For years, Pastor Rupert Henry has been advocating for foster children through his local advocacy group, Foster Youth Connection. Its work has been recognized by the City of Kissimmee.
This summer, Henry will be taking the mission abroad to the Caribbean.
“Kissimmee has stepped up in helping the cause,” he said, noting the city partnered with CarePortal, which partners church groups with the needs of foster children in 2021. “I wanted to help kids internationally.”
Henry said about 153 million children are in orphanages or in foster care throughout the world, or about 1.93% of the Earth’s population — almost 1 out of every 5 people.
The 2023 Caribbean Missions will head to the Bahamas (June 26 through July 3), Barbados (July 3-10) and Trinidad and Tobago (July 10-17). Each week, he and fellow evangelists will hold worship evenings with foster children — called “youth focus nights” — as well as “street evangelism” out in communities where people of faith may not often visit. Worship, workshops and the occasional baptism are also on the docket.
Working with YES (Yielded Evangelistic Servants) out of St. Cloud, Henry is also taking care packages to families and orphanages of items that may not be in long supply on those items — bottles water, diapers and children’s clothing.
“Many of those things, they all have to be shipped in, so they can get expensive there. Bringing these is a way of saying to these children that someone is with them,” Henry said. “Dorian killed families in the Bahamas, and left children in foster care for the first time, and those islands still haven’t recovered from the devastation.”
Henry and YES are accepting donations for the summer islands trips. Two locations in Kissimmee (Redeemer Printing, 11 W. Darlington Ave.; Automotive Service+Plus, 1158 E. Donegan Ave.) have boxes for donations. Monetary donations can be mailed to Yeservants, P.O. Box 700697, St. Cloud, Fl. 34770.
“I’ve participated in a few mission trips. But this is the first time I’m putting it together myself,” Henry said.
For more information, go to www.yeservants.org or email info@yeservants.org.
