra Alvarado

                                                                                                            Founders of M.A.D.E.