Three local women with a heart for others began their journey of compassion by going to Haiti in 2012. The trip changed their lives and subsequently brought about the creation of Waters of Grace, a nonprofit organization that is benefiting not only Haiti, but the Sedalia area.
Waters of Grace will host a fundraiser Saturday to benefit several agencies in the local community.
When Rosemary Rundlett, a part time R.N. with Oxford Healthcare, Barb White R.N., the school nurse at Parkview Elementary, and Yelena Valesa, an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at Sedalia Middle School, went to Haiti the first time it was a life-changing event for the trio.
“We are the original group that started going to Haiti together, and that in itself was a God-thing,” Rundlett, now the president of Waters of Grace, said recently.
She added that the first trip prompted them to return to Haiti regularly.
“At the end of 2015 Yelena and I went … and as we grew in our trips, God was leading us outside our little safe bubble,” she added. “We saw things that just overtook us. We came back saying ‘what can we do? There’s more here, than we can do.’”
The women felt overwhelmed with the great need to help others and wondered what they could do to make a difference no matter how small.
They would not be alone in their journey. In June 2016, Lori Holt, who is president of Strong Tower Orphanage in Caracol, Haiti, helped the trio obtain their 501(c)3 status for Waters of Grace. Holt is a member of the First United Methodist Church Celebration Center in Sedalia, and organizes the annual Strong Tower fundraiser Hearts for Haiti.
“Lori basically nurtured the seed, telling us ‘you can do this,’” Rundlett said. “’If you have the vision, God will give you the way forward.’ She’s inspirational, she provided everything we needed to make this 501(c)3 happen. We are all very involved in the community, Haiti is not our limit.”
The women have been involved locally with The Embassy, the Community Café and Citizens Against Spouse Abuse (CASA).
“So, this vision became much, much greater than Haiti,” Rundlett said. “We actually don’t see any limits whatsoever …”
Waters of Grace also takes in members from Norborne and Chillicothe and Father Deo Mulokozi, formerly at Sacred Heart Catholic Church now in Tanzania.
“And, as you can imagine, there is an enormous need where he is,” Rundlett said. “Our roots began in Haiti and we’re still actively involved there. We are one step away from being a legitimized mission in Haiti, and we’ve got a mission house currently and several projects going.”
Locally the ministry has began to blossom also.
“It’s like a tree that’s got vines and branches,” Rundlett noted.
“We want to really stress that we know we have our fingers in Africa and we’ll always be involved with Haiti just because of the experience we’ve had down there, but what we want to make sure, is that we’re not limited to that,” White added. “That’s why when we all decided on becoming a ministry … (we realized) there’s missions in our own backyard, there’s need everywhere. Our statement is that it’s community to global.”
The women said they are also concerned with homelessness in the area and have attended meetings and talked with the Pettis County Community Partnership, and also Bill Turner, Jack Menges and Sue Foster at Open Door Service Center.
The women plan to host a fundraiser Saturday at Liberty Life Church that will benefit Show-Me Christian Youth Home, CASA, The Embassy, Waters of Grace Community Emergency Fund and Waters of Grace Global Outreach.
Helping them pull the event together are Pam Vaught and Dianne Withers.
“Those two ladies have taken and picked up and ran with this,” Rundlett said. “Because of them this exists. Those two have the gifts that the three of us didn’t have. They are organizers and they are visionaries in the concrete way. We are visionaries in a creative way.”
“This is another example of God putting people in our presence making this work,” White added. “These doors have just kept opening, and opening from the very beginning.”
The women said when they went to Haiti it was like a “light bulb went off” and that moment brought them “to their knees.”
“Really to be honest with you, that kind of compassion is what we still want for our community,” White said. “That’s where we’re at here.”
“I thought I was coming down there to feed starving children,” Rundlett said of going to Haiti in 2012. “Then I found out I was the starving child.”
Waters of Grace Community to Global Outreach & Discipleship fundraiser will begin at 7 a.m. Saturday at Liberty Life Center, 1501 Driftwood Dr. The event will be hosted rain or shine and feature a multi-family and business rummage sale, new items and gift certificates, the best of Sedalia bake sale with a traditional auction and silent auction and also a hot dog cookout. The proceeds will help others through local agencies.
Members of Water of Grace are open for speaking engagements and partnering with other organizations. For more information call President Rosemary Rundlett at 660-287-2836.
