Hope for Caribbean Kids’ Humanitarian Awards demonstrates how an unknown overseas ministry makes new friends with major donors. Here’s what Iva and Richard Presberry shared at their First Annual Hope Awards:
Caitlin Beauplan considers Haiti a home, she said.
She has lived there for five years while working for a nonprofit, and met her husband there as well. So when the Christian nonprofit Hope for Caribbean Kids invited her husband, Wood, to speak at its Jefferson City Hope Awards, Caitlin decided to go along.
“I just love seeing people gather around to support Haiti in this time of need. They’re really having a hard time right now,” Caitlin Beauplan said.
The awards ceremony took place early Thursday afternoon at First Assembly of God, 1900 State Highway C. The organizers estimated around 150 participants at the event, Executive Director Iva Presberry said.
Hope for Caribbean Kids’ Humanitarian Awards
This year marks the inaugural year for the Hope Awards, Presberry said. Her organization had hosted other awards ceremonies at dinner banquets before. Through this event, the organization hoped to meet more people and broaden its reach, she said. Then the organization can send information on its clients and their needs out to more people, not just the regular list of supporters.
“We saw an opportunity to honor some people and to make people aware of what we do for kids in Haiti,” Presberry said.
Donna Kay Niklas, at left, is shown accepting the Champion for Christ Award at Thursday’s Jefferson City Hope Awards lunch at First Assembly of God Church
Doug Wright and Alicia Edwards Wright, founders of Building Community Bridges, received the Outstanding Nonprofit Award for the many programs their nonprofit provides.
Donna Kay Nicklas, chairperson of Bible study and the fellowship group Women on Wednesday, received the Champion for Christ Award.
Tixieanna Dissmore, president of the Columbia chapter of the international ministry Aglow Lighthouse and a research scientist, received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Former Mayor Carrie Tergin received the Exceptional Public Leadership Award for her efforts to bring more visitors to the city’s downtown area, her response to the 2019 tornado and her work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finally, Rod Smith from the TV station KRCG received the Dynamic Impact Award for his work as an emcee for various community events. Members of the award organizers voted for the five award recipients, who have been making an impact to the local community, Presberry said.
“It is an awareness event,” she said. “What we are doing is trying to just connect with more people.”
She and her husband founded Hope for Caribbean Kids in 2003 to serve people in Haiti. It has since operated an orphanage, a Christian school, a daily feeding program for children staying in those two facilities and a water accessibility program in the island country, according to a booklet from the event. The organization plans to continue those services, carry out more preaching, and improve the road to its school in the next three years.
Dissmore said she was honored to get her award. She joked it was interesting for her to get one for lifetime achievement since she thought that is usually reserved for older people.
“So I thought, ‘Do they think I’m old?'” she said with a laugh.
She has been in the Central Missouri area since 2020, Dissmore said. She started the Columbia chapter of Aglow Lighthouse, which serves members in the northern parts of Missouri. It aims to present Biblical principles as solutions to societal problems, according to the ministry’s website.
Although Dissmore is not involved with the award organizer, she knows who Presberry is.
“It’s a wonderful ministry that (Iva and Richard Presberry) are doing. Anything that has to do with ministry, I’m always supportive of it,” Dissmore said.
Hope For Caribbean Kids’ Humanitarian Awards are a component of the Major Gifts Ramp-Up Model used by nonprofits around the world to build financial capacity.
Richard and Iva Presberry
